If outside elements can indeed direct a baby's growth, then every bike sponsor in the world should be scrambling to sign little Nicoya Streb.

Nicoya is the 3-month-old daughter of mountain biking queen Marla Streb, a three-time national champion and two-time world champ who makes the country's gnarliest courses seem as smooth as a Sunday ride.

Not much slows her down. She's broken her arm, two ribs, tibia, torn a hamstring muscle and blown both anterior cruciate ligaments in her knees. She has broken her collarbones so many times, her right shoulder collapses at will, and now she tries to fall on that side. Why mess up the left when her right folds in and out like a collapsible tent pole?

She has had so many broken fingers and concussions, she no longer considers them injuries.

"Broken bones are nothing," she says.

That mentality explains how she was able to win a bronze World Cup medal in 1997 on an ankle she had snapped just two two hours before.

Then this. The woman who feared no mountain decided she needed to conquer a new challenge, one she thought she had no skill for whatsoever - pregnancy.

"I had no maternal instinct," she says. "I don't even think I'd ever held a baby until mine."

But how do you make such a commitment without giving up your love of jumps, bumps and thumps? Streb decided she wouldn't, not even at the age of 40.

Less than three months after giving birth to her daughter, Streb is back on the mountain biking scene and back to abusing her body in a familiar way. On Friday at the National Mountain Biking Series race at Brian Head, Streb took a bad spill during the Super D, a short race that tests fitness and downhill abilities, and broke three ribs and suffered a concussion.

The crash ended her weekend, but given her history, it's a good bet she'll be back in her racing gear before most riders.

Streb of course has never done anything the "normal" way. She has a master's degree in molecular biology and was an AIDS researcher before she left the lab for the singletrack when she was 28.

Her flare and gregarious personality have made her one of the most popular mountain bikers ever.

For her, an unconventional pregnancy was normal.

Shortly after she and her husband Mark learned she was going to be a mom, Streb won the 2005 world single speed championship.

She gave up caffeine and alcohol, but couldn't let go of her love of chain lube and mud.

Streb rode her mountain bike throughout her pregnancy, sticking to safe bike paths for the most part. However, there was the day late in her term when she casually popped over a 4-foot jump. It was nothing for her, but too much for her husband. "He told me he was going to take my bike away," she admits.

He didn't. The day her water broke was the last day she was on her bike. The couple welcomed their daughter Nicoya into the world May 8, after 30 hours of labor.

"That was more painful than any broken bone," she says. "A bone happens once, the contractions I knew were going to be every two minutes."

Six days later, Streb was back on her bike. "A ride was a Mother's Day present to myself," she says.

Too sore to use her bike saddle, she rode standing up for one and two hours at a time for the next two weeks. Six weeks after giving birth, Streb was again taming mountains, taking third at the Super D at the National Mountain Bike Series at Mt. Snow in Vermont. While others celebrated with champagne, Streb breast-fed.

Brian Head's course was to be another test for Streb. She was scheduled for the Super D, downhill and singlespeed competitions, but her weekend was cut short during the Super D. Streb caught a rock with her front tire and went down hard within sight of the finish line.

She was going for the win. Instead she got three broken ribs, one badly shattered, and another concussion. This time she took the crash on her left side. Battered, bruised and broken, Streb can't take many painkillers since she is breast-feeding. After all these years and previous injuries, she's experiencing a new level of pain for Nicoya's sake. No doubt, it's the most satisfying yet.

Marla Streb File

Age: 41

Team: LUNA

Career Highlights

9-time NORBA downhill winner

2006 third place finisher at U.S. nationals in Super D and downhill

2004 and 2003 U.S. national downhill champion

2004 U.S. national Super D champion

Author of "Downhill, the Life Story of a Gravity Goddess"