Katie Hall (AMGEN ToC Champion)
Kate Courtney (MTB World Champion)
Christine Thorburn (2004 and 2008 Olympics) - retired
Since I live in SF Bay Area, I have had the good fortune of getting to ride with and know several world and Olympic champions. These 3 women are obviously very impressive on the bike. But what really impressed me is how supportive they are of other riders - younger, older, other women, and yes, even an “old man” like me. Particularly impressive was when Kate Courtney, after winning the 2018 Elite XC World Championship, held an open session with our local cycling community (high school, college and our club) doing a deep dive, interview style format with Q&A that followed that openly discussed her training, coaching, world championship win and the challenges she dealt with along the way and how she overcame/deals with them (e.g. racing pro while a student at Stanford).