mercifully subsided. It felt like we were getting closer. Our cars had become visible below the trees beside El Cap meadow. I could see Beth's blue Eurovan with her handbike on the rear rack.
We'd been working toward this ascent since Beth broke her back a year and a half before. One of my best girlfriends, she had been a favorite Indian Creek partner. Our friendship began as the standard relationship between any two obsessive female athletes. We'd call each other from payphones to talk about life, men and upcoming trips, send postcards and silly presents, and meet every few months at a sunny crag.
Before we met, Beth had made the switch from biathlon racing, a unique sport combining cross country ski racing and rifle marksmanship, to cross country mountain bike racing. She had also developed a passion for rock climbing. Beth was remarkably nonchalant, or maybe just humble, about her history as an elite athlete. As time went by, I began to understand just how good she really was.
Having competed in biathlon in the '92 and '94 Olympics, as well as seven World Championships, Beth's move to professional mountain biking was seamless. She found herself starting at the bottom of her new sport, without the sponsorship support that her competitors had. Still, she managed to train, make ends meet, and, by 1997, earn a national 2nd-place ranking, with the goal of being first the following season. The mountain biking media loved to run stories on Beth Coats, the underdog blazing to victory, and sponsorships began to roll her way.
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