The Ride That Redefined:Mountain Biking, Spinal Cord Injury & Resilience with Annijke Wade
Some stories stop you in your tracks, not because they're tragic, but because they're relentless. Annijke didn't discover mountain biking until her early 30s, fell completely in love with it, went pro, and then experienced a spinal cord injury at Angel Fire Bike Park that changed the shape of her life overnight. What happened next is the kind of thing you don't expect to hear from someone still in a hospital bed.
Starting Later Than You Think You Should
Annijke's path to the trails wasn't linear. She rode bikes as a kid, dabbled on city streets in Portland during college, and even bought a road bike in San Francisco, but was more drawn to the aesthetic of the bike than anything else at that time. It wasn't until she moved to Santa Fe — a quietly spectacular hub for outdoor sports — that a casual office email about a mountain bike club sparked something real.
"I googled it and I was like, oh, this is actually really cool. I love hiking, but I was kind of getting a little bored. I need a little adrenaline."
She bought a bike, put it together, and promptly showed up at the wrong trailhead for her first group ride. She was hooked anyway. Within months she had a gravel bike. Not long after, she was chasing her coaching certification through PMBIA and signing up for her first race season.
Key takeaway: It's never too late to find the thing that changes everything — and you don't have to start with knowing what you're doing.
The Crash, and What Came After
That first real race season was fully loaded — sponsors, travel, training. Then one morning at Angel Fire, on a jump line, everything shifted.
"The next thing I remember, I was lying on my stomach in the middle of the trail…”
Annijke was airlifted to the hospital. Surgery followed the next day. It wasn't until two days later — accompanied by a pamphlet — that a doctor told her she likely wouldn't walk again.
What happened in the hours after that news is what sets this story apart. Scrolling Instagram from her hospital bed, she landed on a video of an adaptive athlete shredding a bike park. That was it.
"I don't know what any other part of my life is going to look like, but I'm going to be back on a bike."
She was showing those videos to everyone who came to visit — before she'd even left the hospital.
Getting Back on the Bike
While still in rehab at Craig Hospital in Denver — widely considered one of the best adaptive recreation programs in the country — Annijke was already on Zoom calls with adaptive mountain bikers and reaching out to her network. Pearl Izumi came through before she'd even gone home: her custom Bowhead adaptive bike was being built while she was still inpatient. She had it three months after her accident.
"Having access to the equipment at like zero barrier to entry for me — that was huge."
The path back to the trails wasn't without friction. Trail access, terrain scouting, developing a whole new set of on-and-off-bike skills — adaptive mountain biking requires a different kind of knowledge. But nearly five years out, Annijke can watch a YouTube video of a trail and know whether her bike can handle it.
Racing, Advocacy, and Dirt Bound
Annijke started with gravel — SBT Gravel and Rebecca's Private Idaho — before working up to downhill last year at Sea Otter Classic, a race she'd had on her list since before her accident. This season she's doing it all: downhill, enduro, and gravel.
Beyond her own racing, she founded Dirt Bound, an organization focused on empowering para off-road cyclists through education, adaptive riding clinics, and community activations.
Takeaways from this conversation:
Representation in the outdoors isn't just nice — it's the thing that tells your brain a future is possible
Adaptive equipment cost is a real and significant barrier for many athletes without industry connections
Trail access for adaptive riders is improving, but community advocacy is still essential
Starting a sport in your 30s (or later) is not a disadvantage — it's just a different timeline
Follow Along
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And special shout-out to Annijke's partners: