Arlie Connolly was 3 years old, whizzing around on training wheels while vacationing at the Oregon coast. He was having a grand time until an older kid blew by him wearing cool bike gloves. He sensed he was missing a crucial biking accessory and told his dad he simply must have his own pair.
“He was, like, ‘Oh yeah? Well, only kids without training wheels get to ride with biking gloves,’” says Connolly, 20, adding with a chuckle, “I said, ‘Take them off.’
“He took them off right there, and ever since, it’s been nonstop, first me trying to keep up with my dad, and then us riding together and having fun, and then him trying to keep up with me,” said the 2024 Summit High School graduate.
Arlie’s dad, Nate Connolly, 52, owner of Ridgeline Custom Homes, has raced enduro and is a veteran mountain biker. Arlie Connolly says he and his dad, along with mom, Trish, 56, deputy chief for Bend Fire & Rescue, have racked up countless family rides at Phil’s Trail, Whoops and Mt. Bachelor as he developed into a top-notch mountain biker. The younger Connolly is now on the precipice of the big time in freeride mountain biking. The extreme sport features athletes who must blend creative, intricate and dangerous moves with extended airtime and panache, all the while nailing the technical aspects of the tricks and keeping control of their bikes.
Fresh off nailing some difficult tricks at July’s RW Invitational in Nanaimo, British Columbia, and August’s Woolley Fest 2026, a freeride mountain-biking festival in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, Connolly popped home to Bend for a quick visit with his family. He’s been chillaxing, fishing and seeing friends. It’s a short visit, however, as he’s got to get back on the road. He spends part of the year training in Hurricane, Utah, and then the other half traveling to pursue the sport that captured his attention at 16.
“Free riding is very passion-driven,” said Connolly. “There are so many different ways to do it, and there’s so many different bikes that you can use to do what you want, and then there’s the style and your own creativity. It’s just very unique. There are no real rules or confinements. You’re not racing a clock. You’re not stuck between the tape of a racecourse.”
A typical training day for Connolly includes a drive to whatever remote spot has the feature or jumps he needs to work on, and then he’ll hike and bike for several hours, practicing spins, flips and other tricks until he’s got them down pat. He also works out at a gym, doing weight training, cardio and rehabbing in the sauna.
“I like to be in the gym at least three days a week. During the summer, I’m traveling a lot, so I can’t always make that happen. But when I’m able, I like to have a pretty solid routine,” Connolly said. “And then I just try and be on my bike as much as possible. Having that constant work just slowly adds up over time.
“A really smart friend of mine always tells me, ‘You don’t rise to your expectations. You fall to the highest level of your preparation,’” he said. “I always just try and rely on my preparation and everything that I did to build up to the moment and being able to show up for it.”
He also makes time for the business side of being a professional athlete, which includes posting to his socials, answering countless emails and communicating promptly with sponsors, which include, among others, Marin Bikes, Mt. Bachelor, RockShox, Smith Optics and Connolly’s first-ever sponsor when he embarked on a professional career, Sagebrush Cycles.
“It’s definitely tricky. You have to stay in contact with your sponsors all the time, and you have to make content and put out Instagram videos, and stay interesting, but then not fully sell out. I’m an athlete, not an influencer, so finding that balance is important, between making content that’s intriguing for the general public and helps sell my sponsors’ products, while also still being true to myself.”
He also makes time for homework. Connolly is studying online at Oregon State University, where he’s majoring in psychology. He takes one day off each week, not doing any workouts or biking. Instead, he’s usually studying.
“I do a very light course load, so it’s going to take me forever to get my undergrad, but I like to look at it as training my brain,” Connolly said. “I train all of the muscles in my body, and I don’t want to neglect my brain. I can’t ride forever. It’s very difficult on the body, and I’ll only be able to ride until, at best, 45. I need to have a backup plan and think about what’s next. I think it would be really fun to be a sports psychologist or performance coach so I can take the experience I have from being a professional athlete and use it to help out the next gen.”
Mentoring the next wave of riders that follows him is important to Connolly, who said he was similarly guided by local freeriding phenom Carson Storch.
“I grew up looking up to him, and he took me under his wing,” Connolly said. “It’s kind of crazy riding with someone you’ve looked up to your whole life. I’ve always admired him and tried to follow in his footsteps.”
Storch, 33, a graduate of Summitt High School himself, has finished third two times at the Red Bull Rampage, the pinnacle event of the freeriding world, and has been featured in several mountain-biking films. He’s competing at Red Bull Rampage 2026 on Saturday, Oct. 10, and says he knows he’ll see Connolly competing there in the future.
“He’s a really good kid, and he’s been progressing a ton on the bike and getting out to more events around the world. I’m so proud of where he’s come from, and he’s turned into a really good riding buddy of mine,” said Storch, going on to explain that while biking skills are important in their sport, having a head for business and communication skills is vital. Storch said Connolly has it all.
“He’s managing it already. He’s doing good, and then with every year, it’s just chipping away and continuing to prove your worth,” Storch said, adding it’s a “juggling act” to manage the business of biking. “You have to have a business mind with what we do to make it actually work. Financially, I think he’s taking the right steps with figuring out contracts with sponsors and networking and marketing himself. And when it comes to talent? He’s definitely a talented kid on the bike, and he’s putting in the work, so I definitely think he’s on the right track to hit it big.”
Connolly has his sights set on competing in the Red Bull Rampage. He submitted a video this year but wasn’t selected. However, that’s not uncommon for a first-time submission. Many athletes try for several years before being selected. Only 18 men and 12 women are invited to compete. Riders who finished in the top 10 the previous year are automatically invited, and the rest of the spots are filled after a committee of former competitors, industry experts and others reviews video submissions.
“It’s the Super Bowl of mountain biking,” Connolly said of the Rampage. “Hands down, it’s one of the biggest events in mountain biking, period. So many people want to get into it, so it’s definitely a very challenging event to get into.”
While he’s not competing this year, Connolly has been selected for a coveted Rampage digger spot, working with Juan Diego “Johny” Salido. Each Rampage competitor selects two diggers who help them create, shape and maintain the jumps and tracks they use during competition, which will be held in Virgin, Utah.
Salido said Connolly was an easy choice not only because he’s an “awesome human” and “really good rider,” but also because he trusts Connolly implicitly.
“Arlie has spent so much time in Utah,” said Salido, 26, who lives in Mexico. “He knows the terrain, he rides there, he’s built a lot there. He knows that dirt and he knows that terrain. You’ve got to be able to trust (your diggers), so Arlie was a perfect fit,” Salido said.
Storch said it’s a huge honor for Connolly to be selected as a Red Bull Rampage digger, as it’s a nod to his up-and-coming status in the sport.
“I think it’s a steppingstone towards getting invited (to compete) and just have experience with how hectic and gnarly the event is,” Storch said.
After Rampage, Connolly heads to Arkansas and Mexico for competitions. In January, he’s traveling to New Zealand, where he hopes to get into Natural Selection Bike, a preeminent freeriding competition, similar in prestige to the Rampage. It’s held at Mt. Dewar in Tāhuna Queenstown, New Zealand. Between now and then, he’ll be hard at work honing the tricks that he hopes will catapult him to the top of leaderboards. His two current favorite tricks are a “flip suey” and a “flat spin,” he says.
“A flip suey is when you do a backflip, and you pinch the seat with your knees, and you take your hands off upside down, so you’re pretty disconnected from the bike when you’re upside down,” Connolly explains. “And then a flat spin is a halfway mix between a flip and a 360. It’s a very floaty and fun trick that’s just very peaceful and fun to do.”
And no doubt dangerous, which is something Connolly is aware of but doesn’t dwell on.
“When I was younger, I had a really hard time with tricks,” he said. “I was very anxious, and I was having a really difficult time pushing and testing my limits, but I slowly worked through that. It’s only been in the past three years that I really started stacking new tricks and progressing in that way.
“I learned how to listen to my mind and also listen to what is a real fear and a worry, and what’s something that I’m just blowing out of proportion. I learned how to control not necessarily my fear, but to be able to understand it more and put it off to the side so I can look at something more realistically.
“I might be scared to do something new, so I take a deep breath, and try and calm that butterfly feeling, and then I look at what is the logical execution of (the trick), and am I really scared of the execution? Am I nervous that I can’t properly execute it or am I scared that I might execute it wrong and crash? If I’m just nervous to try it, then sometimes I just have to say, ‘Screw it and go for it,’ you know? But it’s also being smart with when you say that and not just recklessly sending it.”
Connolly, who’ll work in a friend’s foam pit this year to hone tricky moves, credits his holistic approach of riding, practicing and gym days with helping him stave off serious injury.
“I definitely have quite a few empty Advil bottles in my history,” he said. “I’ve gotten very lucky with serious injuries. I’ve only broken two bones, but I’ve hit the ground more than a few times and been sore for a couple weeks. I definitely feel like riding and going to the gym is just helping me build strength, and I’m also building body armor.”
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