Ep. 219 ~ Remembering Kerry Snow-Alley

A memorial ride and Celebration of Life are planned for Saturday, Sept. 19th.  More information can be found here: https://kimtopp.com/honoring-kerry-snow-alley/

Kerry's fight has left significant medical expenses behind. Funds are being raised to help cover those expenses and care for the person who spent these last years caring so deeply for her. Learn more here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/honor-kerry-snows-memory

It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my dear friend Kerry Snow-Alley.

She is the person whom I credit most with not only introducing me to bikepacking, but also inspiring me to enter my first race in 2018.

When I did my first century, she was there. When I did my second century, she was there. The second time I ever went bikepacking was with her. And the first time I raced, she was in the field.

Behind the scenes, she was helping me in tangible ways as I navigated new ways to ride my bike and explore the world. Less tangible were the ways she inspired me on a personal level.

After my first divorce, she and her husband, Christopher, took in my 6 year old daughter and me while we got back on our feet. During that time, I got to see where the results were really being made: at home, in quiet, and without fanfare. She was dedicated to this life and to putting her best foot forward in everything she did, always with a cheery disposition.

On the bike, she was a beast.

In 2017, she entered the GranGravel 500 as her first bikepacking race and came in 2nd place in the women's category with a time of 2d 6h 18m.

Learning a lot from that experience, she came back the next year and finished 2nd overall, only two hours behind the infamous Indiana Schulz. She finished in 1d 19h 45m — almost 11 hours faster than her 2017 time.

Side note: That was also the year I entered the GranGravel 500 — inspired by Kerry. I was a tad bit slower and literally limped into the finish with a time of 3d 10h 8m.

Fast forward many years, and the spark and inspiration she instilled in me had turned into a full-blown obsession. Later that year, I'd go on to create Bikes or Death, and a couple of years later, the Texas Showdown Series.