People of Saint Cloud: Chessie Rudland
Meet Chessie Rudland—a Liv-supported athlete, longtime Saint Cloud friend, and all-round legend on and off the bike. Her riding is backed by Liv (the dedicated women's cycling brand and proud sister brand of Giant), and her bikes are built and maintained by our workshop crew—including the custom Liv Devote we built for her most recent adventure.
In March 2025, Chessie completed a 7-day solo bikepacking trip across New Zealand’s South Island, riding from top to bottom to raise awareness (and funds) for the Concussion Legacy Foundation. The ride was more than just a scenic adventure—it was a chapter in her personal recovery journey after sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a crash in New Zealand in 2023. After a long rehab, she took to the road again to shine a light on the prevalence of head injuries in cycling and open up conversations about risk, recovery, and resilience.
She documented her project Mind > Miles day by day on Instagram—check it out here.
We asked Chessie a few questions about her current setup, go-to brekkie, and some of the highs and humbling lows of her cycling life. Read on to get to know her a little better.
Photos by Jay French / Free Ride New Zealand.
Current fav bike?
Liv Devote ❤️
I am shocking at gravel/single track and pre my Devote I had about a 95% strike rate of falling off on gravel. The fact that the Devote got me through 7 days of bikepacking unscathed just goes to show how much of a dream it is.
Go-to pre-ride breakfast?
2 x sourdough with crunchy peanut butter and a black filter coffee, beans always from Blume in Abbotsford. If I’m feeling lux, I’ll add a banana chopped up with some cinnamon on top.
Highlight from your most recent epic ride?
Just riding my bike for 7 days. What a privilege to only have to worry about getting from A to B.
Most embarrassing moment on a bike?
It’s got to be the classic cleat/traffic light combo. I had just got into cycling and went on a ride in London with some really cool guys. Nerves combined with the stress of London traffic really got to me. I forgot to unclip not once, not twice, but three times. Mortifying, given the ride was only about 30km.
