How the Holmgren parents and kids developed their cycling power-household

This story originally appeared in the June/July 2021  issue of Canadian Cycling Magazine

by Jake Williams

In late July 2000, elite Canadian mountain bike racer Lisa Holmgren and national coach Rob Holmgren had just landed in Puerto Rico to take part in the Pan Am mountain bike championships. The married couple, having left their one-year-old son Gunnar with Lisa’s parents, were stuck at the airport in 40 C heat with nobody to pick them up, and barely any idea of where to go. “It was the trip from hell,” said Rob Holmgren, more than 20 years later as he recalled the international adventure. “I had to put everyone up in a hotel on my student credit card, which was just about maxed.” The Holmgrens shared mattresses on the floor with three riders from Quebec whom they had just met. “That would not happen today, I’ll tell ya,” Rob chuckled.

Lisa had a great result despite racing on a hot and muggy day in early August. The winner was Quebec’s emerging star Marie-Hélène Prémont. Rob recalled that Prémont had brought all of her own food to the event, something he considered a huge lesson. “Prémont was very smart, and had been travelling a lot and was prepared,” Rob said. “Our diet was basically exclusive trips to Burger King.”

Lisa was born and raised in Peterborough, Ont. She moved to Toronto to go to school for physiotherapy. Her boyfriend at the time had just started the University of Toronto mountain bike club. She borrowed a bike that was too big, and headed into the city’s Don Valley. “I thought I broke my arm on my first ride and ended up at Mount Sinai Hospital. It wasn’t broken, but after that I was hooked,” Lisa said.

Rob grew up in Hawkesbury, Ont., a small town near the Quebec-Ontario border. His stomping grounds were the trails of the foothills of the Laurentian Mountains.

Rob and Lisa met in the late ’90s at the Hardwood Ski and Bike recreation centre, about an hour north of Toronto, when they were racing on the Ontario provincial team. As Rob moved into coaching duties and Lisa continued to race, Rob approached Lisa. “I used to be charming,” Rob laughed.

Gunnar, their first child, came along in 1999, followed by Torunn, Max, and twins Ava and Isabella. Following in their parents’ pedal strokes, the family remained active and close to Hardwood Hills, so close in fact that for a few years they lived in a house that is practically in…