Cat Morrison
Owner of The Sweaty Buddha
Cat moved to Durango after finishing her Bachelor's degree in nursing from Grand Junction, 9 years ago. Initially, she moved to Grand Junction from Summit County to race her bike professionally and wanted a more year-round environment to do that in. She started riding mountain bikes soon after moving to Colorado in 2003, within a year she was racing. After completing a few xc races she began riding longer and found that the endurance events were where her heart truly soared. When endurance events (50-150 mile races) proved too short she dove into Bikepack racing. She completed the Colorado Trail Race (a self-supported bikepacking race from Denver to Durango) four times, once on a single-speed, twice winning the female category and twice placing second.
Included among some of her other achievements are National Single Speed Champion 24 Hours of Moab, female winner Montezuma's Revenge 24-hour bike race including carrying your bike up a 14er, one of only two female finishers ever of The Grand Loop self-supported multi-day bikepacking race, 3 times finisher of the Kokopelli Trail Race (self-supported on the Kokopelli trail).
Cat had not finished achieving her bucket list of races when she started experiencing relentless foot, hand, and shoulder pain. After months of trying natural remedies, she found out she had Rheumatoid Arthritis, an aggressive and debilitating (if not treated) autoimmune disease. Her world was shaken. She became depressed, angry, sad, and lost. It was difficult to accept this as her new reality and for some time she was unable to ride let alone race, she thought she was done with that world!
Luckily a year prior to her diagnosis she had begun to practice hot yoga, her first experience including 4 consecutive days in a Bikram studio in Florida in the summer. After her fourth day she knew it was essential to have this in her life and when she came back to Durango after her visit she pursued every possible studio in the area hoping to find a heated studio, to which she found none.
She then made it her mission to open a hot studio. A year later after attending yoga teacher training, she found that a regular hot yoga practice reduced her pain and increased her range of motion, sometimes Cat could not even bend her fingers. After her training with Emily Longfellow and Bel Carpenter, she opened The Sweaty Buddha with her then business partner. Today, Cat teaches Vinyasa, 26 & 2, and Vimana Yoga.
Hot yoga saved her in many ways. The practice of yoga has taught Cat not only that the physical strength, flexibility, and endurance of mountain biking and yoga symbiotically work together, but the philosophy of yoga has helped Cat understand the truth of how the practice found her. Learn more about Cat and why she feels it is so important to share her story and how through a yoga practice you can improve your experience in life and on the mountain bike.
Cat owns The Sweaty Buddha and is an RN on both Hospice and Labor and Delivery.