6 minute read
A Resilient Rider: Annijke Wade '03
Annijke Wade ’03 was hooked on mountain biking as soon as her tires hit the trail. She had just moved to New Mexico for work, and biking seemed like a great way to explore her new environment, get out in nature, and meet new people. She taught herself at first, then enrolled in a women’s clinic as she started to get more serious about the sport.
In July 2021, about two years into her new passion, Annijke was riding a favorite trail in Angel Fire when she hit a bad jump that sent her flying. The accident caused a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed. Recovering at the hospital, the diagnosis settling in, Annijke had an almost singular focus: how to return to the trail.
“I thought about how to get back on a mountain bike almost before I even thought what my life would be like in a wheelchair,” she says. “Am I going to get a ramp? What is it going to look like for me to drive or to travel? None of those things were really front and center. I was always focused on how to get back outside. And in a lot of ways, having that very specific, very strong goal allowed me to move forward through the process. It still is. It’s pushing me to become a more independent person, a better adjusted person, and a person who’s accepting of reality.”
Today, not only is Annijke back on the trail, but she is a professional mountain biker and a leading voice in efforts to make the sport more inclusive. She serves on the board of All Bikes Welcome, a nonprofit dedicated to building more racial equity and gender diversity in cycling, a sport pursued mostly by white men. She has helped organize rides for people of color at the Sea Otter Classic, the largest cycling event in the world. She has advised on the creation of accessible trails and speaks at conferences and other events. In 2023, she founded DirtBound, an initiative that aims to empower, develop, and support off-road paracycling. DirtBound is sponsoring a team of six adaptive athletes to compete in their first gravel race in Colorado this August.
For Annijke, off-road cycling has always been about getting outdoors and finding community. Both have taken on added significance since her accident. Through DirtBound and other advocacy work, she is able to show appreciation for what she has and to create similar opportunities for others. “After my accident, there were so many people who made things possible for me,” she says, noting that one of her professional sponsors provided her first adaptive mountain bike—which can cost north of $15,000—just three months after her accident. “Being able to have access to the outdoors almost immediately after my spinal cord injury was a game changer. It allowed me to find joy in life. It allowed me to connect with my community again. The idea behind DirtBound is to pass that on to other individuals, to give people the space to connect with each other, and to empower and uplift each other through this new experience.”
Annijke is a mountain biker and gravel rider. Both are off-road riding disciplines, but each presents its own thrills. Asking her to choose a favorite of the two is like asking her to choose a favorite child. She enjoys the endurance aspect of gravel riding, which gives her more time outside, but she also loves the challenge of clearing features, such as rocks and jumps, on a mountain bike trail. She has two main bikes, one that’s all electric and one that provides e-assist with a hand crank. “Both bikes are amazing,” she says. “I’ve been really fortunate to be able to ride them in lots of different terrains in all parts of the country.”
Annijka has always been an active person. As a longtime camper at Summer at Santa Catalina, she was a regular on the tennis courts. She danced throughout her youth, and when she returned to Catalina as a boarding student, she dove into ballet and jazz classes and performed with Accents, the dance club. She also has had a passion for the outdoors. She was an inaugural member of R4, Catalina’s environmental club, and earned a B.A. in environmental studies from Lewis and Clark College. She currently works as a business development manager for a radar satellite company.
Originally from Sonoma, California, Annijka has returned to the Monterey Peninsula and makes good use of the trails on Fort Ord near her home. Recently, she reached an important milestone: her first solo ride. She explains that going solo “is something I’ve been working toward since my accident. It was really freeing. It was nice to have that level of independence back.”
Annijka has been diligent in setting up the systems she needs for the life she wants. In that pursuit, she harnesses the lessons she learned as a boarding student. “One of the biggest things I learned was how to be independent and structured as an individual,” she says. “That freshman year, getting ready for finals for the first time and having to do my own laundry and set my own schedule—it’s something that has carried me throughout my life. I attribute those organizational skills and life skills that I learned being a boarding student to how I operate now. The structure that you find at Catalina can be really beneficial.”
It was also through her time at Catalina that she realized how much she likes being involved in community and advocacy. As a member of Accents, R4, the STAR Intern program, the Resident Council, and other groups, she found not only kindred spirits but an avenue for speaking up for others.
And as she continues to advocate for diversity in mountain biking and to push herself to even greater challenges—she signed up for her first endurance race this year, an all-women event in Washington state called Sturdy Dirty—Annijke has one overarching goal in mind: to cultivate and foster joy. “Biking is my safe space; it’s my solace,” she posted on Instagram earlier this year.
“I want to experience more joy in the outdoors while shredding in amazing places.”
