Michelle Grainger

Professional Cyclist now race retired and actively training and coaching

Endurance Cross Country Mountain Bike

24 Hours of Finale (Italy) ; 3 time winner and present Women's Course Record Holder

USA National Championships -100 mile -1st place

Vail and Beaver Creek Ultra 100- 3x Champion & course record holder

Leadville Trail 100- 3 x 2nd place

24 Hours of Moab- 2nd place PRO 4 person team

24 Hour Solo World Championship; 6th place

24 Hour Montezuma's Revenge; 1st place 200; 2nd place 1999, 2000

The Absa Cape Epic: South Africa: 8 day ultra distance stage race-7th place

Other notable NORBA Races:

NORBA National Trials Champion- Bronze medalist-1995

Endurance Road Race:

2nd Place Capron, Ill; RAAM qualifier

3rd Place RAAM & Rookie of the Year Award Honors

USA Cycling Road Races:

Colorado State Time Trail Champion Silver medalist 1994

Colorado State Time Trial Champion Gold medalist

5th Best All Around Woman Racer -Title. State Award

About Michelle

Michelle Grainger has been a Coach and Personal Trainer for over 17 years. Michelle has achieved her Elite Level Coaching License with USA Cycling, the highest achievable level of coaching. Michelle also holds several Certifications in Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition and Pre and Post Natal Fitness.

Michelle graduated from the University of Florida and has continued with her education to maximize her knowledge in the fitness industry.

Michelle has been an Elite athlete for the last 20 years competing as a Professional Mountain Bike Racer all over the world. Her belief throughout her career has been that her successes have come through determination, motivation and balancing aerobic fitness with strength and conditioning in the gym.

Michelle believes that people have individual needs and goals and for this reason she trains her clients and athletes in several different modalities. She helps her clients achieve their goals through traditional workouts using dumbbells and barbells, fitness machines, fit balls and/or balance discs and boards. Success does not come overnight. It sometimes takes years to reach fitness goals.

There are many aspects of coaching that are often overlooked. Michelle thinks of herself as a mentor as well as a coach. In this way, she helps in the areas of training, nutrition, race preparation, strength and resistance training, mental preparation and injury prevention. Results come from hard work and dedication. We all have busy lives and it is hard to find the right balances. As a mentor and coach, Michelle helps to put training and racing in perspective.

She feels that each person with an athletic goal can achieve athletic excellence, which is why she named her company "Athletic Excellence." Michelle also believes in giving people her undivided, individual attention, which is why she does not take on more clients than she can handle.

Success Stories

Choosing a coach is as important as each and every aspect of your training. A coach can help you learn to avoid training mistakes and get faster results. Michelle's clients have had many successes over the years, both personally and professionally as a result of her coaching.

Michelle has clients that have improved their personal best (PR) times on ultra distance races such as the Leadville 100 mountain bike race by as much as an hour.

Another client has improved his mountain bike climbing so much so that he now consistently places in the top 5 at many of the Rocky Mountain XC races as well as overcoming severe Scoliosis and even been able to race successfully in Cycle Cross.

Several of Michelle's clients are achieving their goals in Brevets, PBP, RAAM, while balancing full time careers and families.