Kate Brim Part Two - The Rest of The Story

Originally published in the Lowell Ledger, August 2022 

You can follow Kate's adventures on her Facebook Page: KATE BRIM ON FACEBOOK

Katie Brim – The Rest of the Story

Katie did, yes she did. Hopefully you read our coverage of Katie Brim when she was on her way to Canada to compete in the UCI 2022 Para Cycling World Cup held in Quebec City, Canada August 4-7 followed by the 2022 Road World Champions August 11-14 in Baie Comeau, Canada.

Katie surely did – she came home with four gold medals from the four races she competed in. She won the Time Trial and Road Race for the World Cup and did the same in the Road World Champions four days later. In the time trials, the racers compete alone and the road races pit them against each other. Not only did she win all four, but she finished 10 minutes and 39 seconds ahead of second place in Quebec City and 11 minutes and 9 seconds ahead in Baie Comeau. Fun fact about Katie, she enjoys pedaling her bike uphill more than any other aspect of the race. Small wonder she took such commanding leads. She mentioned that she hit a top speed of 39.8 mph on one of the courses. That is not just victory; that is domination. We asked how this was possible.

“It was a lot of hard work, that’s what it was,” Katie replied. “There were a lot of emotions in the air. Mom and I hugged with tears of joy. I still feel so new to these races, I am still taking it all in.”

Things got even more interesting and more tearful when we chatted with Melanie Brim, who made the 16 hour trip north with her husband Jacob to watch Katie.

“I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing it was,” Melanie began. “When she won that first gold medal – I cannot even describe the emotions. I still get weepy.”

This was the moment in our conversation when things went from amazing to the stratosphere. Mom shared several things that Katie left out in our interview with her in July. What kind of things?

For starters, how about the fact that Katie was completely self-taught on the hand powered bicycle until about three months ago. Speaking of the bike she rode, it was a borrowed bike that was built for someone taller and a hundred pounds heavier than Katie. Whoops – our hero left all of that out. If you know anything about cycling in general and especially para-cycling, you know that the equipment is almost always built for the athlete. Katie zoomed through her races on a bike that is way heavier than it should be and not built specifically for her body.

But the big bomb mom dropped was when she informed us about the rest of Katie’s story. Katie never mentioned to me that she was born in the Ukraine and that her birth parents gave her to an orphanage where she spent the first four and a half years of her life until Jacob and Melanie Brim crossed the ocean and spent three weeks in country securing her adoption. At this point, we joined mom in shedding tears.

“This child was dealt two substantial blows in her life,” Melanie declared. “She is not afraid of anything. She will try just about anything put in front of her. The fact that she has reached this level of resilience is completely amazing.”

This reporter was gob smacked. Mom said that her daughter does not like to talk about herself very much. Can you say “understatement”? Melanie also went on to relate that Katie not only conquered her own demons after the botched surgery, but her positivity actually paved the way to make things easier for her parents and older brother Andrew.

On a lighter note, I also learned that Katie, now that she is a young lady in her twenties would really rather be called Kate. Not only did she never mention to us, but her own mom had to find out when she attended the National races in Chattanooga, TN earlier this year. Melanie told me that she kept hearing people talking about “Kate Brim” and “Kate from Michigan”, so she asked and Katie told her that she would like to be called Kate now. Katie or Kate – Ms. Brim certainly keeps things about herself to herself, doesn’t she?

Not only did Kate tear up the Canadian roadways on her wrong sized, too heavy, borrowed hand powered bicycle, but she made such an impression on the folks in charge of Team USA in Colorado Springs that they have made an offer to her that would allow her to set up a residency in Colorado Springs for at least a year and allow her to live and train there. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs is the training center for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center programs. They have room for 500 athletes on their campus.

“I am very excited about the opportunity,” Kate said. “The resources there are impeccable. There are dieticians, physical therapists, sports medicine people – it is all there.”

Kate Brim working out in the sunny mountains of Colorado.

Mom and dad are fully supportive of the relocation. They will miss Kate for sure, but they recognize the enormity of her training with the people at Team USA. Another big positive is that a racing bike specifically for Kate is being built right now. All of her hard work, grit, and determination are paying some great dividends.

“She makes lemonade out of lemons in a big way,” concluded Melanie Brim. “The spinal injury was devastating, but she found her way to live her life to the fullest.”

Look out world, Kate Brim is on a roll.