Reader Bike Check: A Pink and Prepared 2018 Scott Contessa

We check out a Singletracks reader's customized bike. This Scott Contessa is decked out in pink and ready to race.

Photos by Jenny Burden.

A well-built mountain bike should reflect the rider’s personality. Jenny Burden’s 2018 Scott Contessa does just that. It’s a high-level build, ready for racing, or adventures both big and small. This Contessa also has custom built carbon wheels, and of course, well-placed accents.

Burden’s bike is decked out with a SRAM Eagle drivetrain, Rough Country carbon wheels by Dirt Components, complete with hot pink Industry Nine hubs and spokes, and hot pink Pro Series RevGrips, “to help with hand fatigue and elbow pain during long endurance rides,” says Burden. “The name sticker was made for me by my husband — he races IMCA dirt track I-stock and said every racer needs their name across their ride.” We can’t argue with that.

Burden has put the Contessa through a few proving grounds since she’s owned it.

“The day after I got this bike, I had a double-header race weekend: an XTERRA on Saturday and an XC race on Sunday. It was a perfect match right away! I did manage to wreck at the XC race and bend the derailleur hanger, of course. Since then, it’s been through 10+ XC races, 5 XTERRAs — including winning the USAT W30-34 National Championship in 2018 — and training and racing my first 100-miler at the Maah Daah Hey 100.” That one was unfortunately cut at 55-miles though, she says, because she got sick that day.

Jenny is back at it this year, competing in cross-country races and an XTERRA, and she’s attempting another 100-mile race, the High Cascades 100 in Bend, Oregon.

When she’s not riding or racing, Burden wants to get other women on bikes. She’s going into her second year as a mentor for the Little Bellas chapter in Austin.

“We are purposefully called mentors, not coaches, because the focus of the program is truly on building confidence, resiliency, and especially on having fun and getting dirty. The bike part is our vehicle for those lessons, and it’s the perfect mode if you ask us,” she says.

The grop meets once a week to ride, explore, have fun, and challenge themselves.

“Additionally, I head up my LBS’s shop racing team for the Peddler Bike Shop, and am proud to say the most active racers on the team are women, some brand new to racing this year! It’s all so much fun, even the hard stuff, and I love that my tool for making a positive impact on others is a bicycle.”

Go get em’ Jenny! Get your bike featured by submitting a photo and story in this forum.