Leadville winner will race in strong women’s group at The Growler on Saturday.
Just a few weeks after finishing second at RADL GRVL in Australia, Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) broke both her wrists during the Otway Odyssey mountain bike race. Despite the injury, she made a strong comeback and placed sixth in the elite women’s race at the Sea Otter Classic Gravel in California.
In just seven weeks, she pushed through her recovery and mental challenges. Now, the current Leadville Trail 100 MTB champion is heading into The Growler at Levi’s Gran Fondo this Saturday feeling more confident.
It’s been a tough and unexpected start to the year. Rollins had gone to Australia from her home in Utah to train and race during the winter, aiming to be at her best for the Life Time Grand Prix series, where she was runner-up last year.
“I started my season in Australia this year, where the weather and training were the best I’ve ever had. I was excited to begin the season strong,” she told Cyclingnews.
“During the Otway Odyssey in March, I crashed and immediately knew I had broken my left wrist. Two weeks later, I found out my right wrist was also fractured—but luckily, it didn’t need surgery.
“As I began to understand how serious it was, I realized recovery would take longer. Some days were really hard. I couldn’t finish workouts, tie my hair, or even cook.
“My doctor cleared me to race just six days before Sea Otter, so I was careful and still wore braces on both wrists.”
“I was just trying to survive on the downhills,” said Melisa Rollins, “but I surprised myself by keeping up with the front group during the climbs.”
Even though she finished sixth overall among women at Sea Otter, she placed in the top five among Life Time Grand Prix riders, which gave her the points she was aiming for. That’s an improvement from last year when she didn’t score well at Sea Otter and had to drop it from her ranking.
“Mentally, I’m now focusing on doing really well at the Unbound race this year,” Rollins told Cyclingnews. “I’m happy to be healing and to have a race under my belt as I train for that.”
In her only Unbound race back in 2022, Rollins finished the 200-mile event in Emporia, Kansas, about 32 minutes behind winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe. After that, she spent two years racing with the Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24 team, doing a lot of road races. That helped her improve her speed and led to her breakout win at Leadville last year.
Rollins first started racing on the road and says those experiences helped shape the rider she is today. Her time with TWENTY24 included strong results like fourth in the mountain classification at the Tour of the Gila and sixth at the U.S. Pro Road Nationals in the time trial. She’ll bring that experience into Saturday’s race, The Growler.
The Growler
Saturday’s race will be 137 miles long with over 13,000 feet of climbing. It includes tricky downhill sections and narrow, rough roads, making it feel like an old-school race. Rollins will compete against a strong field of women and men. The top 10 men and women will split a $156,000 prize.
Top racers include defending champion Lauren De Crescenzo, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Cecily Decker, and others like Courtney Sherwell and Flavia Oliveira Parks. On the men’s side, last year’s winner Keegan Swenson will be racing against Luke Lamperti and other strong riders from Sea Otter.
“This is the toughest road race in the U.S.,” said event co-founder and former pro cyclist Levi Leipheimer.
This year’s race has some new updates: elite men and women will start separately before the rest of the riders. Also, for the first time, the final hours of the race will be streamed live online using cameras and drones, free to watch on YouTube.
One of the toughest parts of the race is the 18-mile climb on the Geysers section. “It’s a long, uneven climb with a steep finish. It’s the hardest part of the race,” said Leipheimer. “And because there’s a flat run to the finish, anything can happen at the end.”