Steven Wilke

Athlete · Author · Adaptive Sports Instructor

Steven
Wilke

U.S. Paracycling National Champion and author of the forthcoming memoir Hiding in Plain Sight — a book about thirty years of hiding, and the life that began on the other side of it.

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Portrait of Steven Wilke

The Book

Hiding in
Plain Sight

A Memoir

For thirty years, Steven Wilke hid a congenital physical disability from nearly everyone in his life. He became an expert at the performance — the angles, the pockets, the sleeves, the constant low-grade labor of appearing “normal.” The cost was decades of anxiety, depression, and a persistent sense of never being fully known.

Everything changed when he found adaptive sports. Surrounded by athletes who wore their disabilities openly, Steven began to dismantle the hiding he’d built his life around. In December 2018, he went public for the first time. He calls that moment his “visibirth” — being born into visibility.

Hiding in Plain Sight traces the full arc, from a toddler in a body cast to a man in a Stars and Stripes jersey, and speaks to anyone who has ever hidden a part of themselves. It is equal parts memoir and invitation: Steven’s story first, and then a hand extended to the reader.

Currently with publishers.

Steven in a Stars and Stripes cycling jersey beside his road bike, sunflowers in the background
The Stars and Stripes jersey.

About

A life on the
other side of hiding.

Steven riding in a skate park bowl alongside his young daughter Emi on a balance bike
With my daughter, Emi.

Steven Wilke is a U.S. Paracycling National Champion, adaptive mountain bike instructor, and the author of the forthcoming memoir Hiding in Plain Sight. Born with Poland Syndrome, a rare congenital condition affecting his left hand and chest, Steven spent more than thirty years hiding his disability from the world. Through adaptive sports, community, and the decision to stop performing and start living as himself, he built a life on the other side of hiding — one that includes national championships, course records, a documentary film, and a family that knows him exactly as he is.

Steven teaches adaptive mountain biking at the National Ability Center in Park City, Utah, and at the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s annual Mountain Bike Weekend. He holds the course record at the Leadville Trail 100 MTB and set the para-athlete Fastest Known Time on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands. He is featured in the award-winning documentary Tread Setters, the NAC’s first full-length film. He lives in Utah with his wife Jennifer and their daughter Emi.

Steven and a young athlete throwing their arms up triumphantly at a Challenged Athletes Foundation event
At the CAF Mountain Bike Weekend.

Selected Achievements

Steven speaking with a microphone on a panel at the National Ability Center
On a panel at the National Ability Center.
Steven holding a wooden trophy after the Leadville Trail 100 MTB
After the Leadville Trail 100 MTB.

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For press, speaking, or publishing inquiries — or just to say hi.

Email [email protected] Instagram @stevenridesbikes