I’m Eliza Sampey: adventurer, entrepreneur, athlete, and storyteller.

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Welcome to my space! Allow me to introduce myself.

I’m a passionately curious human, obsessed with motion. It’s as vital to me as breathing. Whether it’s my body, mind, or actual physical location, I’m always moving. I’m an adventure seeker, bad idea instigator, pro airport sleeper, mediocre musician, skinny dipping evangelist, dance opportunist, lover of contrasts and extremes, and former but forever dog-mama to my big floofy wolf-bear, Cody Oats World Traveler. Cody and I were together fifteen years, living on the road for much of that time. He passed away peacefully in the summer of 2022, lying in my arms by the side of a creek in southern Colorado, not far from where our journey together first began. Life hasn’t been quite the same since, but his energy is woven into every cell of my body and in a way he’s still always with me.

I’ve been an adventurer my entire life: growing up exploring the woods around my family farm on foot, bikes, skis, horses, and poorly-built log rafts. My parents knew I was a “crazy one” by the age of two, when I refused to stop skiing around the yard in the frigid Minnesota winter and they had to drag me kicking and screaming indoors to avoid frostbite. I spent most of my young-adult years in the mountains of Colorado, a year in New Zealand and a year in Guatemala, and I’ve traveled long-term by bike, foot, and packraft across some of the world’s wildest landscapes in places ranging from Peru to Pakistan. I lived on the road full-time from 2015-2021 and part-time since, now also growing roots in both the Sonoran Desert of AZ and the North Cascades of WA with my life-partner Dan and his old dog Bailey.

VITAL MOTION LIFE is a celebration of the adventures, challenges, people, places, lessons and insights that a life full of constant movement has brought me. I hope you can find some inspiration in these pages as well. Keep reading to learn a bit more about me, the work I do, and some of the ways we can create together.

Here’s what I really care about:

Adventure + Impact.

I believe in using my adventures to have a positive impact on my own life, and on the lives of those I encounter along my journey. If we seek to actualize our own human potential, which adventure inspires and facilitates, it creates a ripple effect: who we become when we lead by example impacts those around us in an empowering way. My platform as a professional athlete and the work I do as a content creator, writer, speaker, facilitator, and coach are dedicated to helping create this reality for others as well. My mission is to inspire and enable people to choose their own adventures and use them to positively impact their own lives and the people around them, making the world a better place.

Throughout the year, I partner with people and brands in the outdoor, wellness, and leadership industries to do adventure projects and creative work around the world that capture my interest and spark my curiosity.

But my passion isn't just the adventure itself. It's telling the stories of my own human experience and that of others I meet along the way; bringing insights and lessons from my travels back home and online to share with others who are curious about living an adventurous and creative life. It’s a balance of give-and-take: trying to leave the world a little bit better than I found it, and learning from my experiences and the wisdom of those I meet to become the best version of myself along the way.

We can seek adventure simply for the sake of itself, and that alone is a worthy goal. But if we look a little deeper and connect the dots, we can use our pursuits of adventure to create a positive impact on ourselves and our world.

Blending Outdoor Adventure with Personal & Social Impact

Multisport Expedition-Style Projects:

I love to engage in creative projects combining bikepacking, mountain biking, mountain running, packrafting, fat biking, backcountry skiing, and ski mountaineering. With a background in endurance mountain bike racing and a knowledge of moving through mountains thanks to my 20-year experience in backcountry skiing and mountaineering, I combine my multiple passions in adventure to create expedition-style projects around the world. This has been my athletic focus since 2015. In these projects I get to challenge myself, work closely with others, experience different cultures, create inspiring media content to share, and leave in awe of the world's most incredible places and intriguing people. I like to create my own adventures and participate in others’ as well. I have been involved in four adventure documentary film projects, which have inspired my own creativity and expanded my sense of what’s possible. I am deeply grateful for these sorts of opportunities.



Ultra-Endurance Bikepacking Races:

I spent seven years focused solely on bike racing: from road racing to cross country mountain bike to marathon mountain bike to ultramarathon and stage races to self-supported bikepacking races. Although racing is no longer my main focus, I still compete in ultraendurance bikepacking races that have a strong adventure component to them. Adventure-style races are a great way to hone the skills I need for expeditions: from proper fueling, pacing, and routefinding to the physical and mental stamina and strength needed to succeed when on a backcountry expedition far from civilization. In self-supported bikepacking races I ride for multiple days at a time, through the day and night while sleeping as little as possible and carrying everything I need on my bike! In 2019 I accomplished a lifetime goal and set a new women’s record in the world-renowned Arizona Trail 750 mile ultra bikepacking race with a time of 9 days, 11 hours, and 44 minutes of nonstop racing.

Integrative Adventure Coaching: Facilitating Transformation through Outdoor Pursuits

I believe in the power of adventure to transform our bodies, minds, and lives — when pursued in a mindful and sustainable way. To find success in adventure we must be well-prepared in both body and mind, dial in the logistics needed to bring our adventure to life, and design our lives to fit the person we want to become through the dreams we want to chase. My mission as a coach is to facilitate this holistic transformation for those I serve in each of three frameworks: private coaching, intensive group programs, and self-paced training courses.

[To learn more about my coaching and the people who work with me, click *here.*]

For those who don’t need or can’t afford private coaching, but still want to learn from my educational trainings, I periodically teach low-cost or free masterclasses and workshops, and also mid-range group programs, throughout the year as my schedule allowed. See my coaching page or masterclasses page for more details!

Creating Social Impact through Adventure: Speaking, Writing, Workshops, and Online Media

There aren’t many square feet of land on this planet that human feet haven’t touched. There are very few truly unexplored places in the world. I believe the final frontier of exploration is the concept of heading outside to go within: exploring the inner human experience through adventure and interaction with the outer world.

Hundreds of people can walk the same miles and have a different experience. What we all share is the ability to improve ourselves and our lives by exploring ideas and insights that are relatable to us all. Adventure can break us out of our comfort zones, cultivate our creativity, teach us to move through fear, motivate us to set and attain goals, bring us face-to-face with our subconscious beliefs, pique our curiosity, tap into our ability to think outside the box, become strong leaders of ourselves and others, learn to communicate well with our teams, and learn to make skilled and smart choices, priorities, and boundaries. Honing these essential life skills in an outdoor adventure environment can enable us to become who we want to be, create lives we feel inspired to live, and make an impact on our world in ways that matter to us.

When speaking to groups, writing articles, or sharing in online media, I use stories and relatable examples from my adventures along with tangible tools I have learned from my years as an athlete, therapist, coach, and facilitator to inspire and empower my audience to rise above their own challenges, expand their view of what is possible for themselves, become the person they desire to be, and choose the adventures that call to them in the outdoors and in their lives.

My social media presence is an extension of who I am in real life. I share my moments of success and failure, my personal challenges, things that inspire me and light me up, my lifestyle of movement and exploration and the insights and tools I’ve learned along the way. I also teach bits of my practice in movement as medicine, components of my physical therapy expertise that are useful for anyone. It’s a weaving of inspiration and education and connection; my attempt to create the world I want to live in with others both online and offline.

The people, companies, and brands who work with me through collaborations, events, and media typically have a similar message: inspire and enable people to get outside, have fun, nurture their own physical and mental wellness, challenge themselves to be at their best, and choose their own adventures exploring the world or their backyards.




the most beautiful moment of any adventure / is the first instant of falling / when you tip over the edge / your body falls / your stomach rises / and your soul splits / between what might have been, and will be.

- Bree Reza


See you on the trail!