Meet Jessica Pyper - Golden Mountain Bike and Yoga Instructor

Meet Jessica Pyper. A yoga teacher and retreat facilitator by day, she is one of the amazing coaches we are privileged to have in our Shred Sisters team. Jessica’s starting point with mountain biking is thanks to her mother’s involvement in the sport; when she was about ten her mother started racing. This love of biking continued to grow for Jessica as she grew confidence in her skills and began sharing her love of riding with her own friends.

As fun as riding anywhere and everywhere on a bike can be, Jessica’s favourite place to ride is anywhere in the mountains. Her favourite styles of riding are definitely downhill at the bike park or shuttling with friends. Jump line trails with wood features like bridges, wall rides, and teeter totters are her favourite trails but she loves the chance to push herself with more technical terrain too.

Her first official coaching experience started off with private lessons and has grown into becoming an integral part of our coaching team! This is largely due to her teaching philosophy: focusing on having fun. “Always the most important part of biking” she is quick to add. Jessica’s favorite thing to teach about is braking; a skill where she wishes someone had offered her more solid advice. Jessica wishes that someone had taught her to “use the front brake more and be looser when going downhill, all I was taught was ‘to lean back and avoid using your front brake’” she laughed. The most valuable piece of advice Jessica has learned in her time biking would be along this same line of thinking: to be farther forward more when going downhill as it helps give more traction to the front tire and keeps your body centered. Jessica is quick to point out that she has had many amazing friends and mentors along her mountain biking journey that have had very valuable impacts on her development as a rider.

What makes Jessica a unique coach is how she also works to combine her love of mountain biking and her yoga. As the two complement each other very well, she has found the combination very helpful with retreats, workshops and guided rides. This combination was also a big factor in her deciding to get certification to coach mountain biking. It is, what she likes to call, her favorite form of work and she hopes she gets to do it for the rest of her life. Her coaching style developed a motto that has become a common saying amongst our Shred Sisters. The “Bad Bitch” motto developed out of Jessica’s own fear-facing experiences. She had first used it on herself when she was snowboarding and loved it so much that she adapted it and began using it with friends and brought it into her biking as well. For those of you that have not had the privilege of learning the “Bad Bitch” process, the technique involves closing your eyes, taking three deep breaths, and repeating to yourself “I’m a bad bitch. I’m a bad bitch. I’m a bad bitch.” Until you believe it. Then, you do it with more confidence and it works! Every girl that Jessica has introduced to it has loved it and it has grown into a motto we see used often across our Shred Sisters courses.

A valuable piece of advice that Jessica pointed out was “the mind always tends to give up before the body. When you think you’re not going to make it up a hill, push one more pedal. You’ve got this”! Clear to see her great coaching skills at play with that advice! Beyond the fulfillment of coaching, Jessica joined Shred Sisters because she admires Audrey for her coaching skills and business acumen. They also teach yoga together! Not only this, but Jessica loves to inspire and help other women and her personal values are right aligned with Shred Sisters—making her a great fit to our wonderful team! Make sure to check out and join some of Jessica’s events this year, including our Co-Ed All Things Golden Retreat where she will be coaching alongside Audrey!