Starting when she was a little kid, Moab local Elisabeth Knight knew she wanted to compete in the Olympics—even before she knew what sport she wanted to pursue. Now a junior at Grand County High School, Elisabeth is a rising star on the international mountain biking scene, and the Olympics seem within reach.
At 17 years old, Elisabeth is currently ranked 41st in the world, according to mtbdata.com, and still has several months in which to race and earn more points to improve her standing (the ranking is based on a 12-month rolling average, and Elisabeth has been in the running for less than a full year).
Elisabeth Knight [Kai Caddy]
She’s been selected to represent the USA along with three other riders in the Junior Women’s division at the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships, held in Midway, Utah May 8-12. Balancing training with school and friends is a challenge, but Elisabeth has the support of her parents, Alisa and John Knight, and her community cheering her on.
Getting in the saddle
Elisabeth didn’t love biking right away. She remembers her dad teaching her to ride, but mostly because of the ice cream she earned as a reward for her efforts. When she started middle school, her bike-obsessed older brother convinced her to join the mountain biking team. She didn’t like it at first.
“It was hot, it was miserable, I was in the back,” she remembers. But she started to get good and realized that “it was fun to ride fast.”
Her parents didn’t know she would be a great mountain biker, but they knew she was driven.
Elisabeth Knight (center) with mother Alisa Knight (right) and father John Knight. [Rachel Fixsen/Moab Sun News]
“She’s been a go-getter from the beginning,” Alisa says, remembering a fundraiser race Elisabeth’s elementary school put on. In first grade at the time, Elisabeth was determined to beat all the boys, including the second-graders—and she did. She went through phases of wanting to be on “American Gladiator,” wanting to be a gymnast, and becoming fascinated with the Olympics.
John didn’t know Elisabeth would excel at biking specifically, but, he says, “I knew she would in something.” John coached the Grand County High School mountain bike team, until he had to give it up to make time to manage Elisabeth’s race schedule.
Elisabeth dedicates a lot of time to training, typically logging around 175 miles a week.
“She lives on her bike,” Alisa says. “She’s either at school or on her bike.”
One of Elisabeth’s local go-to rides is the Raptor Route in Sand Flats Recreation Area. She rides from her house up the steep road all the way to the start of Eagle Eye, and continues down the single-track Hawk’s Glide, Falcon Flow, and Kestrel Run. The whole ride takes her about three hours.
“I really do like grinding up Sand Flats,” Elisabeth says.
Now she’s following a demanding race schedule: so far this year, she’s already traveled to California, Arkansas, and Puerto Rico to race, and she’ll be racing in the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships this week. After that, she’ll be home for a short two days before traveling to events in Austria and the Czech Republic. Both domestic and international destinations fill out her summer. Nationals will be in Pennsylvania, and the Worlds competition will be in Andorra.
Balancing it all
The training and travel absorbs much of Elisabeth’s time and energy, but she’s upbeat about it: her coach, Rebecca Gross, emphasizes that riding should be enjoyed.
“It’s a lot, but it’s also fun,” Elisabeth says of the travel, adding that she has to miss a lot of school. Fortunately for the Knights, the school district is understanding.
“The teachers are good about it—it works out well,” Alisa says.
Sometimes fitting it all in means combining studying with training: while riding the White Rim in a day, Elisabeth listened to an audio version of her anatomy textbook to prepare for an upcoming test. A couple of days later, she aced the exam.
Elisabeth Knight [Kai Caddy]
As for her social life, Elisabeth says she’s able to hang out with friends on weekend evenings, though she maintains an early-to-bed routine.
“I still have friends,” she says with a laugh, “so I must handle it somewhat well.” She’s enjoyed making friends on the race circuit as well, meeting riders from all over the world and getting to know them as they all reconverge at race events.
Elisabeth plans to continue pursuing top-level mountain biking after high school, and also plans to attend college to study something in the field of health and medicine.
John emphasized his appreciation of the Moab community in supporting Elisabeth’s hard work and goals. In addition to accommodation from teachers and the school district, the Knights have sometimes relied on friends to chaperone Elisabeth while traveling for races, and a local bike mechanic has been on hand for some of her races as well.
“This wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t live in Moab,” John says.
While Elisabeth’s long-term goal is to make it to the Olympics, in the near-term, she just wants to do her best—to “finish knowing I gave it my all,” she says.
