May Updates

We had a wonderful kickoff for our 2018 riding season with our Fearless Women of Dirt Women's Night! Martha Flynn came and talked to the women of FWD about Little Bellas and what the Little Bella's program entails. It was great to learn about the program and the how it helps to build up a sense of camaraderie among the girls.

Decorah, in reality, is a small-sized community and this program typically looks to larger-scale communities, however Martha felt that Decorah would be a fantastic area to have a Little Bellas program established.

It would likely draw youth from other communities, but the issue at hand is the lack of trails suitable for the program to be established. You have to have the trails first, before you can be considered appropriate as a chapter location. There will be further discussion on that as things develop, but at this time Carlson Property conversation is still happening- but currently looking at more of a fall timeline.

Fearless Women of Dirt membership is officially open and we have 13 women on board as members of FWD! The total donation amount being given to DHPT sits at $270

The membership fee is $20.00 and is a cash or check donation given to DHPT: Decorah Human Powered Trails.

There are perks from multiple establishments: Impact Coffee, Sugar Bowl Ice Cream, Pulpit Rock Brewery, and Decorah Bicycles. You can read more about the perks here.


We hosted a ride on Saturday, May 5th that coincided with "International Women's Mountain Bike Day." Decorah Bicycles offered free demo mountain bikes for the women attending, and celebrate the riding season they also extended the free demo mountain bike option for the 1st Sunday of the month rides, too!

We're also working on getting more content up on the Fearless Women of Dirt Youtube channel. 
Slowly but surely you'll see clips of rides, highlights from out group rides, and more videos of Josie delving a bit more into #bikelife and answering some of your burning questions like:
Overcoming Fears of Mountain Biking
What was your first season like?
Clips vs. Flats
Event participation
Why do you wear lycra?
Essential Gear
What was your prior biking experience?
Why do you name your bikes?

Josie is open to receiving question ideas! Comment, email, or send a message on what you'd like covered and we'll get it added to the list.

Don't forget! Ride waivers for any FWD ride and FWD Mother/Kid rides need to be filled out prior to joining. Let Josie know which rides you're looking to attend per the Mother/Kid rides. Participants are limited to 10.

Current schedule for the FWD Mother/Son Rides:

Sunday, June 3rd at 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 16th at 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 23rd at 9 a.m.

There is a special Mother & Kid ride on Sunday, May 13th for Mother's Day!

Decorah Bicycles is hosting their raffle/fundraiser for DHPT: Decorah Human Powered Trails during the month of May. If you purchase a $5.00 raffle ticket, you'll have a chance of winning one of these gift certificates

There is not a cap on how many raffle tickets you purchase, but it must be a cash or check payment.

If a check, write it out to DHPT.

If you do not live in Decorah but want to participate, send a check to:

Decorah Bicycles
101 College Dr.
Decorah, IA 52101


We encourage all trail users to participate with the fundraiser by donating $5.00.
It takes a good number of volunteer hours to keep our soft trails in tiptop shape. Plus, with the future Carlson Property trails, creation will take a lot of funds.

You may have noticed that all rides that I (Josie) had planned for 2018 that I would be hosting have been cancelled for the time being. Some of you may have heard, but my father passed away in a tree cutting accident on Sunday, May 6th.

I'm his only child and have not only the new journey of walking through life without my father, but the "adulting" that comes with the passing of a parent.

Because of the traveling involved and knowing how I can be when exposed to large amounts of stress regularly or suddenly- mentally I am not able to lead rides to the best of my ability.

This means all FWD Wednesday, Sunday, and Mother/Daughter rides are off the books at this point.

After time goes on and I find things more manageable, I will reinstate some rides as I can.

It breaks my heart to cancel rides, but I do not want to bring anything less than my best self when it comes to the rides. Fearless Women of Dirt means too much to me to provide a half-assed experience.

I will be mountain biking as I am able, and still plan to attend a couple of events in honor of my dad.

Keep an eye out for rides that our FWD Ambassadors will be hosting. I'm also enjoying the photos that folks are sharing with their own FWD rides with friends! Please keep them coming, they bring me great comfort. #womeninspire #fearlesswomenofdirt