On the eve of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics Viking magazine interviewed Gunn-Rita Dahle about how she became a pro mountain biker. She mentioned her favorite racing fuel (grilled salmon with rice and vegetables) and discussed her goals for the season. A few weeks later, she took the gold in Athens as well as in the World Championship. In the years that followed, she became world champ six more times, for a total of 10 years on top.

Sapin88, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From turning pro in 1995 just months after initially trying the sport, to topping the podium right before retirement in 2018, Dahle Flesjå’s epic 23-year career was anything but typical. Dahle Flesjå earned gold at the 2008 World Championship Marathon in Italy and later realized that she’d been in her first trimester of pregnancy at the time. She and her husband and coach Kenneth Flesjå welcomed their son Bjørnar in March 2009. As a new mother, Dahle Flesjå returned to the racing circuit after three months, and won the European championship that same year. She holds the world record for women’s World Cup mountain biking wins (30), which she accomplished at age 45.

Full Circle

As her time as a professional racer wound down, Dahle Flesjå ramped up several other endeavors. She became an ambassador for pro cycling team Multivan Merida and the Arctic Race of Norway, the event in which the best climber earns the salmon-colored jersey and takes home 500 kg of Norwegian laks as a prize.

Dahle Flesjå also became ambassador for Birken, the world’s largest mountain bike race that traces the route of the brave Birkebeiner supporters. Each year in August, 17,000 riders toe the line for this 86 km/53 mile adventure over rugged terrain between Rena and Lillehammer. Dahle Flesjå has won top honors nine times. She considers it her duty to pay back the race organization where she cut her teeth as a burgeoning racer.

As a pro, Dahle Flesjå spent 60 nights on the road annually. Now that her travel schedule has eased up, she’s set her sights on supporting local bikers, especially kids. She’s working for Trygg Trafikk, a traffic safety organization that promotes walking and biking to school, and teaches cycling skills and traffic awareness.

Another project in the works is promoting Rogaland as the top region for cross-country mountain biking. Dahle Flesjå told NRK that she would like to see her home town of Ryfylke become a mountain biking destination with trails flanking the famous landmark Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) on Lysefjorden.