Favorite Female Cyclists #4 - Marla Streb

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It was an exaggeration, but #4 in my Favorite Female Cyclists series had a reputation: she either won or crashed (she once did a Power Bar commercial in which she ran into a tree, further cementing that rep.) The fourth slot in this countdown is American Downhiller Marla Streb. Marla Streb is an interesting story, which we'll get to in a second. She is a two time World Singlespeed (bikes with only one gear) Champion (1st Prize: a mandatory free Singlespeed Champion tattoo,) two time National Downhill Champ, the World Cup Downhill Champion in 2003, the US Super Downhill Champion in 2004, and an X Games Champion in 1998. She is in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. In her book Downhill: The Life Story of a Gravity Goddess, Streb, a scientist, tells of working in the science department at Duke University, where she was misdiagnosed with HIV. Subsequently, Streb, figuring she didn't have long, became an adrenaline junkie. Riding the bike portion of a team triathlon, Streb turned in the fastest bike time of all the women and became interested in bike racing, which she turned into a Hall of Fame career. Marla Streb now owns the Handlebar Cafe, Baltimore's only bicycle cafe. She and husband Mark Fitzgerald also own Streb Trail Systems, a natural surface trail design company located in Costa Rica. (Info verified by Wikipedia)