Park takes a mobile approach to pro racing

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Mountain biker Krista Park (Incycle/Cannondale) has taken an unusual approach to being a pro racer. She and her husband Todd live permanently in an RV and travel around to races all over the US.

"We sold our house in Atlanta. We live in a motorhome. We spend the winters in Tuscon. Todd has a family in Santa Fe and my grandma is in Durango, so we hit all the fun races out there," she said to Cyclingnews.

"We are full time RVers and all of our friends are about 65 years old. It's a cool culture," she said. "We started the biking thing a little late and the RV thing a little early."

The 36-year-old spent the weekend racing the Triple Crown final at the Massanutten Hoo Ha! near Harrisonburg, Virginia. She finished second in the super D, third in the short track and fifth in the cross country after some mechanical shifting issues.

The Parks are both electrical engineers. Todd, 42, used to work for various antenna companies, and Krista used to work for Motorola in Georgia. Now Todd has his own company, and Krista is supposed to work for him.

"Sometimes that gets lost with all my training and racing," she said. "Todd does antenna systems designs, he doesn't actually design antennas. When we travel, we also visit his clients, which are all over."

When they started living full-time in an RV, Todd was regularly racing expert singlespeed for fun. He's been busier with work lately, but Krista is hoping he'll have a chance to get back more into riding so they can spend a bunch of time on the bike together again soon.

"He's got an awesome contract right now, so his fitness has totally dissolved, but it goes in waves, and he'll be super fit again," she said.

Park heads next to the marthon national championships at the Firecracker 50 on the Fourth of July. "Then I'll do the Colorado Springs US Pro XCT, and go to nationals in Granby, Colorado. After that, I don't know."

"I'd love to qualify for marathon worlds and go to Germany. Last year I qualified, but I didn't know I would, so I didn't have the finances to go. This year, I could go if I qualified."

"There are also so many fun underground-type races that I'd like to hit," she said.

Todd and Krista's approach to racing and living on the road is similar to Cyclingnews' bloggers Mike Broderick and Mary McConneloug although Todd and Krista take a more domestic approach while Mike & Mary spend much more time overseas.

"I'd love to do what Mike and Mary have been doing in Europe - even just for a couple of months," said Park. "We're always looking for a way to make that happen."