Lea Davison

www.leadavison.com/

D.O.B	May 19, 1983
Hometown	Jericho, Vermont

School	Middlebury College ‘05, Environmental Studies
Residence	Sunderland, Vermont

Pro Teams

Trek/VW Factory Racing (2006-2008); Maxis Rocky Mountain (2009-2010); Specialized Factory Racing (2011-2016); Clif Pro Team (2017-2018); Team Twenty20 (2019-2020)

Meet the Athlete

Lea's parents threw the kids into every sport imaginable growing up. Since her mom, Lucia, grew up in pre title IX world where the only opportunity was cheerleading (and you better believe she was the best at that), she wanted to give them every opportunity possible. So the competitive seeds were planted with sports from downhill ski racing and cross-country running to swim team (that didn’t last for long) and windsurfing. It was in high school that Lea was introduced to mountain biking, and it was love at first ride. She jumped immediately into racing at the local level and then, while competing in her first national races, realized two important things. She could be a professional mountain biker for a living and that mountain biking was an Olympic sport. From that moment, her sights were set squarely on making those two things happen. Fast forward twenty years and she’s done exactly that. She’s competed in two Olympics (11th place in London and 7th place in Rio) and also won two World Championships medals in 2014 and 2016. After experiencing how much sports gave to them, Lea and her sister wanted to empower as many girls as possible through cycling. The Little Bellas was born, a mentoring on mountain bikes program for girls. Lea’s true passion is empowering women and using her cycling career as a platform to do this.

What is your spirit animal?

A goat. They love to climb, they thrive in the mountains, and they eat anything!

What are your pre-race rituals?

The pre-race pump up playlist is crucial. It's constantly changing up beat songs but the one constant is Beyonce. Listening and dancing to Beyonce is crucial to success. I also make sure to eat breakfast three hours before the race, and this includes fried eggs over medium and toast or some waffles or pancakes. Right before the race, I always put Amp lotion on my legs.

What is your favorite quote or piece of advice to live by?

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. As we’re liberated...

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Points of Interest

2016 Silver World Championships Medal. This was a major come from behind effort. I went through the start loop in 20th place, which is not ideal, and then I just really tried to pass as many ladies as possible. I went into the last lap in fourth place, and then third place had a mechanical. I moved into third. Then, with 500 meters to go, second place got a flat tire, and I came in second place! This just proves that you can never ever give up!

Olympics: Any olympic moment has to be a top racing moment. Making my first Olympic team and fulfilling a life long dream was one of the most special moments of my life. It shows that if you are willing to put in the hard work, you can do anything. And then racing in my second Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, was different than the first and equally as special.

In 2014, I had hip surgery at the end of January. I started training so hard in order to come back in time to race the second half of the season. While all my other competitors were putting in long hours and base miles, I was working on my hip range of motion. I started racing in late June, and, in September, I won my first World Championships medal. To comeback from that type of injury to WIN a World Champs medal was simply mindblowing.