When Kelsey Wisinski lined up for her first downhill race in 2019 at Trestle Bike Park in Colorado, something stood out. She wasn’t nervous about the course. She was wondering where all the women were. Flow Riders Founder Kelsey Wisinski.
“There were five different amateur men’s classes,” Kelsey remembers. “I looked around and realized I was the only woman there. I kept asking myself, ‘Where are all the women in downhill racing?'”
Instead of accepting that reality, she decided to change it.
Today, Kelsey is the founder of Flow Riders Race Team, an all-women’s gravity mountain biking community that’s grown from an idea into one of Colorado’s fastest-growing women’s downhill programs. What started with one rider recruiting strangers at bike parks has exploded into a movement of more than 50 women, and counting.
From One Rider to Fifty
Kelsey’s journey into mountain biking started fast.
“I went to a downhill park for the first time in July, bought a used downhill bike in August, and raced in September,” she says with a laugh.
After seeing the lack of female racers, she spent the next couple of years doing what she jokingly calls “guerilla marketing.”
“I’d literally walk up to women at the bike park and say, ‘There’s a race tomorrow. Do you want to sign up?'”
The idea for Flow Riders slowly took shape. In 2024, while serving on the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance Board of Directors, Kelsey approached the organization with an idea: what if they created an all-women’s downhill team?
She expected maybe four riders. Nineteen women signed up in the first season. The following year, the team grew to 27. This year? More than 50 riders—and new women continue asking to join almost every week. Flow Riders Founder Kelsey Wisinski.
More Than Racing
While Flow Riders was built around downhill racing, Kelsey. quickly realized the community needed something bigger.
“There are plenty of beginner women’s rides,” she explains. “But if you’re a woman who rides black and double-black trails and you just want a group of experienced women to ride with, those opportunities barely exist.”
The team is now expanding to include social riding opportunities for advanced female riders who may not want to race but still want community.
“We’re trying not to say no to anyone,” Kelsey says. “If women want to ride challenging trails together, we want to create that space.”
It’s a philosophy that’s become central to the team’s mission: build opportunities instead of barriers.
Breaking Through Fear
Downhill mountain biking has a reputation for being intimidating, but Kelsey believes the biggest obstacle isn’t talent.
“It’s community.”
Many women, she says, learn informally from friends or partners and never receive structured coaching. Others simply haven’t seen someone like themselves tackle the features they’re afraid of.
“When women ride with other women at their skill level, they realize, ‘Maybe I can do that, too.'”
The Flow Riders environment is built around encouragement instead of comparison. No judgment. No pressure. Just women helping women become stronger riders.
Confidence Forged on the Trail
For Kelsey Wisinski, downhill mountain biking is about far more than speed or competition. It’s a sport that demands resilience, self-awareness, and the courage to face fear head-on—qualities she first developed during a decade of competing in Muay Thai, another traditionally male-dominated sport.
“These sports teach you that you’re tougher than you think you are,” Kelsey says.
Unlike traditional team sports, downhill racing offers little room for excuses. Coaches, teammates, and supporters can help prepare you, but once the countdown begins, the rider is entirely on her own.
“When you’re standing at the start gate, it’s just you. Your team helped get you there, but once you drop in, it’s you and your bike.”
It’s this unique blend of independence and accountability that Kelsey believes transforms riders. Every descent becomes a lesson in trust, confidence, and personal responsibility. Successes are earned, mistakes become opportunities for growth, and every run down the mountain reveals something new about the person behind the handlebars. Flow Riders Founder Kelsey Wisinski.
For Kelsey, those lessons extend well beyond racing. The confidence built on a downhill course carries into careers, relationships, and everyday life, empowering women to take risks and believe in their own capabilities.
Racing with Purpose
As Flow Riders continues to grow, Kelsey is also rediscovering her own competitive ambitions. This season, she is pursuing professional downhill points while competing in both the Mountain States Cup and the Pro Downhill Series, balancing the demands of racing with the responsibilities of leading one of the country’s fastest-growing women’s gravity communities.
Yet personal results have never been the ultimate goal.
Kelsey sees her racing career as another opportunity to inspire the next generation of female gravity riders, proving that women can compete at a high level while building a community that welcomes newcomers into the sport.
What began as a simple question—Where are all the women in downhill?—has evolved into a movement that is creating opportunities where few existed before. Through Flow Riders, Kelsey is helping build a future where women don’t have to search for a place in gravity mountain biking because they’ve already found one.
The Flow Riders Philosophy
At its core, Flow Riders is built on a simple belief: community creates confidence.
When asked what advice she would give to a woman who has always wanted to try downhill racing but isn’t sure she’s good enough, Kelsey doesn’t hesitate.
“If you do it, you’ll learn something about yourself that you never knew before.”
She believes that growth happens when riders step outside their comfort zones, supported by a community that celebrates effort as much as achievement.
“And if you succeed or if you fail, we’ll all pick you up. I’m not just talking about Flow Riders. I’m talking about every woman on that mountain.”
It’s a philosophy that has shaped the team from its earliest days and continues to fuel its rapid growth. Whether a rider is chasing podium finishes, tackling her first black diamond trail, or simply looking for a group of women to ride with, Flow Riders is creating a space where everyone belongs.
Perhaps Kelsey’s message is best summed up in the words she offers to every woman considering her first leap into gravity riding:
“Jump, and we’ll catch you.”
Flow Riders at a Glance
Founded: 2024
Home Base: Colorado
Membership: More than 50 women and growing
Mission: To create an inclusive community where women can develop skills, build confidence, and thrive in gravity mountain biking.
Focus Areas: Downhill racing, professional coaching, advanced group rides, mentorship, and expanding opportunities for women in the sport.
As Kelsey has discovered, the greatest obstacle in downhill mountain biking isn’t technical ability, it’s finding the confidence to begin. With a strong community behind them, women are proving that they can ride farther, race harder, and achieve more than they ever imagined.
