We were lucky to catch up with Erica Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

After decades of working in health care, I realized that my climb up the corporate ladder was no longer the path I wanted for myself. As I looked, many of my professional colleagues and mentors didn’t have the life I wanted for myself, or my family. Riddled with stress, often prioritizing their job over their own health and relationships with their family, I knew it was time to step down from that ladder and step into something new. I took a four month sabbatical and found my true calling. My passion project, leading a women’s mountain biking group, and helping women improve their health through mountain biking, was now becoming my true vocation. It was one of the biggest risks I had ever taken, but I knew it was the right path. When I returned to work after my sabbatical, I stepped down from my leadership role, took a part time position in order to maintain my health insurance, and began my journey to becoming a women’s health coach.

Erica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started mountain biking in 2018 when a friend invited me to join a group of women mountain bikers in Boise, Idaho. I had moved to Boise the year prior, after meeting and marrying my husband, a Boise native. I fell in love with the sport instantly, and before long, our entire family had mountain bikes and were out riding every weekend on our local trails. In 2019, I realized I wanted to ride more consistently with other women to build my confidence in the bike, and to build my community. I started a group text with about a dozen women, which has grown into the largest women’s cycling group in the region. What started as a small group of women riding together has grown into Crank Queens – an incredible community of women mountain bikers – beginner to expert, twenty-somethings to sixty-somethings. 100+ members and growing. We host monthly group rides (free for everyone!), skills clinics, retreats, group programs, spin classes, and other events and programs intended to help women build their confidence on and off the bike. Our mission: Empowerment and Community for women who love to ride bikes! Incorporated into all this is my training and education as a women’s health coach, where I offer group and 1:1 coaching for women who want to take their riding to the next level by focusing on strength training, nutrition, sleep/recovery and more. I believe that what we do OFF the bike is just as important as the skills we practice ON the bike.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The beauty of my story with building Crank Queens is that it grew out of my own personal passion to ride bikes with other women. I didn’t start Crank Queens with the intent to grow it into what it is today; it has evolved over time as I’ve responded to the needs of the community and my own personal growth. So, when I launched the membership program in 2023, I instantly had 60 women who signed up! Now we have over 100 members and growing. This was because I had spent years building up a community of women for women. Creating a membership program and integrating my health coaching programs were simply the next step to take that community to the next level. What sets our community apart is the focus on connection. There are a lot of places cyclists can go to compete with each other through races and events. And even some ride groups have a competitive spirit about them. While I enjoy racing bikes, I wanted a space where women of all skill levels could come together and truly connect. I saw how many of the women around me felt nervous to ride with another woman and how this vibe wasn’t helping anyone. So, I’ve held a strong focus of Connection vs Competition and that has attracted other like minded women to our community and to the sport.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that “I can do it all”. I have always been that Type A, overachiever personality. Early on, a trusted friend and mentor encouraged me to start an Ambassador program in order to mentor other women who could help lead rides and events. Creating the Crank Queens Ambassador program has not only allowed me to delegate leadership of many of our group rides, it has also created a space for more women to step into leading rides and empowering their peers in the sport. I have been intentional to design as diverse a group as possible with my Ambassador team. These are not women who have necessarily been riding for years, nor are they the fastest or most technically skilled in the group. My Ambassador team has ranged from women who are very new to the sport to women who have been riding for years, women who love to race and those who don’t, women of all age groups and backgrounds. I am only one person! Women who attend our rides are not going to instantly connect with my personality and style. Having a variety of faces representing the Crank Queens brand has helped promote in inclusive environment and at the same time, increase our capacity to lead more rides with more women each season. When a new rider shows up, they see there are other women just like them, just starting out on their MTB journey. And we can all show up together, and encourage one another.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.crankqueens.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crankqueensboise

Image Credits

Katie Sox
Creative Co Studios – Abie Young