Larissa Connors is a two-time winner of both the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and Belgian Waffle Ride. Payson caught up with her at her home in Orange County, California in February to talk work/life balance, over-training, and why she has unfinished business in Leadville. They also talk about why she’s glad she doesn’t live near any of her toughest racing competitors, how she manages to maintain her infant daughter’s breastfeeding schedule while training for races and working full-time as a math teacher, and how her work in the classroom allows her to find a consistent source of self-worth that is so elusive in the unpredictable world of professional cycling. Known for her love of extreme physical challenges, Larissa also has a few cautionary tales up her sleeve, including the time she did five 100 mile mountain bike races in less than six weeks, and her first (and last) experience at La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica when she nearly died of kidney failure and found herself alone in a rural hospital in the jungle with nothing but the kit she was wearing and a very limited understanding of Spanish.

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