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Tuttle wins national mountain bike title

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Staff

Johanne Tuttle, center, after accepting her first place medal at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships.  Photo courtesy Johanne Tuttle.by Mary Lide Parker
Staff Writer

CARRBORO — For Johanne Tuttle, it’s never too late to try something new and be really good at it too.
Last month, after only a year and a half of mountain biking, the Carrboro resident won three titles at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike Championships held in Mount Snow, Vt., beating out hundreds of other bikers in a four-day series of races.

Friday morning dawned sunny, Tuttle said, and almost unseasonably hot by Vermont standards. Though she was nervous before her first race, a 10-mile cross country course ripe with challenging hilly terrain, Tuttle didn’t let her nerves outweigh her excitement. She placed fourth in the cross country women’s sport group. Later that day, Tuttle placed third in the expert women’s group in the dual-slalom race.

But the biggest excitement came Sunday when Tuttle placed first in the expert women’s Super-D race.

“It was exhilarating,” she said.

“We should have seen this coming because she started riding a 2-wheeler when she was three years old,” said her father, Mark Tuttle.

Tuttle discovered mountain biking after completing her freshman year soccer season at Brevard College. She started riding with some friends as a way to stay active in the off-season.

“I’m really glad Johanne has found something she loves to do and is so naturally good at,” said high school friend Alena Stein. “I know she’s only going to get better.”

A male-dominated sport, Tuttle says she was one of only two women on the Brevard College cycling team this past year.

“I don’t know what I would do in Brevard if I didn’t bike,” she said.

“Not that Brevard is boring,” she added quickly. “Biking has just become so much of my life and what I love to do.”

Tuttle doesn’t follow a rigorous training schedule or a fancy diet. She might ride for an hour one day and three hours the next day, depending on the elevation and distance. She mixes up her workouts by running trails and also has a road bike, though she says she prefers the woods.

She has no specific schedule: “I just try to get out and ride for fun.”

With so much success in such a short period of time, many people have questioned Tuttle about going pro. She says she’d like to, but isn’t in a hurry.

“At some point, I’d like to move up to pro but I haven’t put too much thought into it.”

She’s not currently sponsored, but does ride for Sycamore Cycles, the local bike shop in Brevard, and for her college team.

1 thought on “Tuttle wins national mountain bike title”

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