Queen of Gravel

Alison Tetrick is a cowgirl, a scientist, a storyteller, and a professional cyclist.

Growing up on a cattle ranch in California, Alison could dream as big as the boundless landscape. Being remote from the surrounding communities, she pursued excellence in her academics, solo sports, and was ingrained with a ranch life work ethic. Beginning tennis in high school, she used that and her Valedictorian status to earn a full scholarship to Abilene Christian University in Abilene, TX. She excelled in pursuing a B.S in Biochemistry with an emphasis in Molecular Biology and became a published scientific author in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Biochemistry for her research in cholesterol biosynthesis.

Alison’s scientific experience took her from Texas to Boston where she worked in a laboratory specializing in chemistry research and drug discovery and then on to the Bay Area where she currently resides in Petaluma, CA. Always seeking physical challenges to accentuate her professional career in biotechnology, she began triathlon winning her first races and qualifying for the 70.3 World Championships. Meanwhile, her Grandfather had become an avid cyclist in the later years of his life winning 17 USA Master’s National Championships and remarked that his granddaughter had the potential in the sport in which he could have unlocked decades earlier. Cycling was in her blood.

Despite the foray into triathlon, true riding to Alison still meant saddling up her horse to ride the trails of the Central Coast of California and it took some convincing from Grampy to race bicycles exclusively. A 6-month period that consisted of a few races, a call from the USA Cycling Talent ID, and joining the USA National Team, capitulated Alison into a career that both not almost ended her life, but also saved her life.

Finding the same sense of freedom on a bike that she had found with the wide-open spaces of the ranch, she uncovered what she needed to progress into one of the best elite women cyclists in the world. In 2014, she placed 3rd at the UCI World Championships in the Team Time Trial and won stages at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina and the BeNe Tour in Belgium. She represented the USA at the Pan American Games. She was ranked by the UCI, the global governing body for professional cycling, in the Top 10 professional racers in the world.

This successful career came hurtling down as a sequence of crashes that involved life flight helicopters, a traumatic brain injury (TBI), broken bones, hospital stays, months of rehabilitation, and side effects from the crashes that remain to this day led her to explore alternate outlets on the bike.

From the UCI World Tour, she began exploring all things gravel. She won her first gravel race at DK200, setting the current course record, and continued to become 3x Gravel Worlds Champion. In due course, Alison was crowned by event coordinators and the gravel community as the inaugural “Queen of Gravel”.

The TBI resulting from the crashes as a professional cyclist awakened her academic pursuits in the desire to understand the healing process of the brain. While continuing to race professionally and work as a consultant in biotechnology communications, she acquired her M.S. in Clinical Psychology.

Alison is dedicated to investing in the sport of cycling and serves on the Board of Directors of USA Cycling. You can find her all over the world enjoying life, riding bikes and inspiring. She maintains a career as a communications professional, specializing in biotechnology and the endurance sports industry. She was a pivotal part in the activation of the Amgen Tour of California, with her science, marketing, and cycling expertise. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Saga Ventures, LLC, a consulting firm based on curating meaningful community engagement and brand activation.

Be bold. Do work. Ride bikes.