For years, Payson has maintained that Nichole is the most talented athlete in their household, but it wasn’t until this winter that she finally decided to add some structure to her riding and shoot for some concrete goals. It all came about during an unusual lull in her schedule shortly after she and Payson finished his crossing project in New Zealand and got married in Tasmania, and just after she completed her capstone project for her Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. 

Payson and Nichole sat down to talk about how her tentative request for a training plan turned into an increasingly busy racing schedule. She started out by jumping into the four-day Sahara Gravel stage race in Morocco in February before winning the Central Missouri Circuit, a 340-mile ultra race, earlier this month. This weekend, she’ll be lining up for the Unbound 100 in preparation for the Vapor Trail, a high-country bikepacking race later this year. Nichole talks about surprising herself in Morocco by discovering a thrill for racing, dealing with the heat, mental exhaustion, and fueling headaches during the overnight Central Missouri Circuit, and what it’s been like having Payson as a coach. They also catch up on her studies at Johns Hopkins and how they relate to her work at the biopsy clinic in Uganda. 

For a more in-depth conversation about her work in pathology, listen to our episode from last year: Nichole Baker on her eighth year in Uganda for Path of Logic

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