Just 5 years after she started riding, Minturn’s Haley Dumke is turning heads in the pro gravel cycling circuit

Given her recent rise, it’s hard to believe Haley Dumke got her first real mountain bike on her 27th birthday. Five years later, the late-blooming bicyclist begins the 2025 season as the defending Silver Rush 50 MTB champion, a dark horse competitor on the Lifetime Grand Prix — the most competitive and lucrative gravel circuit in the country — and a member of not one, but two local pro teams.

Appropriately, Dumke kicked off her campaign the only way she knows how to at the Sea Otter Classic last month in Monterey, California.

“Just dove right into the deep end to start 2025,” she said of the first Grand Prix event. “I just have never competed in a field that strong and deep before. My goals for that race were really to just get myself into the mix, have a good, clean race (and) see how my fitness was after a long winter season, and I’m happy with the results.”

Dumke finished the 90-mile race in 5 hours, 47 minutes, 5 seconds to finish 32nd overall in the elite women’s field. She was also fifth among Lifetime Grand Prix wildcard athletes. The top three wildcards after the circuit’s second stop — Unbound Gravel — will join the 25 women and 25 men fighting for a $380,000 purse at six iconic off-road events. The Minturn resident, who also works full-time on the Vail Health surgical services administrative team, said the vibes at Sea Otter were “insane.”

“This event was wild,” she continued. “It was fun to go, but I was definitely a bit overwhelmed. Being newer to cycling and also a bit older — I feel a bit out of place at times.” 

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The 32-year-old turned to marathon running after her college lacrosse playing days concluded, ultimately finishing six Boston Marathons, logging a personal best of 3:00:01. She started bike racing at the Vail Recreation District Town Series events and eventually worked up the courage to make her long-distance debut at the inaugural Bighorn Gravel in 2022. Dumke finished 18th overall in a time of 7 hours, 49 minutes, 20 seconds. The next year, she sliced more than 90 minutes off her time, albeit on a slightly different course, to place eighth. In 2024, she missed the podium by just 11 seconds.

“It’s a very special race for me,” Dumke said of Bighorn Gravel. “Every year I come back and see how I’ve improved.”

Last September, Dumke teamed up with fellow Eagle County rider Sam Brown on his Mountain Pedaler of Vail-Dusty Boot Saloon racing squad. The cyclists got to know each other during the six-stage Breck Epic, where Dumke finished fifth in the final general classification standings.

“It’s kind of funny — he’s 7 or 8 years younger than me but he is really my mentor in starting getting into this elite level cycling,” Dumke said of Brown. “He’s so calm and has so much advice and has really been a great resource for me these last few months.”

This past winter wasn’t easy, either. Dumke flew over her handlebars and fractured her elbow on a Nov. 30 training ride in Sedona. While her radial head didn’t require surgery, she still had to spend all of December and the better part of January off her bike and board. There were lots of dog walks, no powder days and hundreds of sweat-drenched hours of stationary pedaling.

“(It) was just tough mentally to sit inside every day and get excited to ride in the same place,” she said. After eventually taking a few fatbike test rides up in Leadville, Dumke translated her indoor fitness to the trails quickly this spring. She intended to make her season debut in Oklahoma at The Mid South in March, but the race was canceled due to wildfires. That meant dusting off the offseason rust while dusting most of her competition at the Sea Otter Classic on April 10.

“I feel like it was definitely a challenge but a good way for me to see where I’m tracking for the season so far,” she said of the race.

Brown also competed at Sea Otter, placing 54th in 4:47:24.

“I haven’t been to Sea Otter in a while and I can’t say the chaos has changed very much,” he stated on social media afterwards. “Like many others, I went very hard on the first lap out there and I probably payed for it.”

Dumke continued her successful spring last weekend in De Beque, coming in the top spot at Wild Horse Gravel. She completed the 65-mile race in 4:13:38, which placed her 12th amongst the men, too. Brown (3:42:52) came in fourth, just three minutes off the podium and 12 minutes back from winner Torbjorn Roed.

In addition to the upcoming Unbound Gravel event, Dumke is prioritizing races close to home. That includes the GoPro Mountain Games — where she is a member of the 9-person Mountain Games Athlete Team — Bighorn Gravel, the Vail Recreation District Town Series events and the Silver Rush 50 and Leadville 100. In 2023, she finished the Leadville 100 in 8:43:08 to finish 47th. Based on her career trajectory trends, one could expect her to move up in her second attempt at the Cloud City century ride.

“For me, that race is really going to be a personal achievement just to see where I’ve come in the last two years in cycling,” she said.

Dumke fends off imposter syndrome by leaning into individual improvement markers as opposed to constant comparison.

“I want to feel like I’m going faster, I’m more comfortable with my skills, I have a better understanding of racing strategy,” she said. 

At this rate, Dumke probably won’t fly under the radar much longer. But for now, she’s embracing the advantages of being relatively unknown in the cycling community.

“I have that little dark horse element of surprise as a new competitor in the field that people maybe don’t really know about. Maybe I can capitalize on that a little bit, too,” she said. “I’m grateful for everyone who has been involved with and supported my cycling. I’m excited for this season.”