Hannah Otto, professional mountain bike and gravel racer

Payson sits down with professional mountain biker and former teammate Hannah Otto to discuss her new privateer program, splitting her 2022 schedule between North American gravel racing and UCI World Cups, and her childhood as a world champion triathlete. Hannah started racing triathlons at 9, eventually winning the XTERRA Amateur World Championship. After switching to cycling in college, she became a 5x collegiate national champion and signed with the CLIF Pro Team. After nine years of racing on factory-style teams, she's going private this year, pursuing both the LifeTime Grand Prix and a spot at the 2024 Olympics. 

In this conversation, Hannah talks about the internal drive and love of sports that propelled her to a very early start in racing, how she’s brought some of her triathlete mindset to her cycling career, and why privateering isn’t so different from racing on a factory team. She also talks about the other side of her job, in which she is a coach and regular contributor to VeloNews. 

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Email: howdy@withpace.cc