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This is Living West Michigan.

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Thank you.

("Rest" by Basic Comfort plays) (Rock music) I love that we're out here today.

It's a perfect day for a ride.

Can we talk about just how this all got started?

Yes, absolutely.

It's got started in 2020 during actually, just before the Covid pandemic, I had this idea of starting a group or mountain biking for women, and I felt like there was a very big need in the West Michigan community for that type of activity.

And so put together this group on Facebook, invited people out the public, and I had 27 women show up my very first ride.

So many of the women, it was the first time out there.

I showed him a few skills just to get started, make sure everybody was safe, and from there the group just grew.

Week after week after week, we traveled throughout all of the West Michigan area trails.

We do special trips such as We Ride the Dragon, which is a 42 mile round mountain bike trail.

So we do that once a year at minimum.

We camp and ride, and then we have clinics as well to show women how to, you know, learn the basics.

Very basics of mountain biking.

And you're really making it so accessible for other women to not just love it and come out and ride and find community, but really find their place in the sport.

You talk about a 40 some mile ride that can sound daunting for some, but then you said clinics, you know, is this really something where kind of someone of any beginner status pro can come in and have fun?

Absolutely.

Actually, at every event that we have, we welcome women of all skills levels, body sizes, state ages, anything.

What we do is we separate into several groups based on skill and who has a day where they want to go fast.

And maybe today was a really rough day, or they had a huge workout in the morning and they want to go a little bit slower than what they normally do.

So you just kind of know where you fit in.

And then one of our groups is what we call our chill group, which is a beginner group and where a skilled writers will ride with you.

It's an old drop.

And so what we do is just make sure that those beginner writers are safe and still have a really good time.

I love how you're talking about not just the physical aspect of it, but the mental as well.

What it takes to really feel comfortable out here and confident.

Have you seen in some of your riders, maybe those who have just started, then hit a point where they say, I'm ready for the next step, am ready for the next level?

Practically everyone else see today has started on the beginner or the chill ride, and then build on their skill and quote unquote graduate to the next level and then the next level, and really seeing what women are capable of and then wanting to do that, and then those more experienced women teaching them how to do that and encouraging them.

One of the women who helped found the group lives on my street, and I was would like by her house and other things.

And she said one day.

Oh, you should do this race that my friends do.

And so she tells me about this, and it's like race that this group puts on every year.

And I was hooked after one time with everybody.

And it's just such a supportive group.

No one gets left behind is a big thing we do.

And it's just I was obsessed from the start and I've always been really athletic and like to do things with groups and things like that.

So being able to find a group of women who are fun and like to get dirty, I joined when I was 49, so I'm in my 50s now, and it's crazy to me that I'm like throwing myself down obstacles and trying not to hit trees.

I don't say not hitting trees because I do hit trees, but it doesn't matter what speed you go or what your ability is or how you feel that week.

If you don't want to go all out and you don't have to, if you really want to spice it up and go as fast as possible, then you can do that.

And it is just amazing to be part of a group of ladies that are so encouraging.

And we have each other's back, and we're playing in the woods and whooping and hollering and having so much fun.

And I've done a number of races now, and I've actually placed in some of them, which is something that three years ago was completely bonkers to me to even consider that it kind of opens the door to the larger mountain bike community as well within the state, which is equally cool and just relax and welcoming.

When we talk about just the outdoors being a space for everybody, someone of, like you said, any like age, body type, skill level, do we feel like this is an accessible sport for women?

And do you feel like that's something that's growing every day?

Absolutely.

It has brought so much joy in my life, that confidence that you feel of, you know, having a tough skill and being brave like that and just being tough.

You saw off your bike, you get a scrape, you get a cut, you get this and you just get back on and that type of thing.

Those kinds of experiences, tough experiences, you know, just really build on your character, but then also just give you that confidence to go out there and conquer anything that you're facing out there in the world.

If you're conquering this, you can conquer that.

One of my first times riding with the group, some of the women are doing, you know, there's like little things off to the side where you do a little balanced team and watching them, I'm like, I'm never going to be able to do that.

And then little by little, seeing myself grow in confidence and then reach for new skills.

And so then last summer, I did get jump a clinic and just started doing little baby jumps.

But just keep growing.

What I think is possible for me is kind of been the thing.

Everyone's so encouraging and just supportive and willing to give you tips, but not make it feel like you're doing something wrong.

It's really lovely just having that community of women that can, you know, not judge you, not compete with you and just want to encourage you to be your best out there is what we bring and what can be lacking out there.

If you don't have that community of women to ride with on a regular basis.

And so one of the times that I was out the trail that I rescued this woman who was crying because her partner had brought her to one of the toughest, most technical trails in the area, and it was her very first time, and that should not have happened.

So had a good conversation with her.

Look her chin up.

This is on you.

This is not where you should have started and your experienced partner shouldn't have done that lets you know started ground level.

Let's do that instead.

And I think she walked away feeling better.

And so when we encounter things like that is how I'm like, okay, I feel the need for something there to provide the space for women to allow them to grow and learn and just take off.

That feels so good to put out on our little group chat or on our Facebook page like, hey, I want to go for a ride up at Mosquito Creek.

Does anyone want to go?

And everyone starts chiming in and you have a little, little crowd to go with.

It just it feels so good to share this experience with other people and to push each other or just have an easy ride where the trees are absorbing all of our grief in an existential ennui.

For the week, it just it feels so good to have that little pack of girls with you.

And, you know, one of the things you say is like, don't say I'm sorry.

I mean, it still comes out of your mouth because this habit.

But you say, like, thank you for your patience or, you know, thank you for helping me or, you know, something else to be considerate.

But we're not out here to apologize.

We're here to learn.

We're here to have fun.

And it's just such an encouraging group.

And I think just compassion that women have as a group together does it.

It carries into this.

And we're always trying to pick people up like we'll pass a family and there's a mom like you said, I do, but I've picked people up in the doctor's office and like, oh, you'd like to ride to come out.

So I would like to say, if there's anybody who is wondering if they could or should join up with us or could do it, or they feel like I'm too out of shape, or my kids are little and I can't do this right now, or I don't know if I have the body type.

All of the reasons we give ourselves to not do something, come out and join us anyway.

If you don't have a bike, we've got a bike for you.

If you don't have a helmet, we've got a helmet for you.

If you don't know how to pedal a bike, we'll show you how.

Like this is the group to be a part of.

Rolling!

Grand Rapids Black Sox on Valley Field.

Out here at Valley Field, it was always somewhere to come.

It was an incredible experience.

Even when I was a number and I come down here just to watch, it was just a very, very pleasant kind of experience.

It was a loss of talent that came through Valley Field.

It was like almost a major league team.

I'm so excited that I'm able to take a part and send the field open again.

What was your first, I guess, memory doing of this field here in Grand Rapids?

My first memory was my Uncle Ted Raspberry, of course, had the Grand Rapids Black Sox and the other team.

So with me being the oldest of the nieces, nieces and nephews, I got to do all the fun stuff was my job to sell the tickets, and I had no problems selling the tickets because they were 50, son.

So that was my highlight of a Sunday.

Going to church, coming to Valleyfield.

What's this field mean to you as far as memories?

This was the place to come to on Sundays after church.

That was the first time I saw Minnie Forbes was sitting out selling the tickets and letting us in.

Gentlemen, there's a reason that you are sitting next to each other.

Take me back to your first meeting.

John and I, we started playing baseball for Youth Commonwealth in that 10 to 12 age bracket.

That's where we started.

And I guess one year we won championship and we just been together ever since.

Being the nephew of Ted Raspberry it was automatic, I was here and I can't remember the day I wasn't around my Uncle Ted playing baseball.

It was like, you know, a holiday for lots of people that came here and they'd come out in their Sunday best Bruce Doane Jr, Bruce Doane Jr.

You called the balls and the strikes and what else?

I did that a lot, actually.

Probably too much.

What did this field do to West Michigan?

To the west side of Grand Rapids?

Two Grand Rapids in general at that time.

Was this the place to be?

Yes it was.

The kids loved it.

They came down here and bikes.

So they promoted the kids.

Let him keep score.

They chase baseballs.

He'd give them a dime for every baseball they brought back.

And and the whole neighborhood.

In reality, around this field, there would be 3000 people in the stands there from eight on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon.

Let's let's spend a moment talking about Bob Sullivan, because this is Sullivan Field and you're calling them what we call them.

Sorry, Sully.

And what kind of what kind of games?

Who played here?

Sullivan's played against, you know, he, like Korea came here.

Canada came here from Chicago, would come here every year.

And they were very, very good.

You name it.

There was a lot of teams around here that were very good, and they were inspired by Sullivan to improve their teams because the competition was so high.

I mean, he had 78 major league players play here.

And speaking of talent, you a Black Sox player?

Talk about that.

Well, I played Dan played with the Black Sox also.

How's your pitching arm?

Take us back to Valley Field.

Valley Field for me.

You know, again was starting early coming to the games.

But also I remember playing when I was at Central High School.

We used to play Union High School over here, and getting out away from Belknap Park to come to play at Valley was, oh, man, it was unbelievable that you had such a fine field.

Minnie, Here we are at Sullivan Field now.

What's it feel like to be here in 2026?

It's wonderful.

I, I was so excited that I was invited to be here because it brought back memories to me from the 40s and 50s, and I'm so happy that Sullivan Field is going to be open again.

And then maybe they'll let me say a tickets one day, I think because of the yeah, you think I must.

It's taking something that was significant.

It's been a significant part of this community and elevating it.

And hopefully this will provide an opportunity for more kids to become involved and play baseball.

You know, there's nothing like having something available to you that's first class and this will be a first class operation.

And I think there will be encouragement for youngsters to get involved.

It was one of those things where the doctors told me that I probably would never run again, and I was like, if I can't run, like, I have to find another way to not be all stressed out.

(Electronic music) OCR stands for Obstacle Course Racing.

The best way to explain it is Ninja Warrior, in trails and on grass and on hills, with a combination of what you would play around with as a kid on the monkey bars.

So cross country running with Ninja Warrior and your backyard school playground.

There's just various like hanging stuff.

So like each race is going to be a little different from the obstacles there, but there tends to be something where you're gripping onto something like anchors and some rings and you're swinging across rings.

So anything that involves awkward things to grip and carry, they also really like mud.

So sometimes they have you go into a muddy puddle and then you go underneath an inflatable wall, and then you come back up and you wipe your eyes full of the water, and then you're like, I'm going to take a shower after this.

You overthink it too much.

Then sometimes you do it too slowly.

So sometimes it's more where it's like, okay, just keep moving and kind of keep the momentum.

But then, yes, at the same time, you might stand there for a hot second and kind of evaluate like, okay, what grip am I going to grab?

Because sometimes how they place the grips, you might be able to skip one of like the grip pieces and reach from one and then skip one and get to the next one.

So you're not having to do every single one.

So then it's like, okay, this is my path that I plan to go.

Now, sometimes you have a whole plan of how you're going to do an obstacle, and then you start going on and you're like, okay, scratch that.

We're going to touch every single one and we're just going to get through with anything.

Sometimes overthinking can make it where it's not as successful, but you still got to, I guess, have a little bit of a plan in place.

One last.

I started with gymnastics when I was younger, between like eight and ten years old.

I started doing more competitive gymnastics, and that kind of led into some high school sports of doing track and cross country and some diving.

I went on to college to do track and cross country.

So like sports have kind of been a major part of my life for a really long time.

And it's just one of those things where you feel super accomplished to be able to either see that improvement or do maybe something you never thought you could do, and that comradery that comes with, you know, being with your teammates and stuff like that, there's nothing like it.

So it's kind of in a good way, addicting to be able to stick with it and keep doing something like that.

(Cool music) I was running 75 miles a week because that's kind of what our training log was.

And since I used to do gymnastics, I was actually at the camp working as a gymnastics coach.

So me and some of the other like councilors were just playing around and I literally did a straddle jump.

Nothing crazy didn't land weird, but I just felt like a pop.

And then it was one of those things where like, it was painful for quite a few weeks and I got it checked out and they're like, oh, I think you might have pulled a muscle.

And then it didn't get better.

And I was like, okay, something still wrong?

And then after like a month later, they were like, oh, actually, you fractured your femur.

And I was like, oh, well, that's why it still hurts.

It was one of those things where the doctors told me that I probably would never run again.

And I was like, I'm going to prove you wrong, because running is just something that I find stress relieving.

And I was like, if I can't run, like, I have to find another way to not be all stressed out.

So it was just a lot of working on like that physical therapy and strengthening back and then being able to like come back and do, you know, running again and just be able to compete even at that like higher level.

It was very rewarding to be like, okay, I am able to do this again.

(Hip hop music) I'm a super competitive person and I'm always like, well, there's always another way to be either improve or be better.

After college, it was like, okay, what's next after that?

Which there was a few years that I just really didn't know what I was going to do from it.

I still kept, you know, running and keeping in shape, but it wasn't until 2017 that I found the OCR racing, and I did my first Spartan Race, and I was like, oh, they have prize money for pieces for this.

If you do really well, you can travel the world, do different things.

I was like, okay, I could get behind this.

I like looked back at, you know, the stats of it.

And I saw that out of all the thousands of whatever women in the open section, that I was the fastest girl to do out of all the open, and that I would have been in like the top ten out of all the elite girls.

And I was like, oh, maybe like, you know, this is something that I could look into more and do a little bit more often.

So, you know, got some grip stuff and just got better at building my grip strength so that my obstacle completion could match my running.

I want to be able to set an example for my kids and be like, if you want to do something, you can figure out a way to make it work just because you know whether you have a job or whether you have kids making that time for you.

Because everyone needs a little bit of like time for some people it's, you know, reading a book.

For some people, it might be something different.

For me, it's like, okay, being able to still do some of these competitions, they're more likely to be like, hey, let's push ourselves.

Let's do something hard because they're like, well, if she can do that and she thinks I can do that, well, then I probably can do that.

She'll be there for your kids.

But then them knowing that you're taking that time for you makes it where you can also be better there for them, because you're less stressed out and you feel more like emotionally, kind of in a good space, so that you can also be the best person for yourself and for them.

Gentlemen, make some noise.

Your top elite female making your way to the fourth wall.

I used to just be a trainer and kind of worked at different gems.

I wanted to have a little bit more kind of personal connection with the people that I was training.

And so if you can be able to build that relationship on top of that, not only are you more likely to be able to help those that you're training, but then they're most likely going to stick a bit longer because you do have that relationship.

You do have that kind of friendship built in because they know that you care about them as a person.

And it's not just, oh, I'm trying to get you like this fitness result.

And so that's kind of one of the reasons why I wanted to kind of start my own gym is because then you can build that with your client, with your members.

Competing is definitely probably the most fun and painful at the same time.

It's fun because you're like trying your best to be like, okay, I'm trying to stay ahead of this person, or you're like, pick this one person off or the other person off.

That's why you do all of the training.

And so it just reminds you of, okay, this is why, like I do this day in and day out, this is why I get sore so that then I can push my body how it needs to and kind of get that result.

So really aiming for all of those pieces, I guess, just makes it worth it.

I just really wanted to help others because I know how much fitness and athletics has just helped me be able to like, you know, do different things and being physically fit helps you get through life.

And I was like, well, if I can make a difference and help others improve their health and fitness, improve their confidence and make it where it's not so intimidating, then that would be a win because there's so much negativity in the world.

Being able to help someone feel confident, feel good about themselves, and it's just very rewarding to see them being able to like, improve in their journey, even if they don't want to.

Do, you know, like some crazy athletic thing competition that I'm doing because half of the time I'll tell them some of the things they like.

Girl you're crazy.

Yeah, I know, but it's a fun, crazy.

And she’s off!

Full send.

Make some noise ladies and gentleman (Electronic music)