Kim's love for extreme sports started the day she first slid down the stairs in a laundry basket. It was a hard crash at the bottom, but she always ran back up to the top for more. Her love for breaking laundry baskets later transformed into a passion for adventure.
Raised in the Northwest, Kim began paddling in 2001, and quickly became a successful and accomplished professional paddler in both creek and downriver kayak competitions, winning every event entered between 2009 and 2013, having taken one year off competition in 2014. In 2015, Kim won the Little White Salmon Race, as well as Northwest Creeking Competition, while balancing both her kayak and bike training. Most notably, Kim was nominated as Female Paddler of the Year for Canoe & Kayak Magazine for 2015.
Outside her kayak, Kim is an avid skier, and mountain biker, spending nearly as much time on her bike as she does in her kayak. A racer at heart, Kim began racing bikes professionally in 2014, and hasn't looked back since. Notable accomplishments include the 2014, 2015 Oregon Enduro Series: 1st place, 2015 Cascadia National Championships: 2nd place, 2016 Cascadia Dirt Cup Series: 1st place, 2016 North American Enduro Cup, Idaho: 1st Place, 2016 Transcascadia: 5th place, and First American at the Chile and Argentina stops of the Enduro World Series in 2016. She is a certified as a Level 1 PMBIA mountain bike instructor, and guest coaches with Ladies AllRide/Grit Clinics based in Bend, Oregon. In 2017, she will travel to New Zealand, Tasmania, Portugal, and BC amidst state-side races, participating in events within the Enduro World Series, Big Mountain Enduro, Trans BC, Transcascadia, and Cascadia Dirt Cup.
Balancing work and play, Kim is a small business owner, sharing her passions with her husband, Nick Hardin, at their bike-themed restaurant, KickStand Coffee & Kitchen in Hood River, Oregon. In addition, she is an ACE - Certified Personal Trainer, and uses her background as Physical Therapy Aide and Exercise Specialist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center to offer performance training. She has completed a B.S. in Human Physiology in 2010 from The University of Oregon, spending time as an undergraduate assistant in the University's Cardiopulmonary Lab and Anatomy Lab. Following her passion, she later moved to the Hood River, Oregon and became an ACE - Certified Personal Trainer & Exercise Specialist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, Oregon. She completed her M.S. in Healthcare Administration in June 2015.
Kim is also a regular contributor to Canoe and Kayak Magazine online, and enjoys freelance writing for various industry leaders.
Raised in the Northwest, Kim began paddling in 2001, and quickly became a successful and accomplished professional paddler in both creek and downriver kayak competitions, winning every event entered between 2009 and 2013, having taken one year off competition in 2014. In 2015, Kim won the Little White Salmon Race, as well as Northwest Creeking Competition, while balancing both her kayak and bike training. Most notably, Kim was nominated as Female Paddler of the Year for Canoe & Kayak Magazine for 2015.
Outside her kayak, Kim is an avid skier, and mountain biker, spending nearly as much time on her bike as she does in her kayak. A racer at heart, Kim began racing bikes professionally in 2014, and hasn't looked back since. Notable accomplishments include the 2014, 2015 Oregon Enduro Series: 1st place, 2015 Cascadia National Championships: 2nd place, 2016 Cascadia Dirt Cup Series: 1st place, 2016 North American Enduro Cup, Idaho: 1st Place, 2016 Transcascadia: 5th place, and First American at the Chile and Argentina stops of the Enduro World Series in 2016. She is a certified as a Level 1 PMBIA mountain bike instructor, and guest coaches with Ladies AllRide/Grit Clinics based in Bend, Oregon. In 2017, she will travel to New Zealand, Tasmania, Portugal, and BC amidst state-side races, participating in events within the Enduro World Series, Big Mountain Enduro, Trans BC, Transcascadia, and Cascadia Dirt Cup.
Balancing work and play, Kim is a small business owner, sharing her passions with her husband, Nick Hardin, at their bike-themed restaurant, KickStand Coffee & Kitchen in Hood River, Oregon. In addition, she is an ACE - Certified Personal Trainer, and uses her background as Physical Therapy Aide and Exercise Specialist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center to offer performance training. She has completed a B.S. in Human Physiology in 2010 from The University of Oregon, spending time as an undergraduate assistant in the University's Cardiopulmonary Lab and Anatomy Lab. Following her passion, she later moved to the Hood River, Oregon and became an ACE - Certified Personal Trainer & Exercise Specialist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, Oregon. She completed her M.S. in Healthcare Administration in June 2015.
Kim is also a regular contributor to Canoe and Kayak Magazine online, and enjoys freelance writing for various industry leaders.