Just Continue: How 72-Year-Old Mountain Biker and Skier Sherry Walsh Keeps Going
Sherry Walsh is a role model to every 70-something who refuses to give up the sports they love. Despite a spinal fusion and two knee replacements, she mountain bikes 5-7 days a week or skis 2-3 days a week throughout winter. There is no secret to Sherry’s longevity. It’s all about her mindset and smart training.
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“I just want you to know, I hate gyms.” Those were the first words Sherry Walsh spoke to Ben Van Treese when she arrived at Off The Mountain (OTM) in 2018. Dealing with chronic pain and injuries, she joined Legends of Park City, a training program designed for 65+ mountain athletes. Sherry is not your average 70-something. While most Americans her age worry about falling and breaking a hip, Sherry enjoys mountain biking up to Park City’s Shadow Lake—a 10-mile climb that gains over 2,600 feet.
Sherry has perhaps the strongest mental game of any athlete at OTM, as you’ll see in her 100 Year Athlete interview. After a spinal fusion and two knee replacements, she refuses to let injuries deter her. “I don’t want to be defined by pain,” says Sherry. “It’s going to hurt whether I sit at home or ride my bike, so I just continue.”
Born in 1951, Sherry grew up in an era when women were excluded from sports. Thankfully for Sherry, she had athletic parents who pushed her to ski and play tennis. “I was my father’s son,” says Sherry, the younger of two daughters. She earned the nickname “Butch” from her dad.
In her 20s, Sherry moved to Aspen and became one of the few female ski instructors in town. Women weren’t even allowed to be on Aspen ski patrol then. She shredded the resort (cliffs, moguls, all of it) and toured in the backcountry using 200 cm matchsticks, bear trap bindings, and actual animal skins for ascending (to Sherry, modern ski gear is “cheating”).
Although she loved Aspen, Sherry followed her husband Dennis, a pilot, to Texas in her 30s. She got into long-distance running and started to win her age group regularly. “We didn’t train, we just ran. We didn’t stretch, we didn’t lift weights. We just ran, and I think that eventually broke my body down.”
The wear and tear continued into Sherry’s 40s, when she, Dennis, and their children relocated to Park City. She took up mountain biking and was taught by none other than friend of OTM Charlie Sturgis (check out his interview here), the godfather of Park City’s trail system.
In Sherry’s 50s, the injuries began. After tearing a back muscle, she had to quit playing tennis. Then at 56, she needed a spinal fusion and was forced to stop running. More recently, Sherry had two knee replacements which have left her with chronic pain. That doesn’t stop her, though. As Sherry once told Ben, “I can be at home and hurt and be weak, or I can be [at the gym] and hurt and be strong.”
These days, she trains at OTM twice a week, mountain bikes 5-7 days a week during summers, and hits the slopes at least 2-3 days a week throughout winter. “There are not a lot of women in their 70s who bike anymore,” laments Sherry. Her gym work prioritizes strength and mobility, the two pillars of fitness that will be most important for biking and skiing into her 80s.
Five years later after joining OTM, Sherry’s views on the gym have changed. “I love it,” she says. “It’s just another challenge now.” Her advice to 100 Year Athletes: “Don’t bemoan what you were. Do what you can and continue.”
Amen, Sherry.
