To politics for a moment – don’t worry, we won’t be here long. Does the Senator benefit from the chance to talk and easy back-and-forth being on the bike enables? “I try to avoid talking about politics on the bike. Plus, my colleagues are too old to ride!” More laughter. “What I like about the bike is it’s a time just to be human. And when I ride with a group, we talk about life, which is not often politics, despite the media portraying people as politics-obsessed. In my experience, they’re not. People are just living their lives.” She talks about the danger of politicians living in bubbles, not speaking to people who reside in real life. “I often tell my colleagues just to get in an Uber and listen to the driver,” she says. “Because what the driver is talking about is not politics. And the same goes for what we talk about on the bike. It’s real, and it matters.”

I wonder, though, when the Senator has time to ride her bikes. Isn’t her schedule a little hectic? “Oh, I plan my cycling way in advance! “I’ll text Adam and be like, ‘I’ll be home in three weeks on a Tuesday. Can you go ride?'” As to the challenge of staying fit while shouldering a heavy travel schedule, Kyrsten makes judicious use of an indoor trainer at her homes in Arizona and Washington. “Yep, I ride my Kickrs several times a week, wherever I am,” she explains. “If I’m at a hotel, I’ll jump on a Peloton or whatnot to keep my fitness up. But when I’m home in Arizona, given the chance, I go ride gravel or mountain.”

And does she bring the same fusion of fashion and color to the bike as she so famously does in Washington? “Ha, of course! I like my kit to match my bike, helmet, socks, water bottles, and hydration pack if I wear one. The whole thing has to match.”

With our time running down, I fire off a few fast questions only a serious cyclist could confidently answer. Favorite ride snack? “I love untapped maple sticks – especially the raspberry one. Other than that, a raspberry/lemon or a cherry/pistachio Skratch bar.” Favorite 2-hour loop? “100%, the loop we ride at Brown’s Ranch” she says without a pause. “I could ride that every single day.”

Best bike right now? “Oh, right now, my mountain bike, a gorgeous Orbea Oiz. It feels like you can take it anywhere. It rides like a cloud.” And the most critical question – her favorite Regroup beverage? “Dealer’s choice!” she laughs. “I’m such a creature of habit that ordering a drink is my chance to let someone else decide and force me out of my comfort zone.”

With retirement from headline politics on the horizon, I ask Kyrsten what the bike holds for her in 2025. “At the moment, nothing is set in stone,” she says. “Although I will say that because of scheduling, I didn’t get a chance to do a single gravel race this year. But in 2023, I did two Belgian Waffle rides, Steamboat and the Last Best Ride in Montana, and I had a ball at all of them. So for 2025, I’d love to do more gravel and mountain bike racing, especially the Cedar City Belgian Waffle in Utah.” Why that one in particular? “The terrain is gorgeous, and it brings me great joy.”

We’ll see you out there, Senator.