About Cyclist: "Adventures in life." Jonna Blank

I was born in Vancouver, BC and grew up outside of Spokane, Washington. Growing up my family did lots of camping, skiing and adventuring as both my parents loved the outdoors.

In elementary school, my parents decided they wanted us as a family to raft most of the rivers west of the Mississippi. We buy a 16 foot raft and it takes us two summers. 

We were often on a river for 4-5 days. We flipped the raft multiple times. I barely survived one of them. Mom said if us kids ever started fighting she would just throw us in the water.

Growing up we rode our bikes everywhere; to school, to the pool, to the dirt trails. Bikes allowed me to go anywhere and I loved riding my bike as a kid.

At the age of 18 I bought my first mountain bike for $99 from Costco. I was thrilled to have such a cool mountain bike and I rode it all over. Soon that bike got replaced with a better bike and next thing I know I’m a Bicycle Messenger working for Jet City Cycle delivering packages on my bike. This was a really fun job as everything had to be delivered timely which meant you were always racing around the city on your bike.

I realize I need to go back to school and get a real job. I finish my bachelors degree in Human Biology and head off to Chiropractic School in San Jose, CA.

While in chiropractic school I read a magazine article about the completion of the Great Divide Mountain Bike route that goes from Canada to Mexico and is 2,700 miles. I think how cool that would be to mountain bike the “Spine of America” as a Chiropractor and decide I must accomplish this feat. I created The Chiropractic Awareness Expedition and began raising money and promoting my cause over the next year. I got about twenty corporate sponsors such as REI, Wholefoods, Sugoi, Kona, North Face, etc.

The expedition took 74 days and I was 100% self-supported. I averaged 48 miles a day carrying all my camping gear. 

I had two panniers on the back of my bike and used a Bob trailer off the back of my bike to carry a duffle bag. My mom shipped me a box of prepackaged food every week that I would pick up general delivery at the nearest post office. Almost 90% of the route is on dirt trails and roads. Whenever I went through towns I would stop in to the local chiropractor to say hello and get an adjustment to keep my body at it’s best. Afterwards, I traveled to REI stores and did presentations on the route. I want to do this again, so mark your calendars for the Summer of 2023!



One thing I love about cycling is, you never know what will be around the next corner or who you will meet. My husband and I have a fun story of how we met.

(This guy!)

 I was at a mountain bike race and there was this incredibly handsome guy volunteering at the leg marking station for the race. My friend, Kym, told me that this incredibly handsome guy was Ben and that he did endurance mountain bike riding and racing. She said that I should go say Hi to him, so I did and next thing I know he is marking my leg with his phone number. Let’s just say, I did not wash my leg for a week and the rest is history!

I moved to Texas a few years ago and immediately noticed the big groups of cyclists riding together. I also noticed there were no shoulders on the roads in Texas, which is something I had never seen before and realized it’s not safe to ride alone on the roads in the Dallas area. I joined Shawnee Trail Cycling Club and started doing lots of group road rides. I loved that with Shawnee Cycling Club you could ride an A group one day, then B the next and there were group rides happening all the time. I met tons of awesome people in a very short time. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.

I highly recommend anyone interested in starting road biking to check out Shawnee Trail Cycling Club as they start with Novice rides, then D rides to A rides so you just move up as you get better. For mountain biking groups, I’m a member of Dirt Side Sisters based here in Dallas, which is another amazing group teaching ladies how to mountain bike as well as offering group rides from Beginner to Advanced. I also ride locally with the Frisco Cycling Club, Gravel Monsters and I’m a member of the ladies Lyniate / Bike Mart Team.

You will notice when I’m cycling I’m often wearing a Cycling Kit that has a Skull and Butterfly on it. These are Betty Design Bike Kits. This is my second year of being selected to be on the Betty Design Squad as an ambassador where our motto is to be badass, beautiful and to do epic things in life.

My goal this year as a cyclist is to do more epic biking adventures. I always think, what is going to be on my Christmas Card for this year? I love traveling places and being able to ride all the cool trails, see amazing scenery and get off the beaten path. My favorite places to bike are: Moab, Park City and Bentonville. This year, I would like to ride the Kokopelli Trail from Fruita, CO to Moab, UT and the entire Colorado Trail.

When asked about my bikes, I laugh because I can tell you what color all my bikes are, but not about all the techy components. I have a road bikes, a gravel bike and three mountain bikes. I often ride them all in the same week. My husband has more bikes than me!

I think cycling is the best sport for people and families. I love that it is a sport you can teach your kids and do with them together for the rest of your lives. My dad sadly passed in his 60’s, however I have amazing memories of adventures and mountain biking with my dad.

My mom is still going strong physically at 86 years old. She has no fear and keeps herself physically fit. 

One of her motto’s is Why Not, I can do it today…. I may not be able to do it tomorrow. I love that you can tell my Mom some crazy adventure you want to do and she will tell you, Why Not! My mom has written two books about all her life adventures and travels and is the inspiration for me to keep doing grand adventures in life. It’s the memories and adventures with people that is truly what life is about!