C-Falls mom making her mark on pro mountain bike circuit

Last fall, Rose Grant was quickly becoming one of the best professional mountain bike racers in the country. But she suffered a crash at the World Cup in Mont Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada.

She tore her ACL and her MCL. And spent much of the winter, cooped up in the basement of her Columbia Falls home rehabilitating her injuries.

A couple of weeks ago, Grant was back in racing shape and came out on fire, winning the coveted Cactus Cup 40-mile race in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 8 seconds. The 34-year-old mother of one outpaced 21-year-old Kate Courtney of California by nearly a minute.

Grant grew up in Darby and had four brothers. Home schooled, her father took the family into many excursions in the mountains growing up. Grant was always athletic. She got started mountain biking in high school, when her brother worked a biked shop.

She competed in a few races and won most of them in her youth, but figured she was winning because there weren’t very many girls racing in them. She went on to college in Florida and ran long distance races. Met her husband, Nelson, there and they lived in Maine for a few years before moving back to Montana. Nelson is a deputy with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department and was from Maine.

Grant got back into biking, hitting local events like the Glacier Challenge. Local racers took notice and she was invited to ride for the Sportsman Ski Haus team.

“That opened the cycling world to me,” she said.

That was back in 2010. By 2012 she went pro and one of her first races was a mucky clay course in Colorado Springs.

“I ended up sixth,” she said. But she also met her future teammate Chloe Woodruff. The two hit it off and began racing together in the Pro Cross Country Tour, sponsored by Stan’s NoTubes—Pivot.

If all goes well, Grant says she hopes to race in about 15 events this year from now until September. It’s a schedule that often finds her far from home.

The Grants have a four-year-old daughter, Layla. Rose’s mom, Kathleen Hughes, watches the youngster when Nelson is at work.

“My mom’s been a saving grace,” she said.

When Rose was pregnant with Layla, she raced a 40-mile course — on her due date.

Shortly after her pregnancy, Rose was back on a bike — Layla in tow in a chariot.

While she’s had great success on the circuit over the years, Grant said she isn’t driven by victories, or the chance to make the Olympics.

“It’s not for fame or to be on the podium,” she said. “It’s finding human potential. It’s very enabling.”