Ana Jager grew up in Anchorage, Alaska in an active outdoor family. Skiing, biking and spending time in the outdoors at a young age allowed her to gain confidence and skills that would shape her future adventures. She has since made a name for herself in the cycling world by completing (and winning) an impressive number of long-distance endurance races, including a first-place finish in the 2,700-mile Tour Divide in 2022. But the 28-year old doesn’t take her adventures for granted. Drawing on the empowerment she’s found through long-distance riding, she has spent the past five years helping create similar opportunities for young people in Anchorage through the local nonprofit Anchorage GRIT.
Jager’s first long bike trip came after high school, when she and two friends planned a loosely organized West Coast ride as a graduation trip. The experience was messy and improvised, but it sparked Jager’s interest in traveling the country by bike. Not long after, she completed the Kenai 250 with her dad, a challenging Alaska endurance ride that pushed her physically and mentally.
A few years later, Jager took some time off away from college to bike the Baja Divide, a multi-week route down Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. That trip helped clarify what she was drawn to about long-distance riding. “That was when I realized this is the coolest way to travel and see things,” she says. “It’s efficient, but slow enough that you can see what’s around you and interact with people and communities.”
Jager decided to pursue endurance bikepacking events, including the Tour Divide, a 2,700-mile route from Banff, Canada, to the New Mexico border along the Continental Divide. Drawn to the challenge of self-supported long-distance travel, she has completed the route three times. On each ride, she manages her own food, gear, and recovery while moving for weeks at a time, often solo. “There are parts that are incredibly fun, but there are certainly also plenty of lows,” Jager says. “When my body feels really wrecked, or I’m out of food, or I’m lonely — it’s a long time to be alone.”
She says those challenges have shaped how she thinks about taking care of herself, particularly when it comes to fueling and listening to her body. “I have not always had a healthy relationship with food,” she explains. “Covering lots of ground and getting to remote places under my own power has been a really meaningful thing in teaching me the importance of and the power in taking care of myself and developing healthy relationships with food and my body. Long, self supported bike rides have helped me learn a lot about what is possible and what we’re capable of when we take good care of our physical and mental selves.”
And though endurance riding can be solitary, Jager values the community around it. She draws inspiration from other Alaskans who take on long adventures out of pure curiosity and excitement for place. “There’s an eager, motivated and humble energy in this place that I love and always feel inspired by,” she says.
Jager’s belief in access and opportunity drove her to work with Anchorage GRIT, a non-competitive biking program for middle school girls, trans, and nonbinary students. Five years ago, program founders Lael Wilcox and Kate Rodriguez handed the program off to Jager, who now co-coordinates it with Taylor Borgfeldt. GRIT partners with local middle schools and runs for six weeks each spring, ending with a bikepacking trip from Eklutna Lake to and Serenity Falls Hut.
“The whole goal is giving students the opportunity to use bikes and movement as a way of self-empowerment,” Jager says. At the end of the program, students “earn” their bikes to keep, which Jager sees as central to GRIT’s mission. “The mobility of being able to get yourself places is really powerful,” she says. “It’s something I relied on growing up, and it feels meaningful to help make that possible for other kids.”
Looking ahead, Jager is reassessing what endurance means for her. After years focused on long bike rides, she’s becoming more interested in skiing, running, and multi-sport travel. She says that Alaska offers endless options for human-powered movement, and she’s looking forward to exploring longer adventures on skis and foot. “I really like challenging my body and moving for a long time,” she says. “I’m excited to explore new ways of doing that.”
*Anchorage GRIT is fundraising for their 2026 program season. Contributions can be made here.
Emily Sullivan is a photographer and writer focused on outdoor recreation, environmental wellness, and community empowerment. She is based on Dena’ina lands, where she can usually be found skiing, packrafting, or berry picking.
