MEET MARISSA

Hi. I’m Marissa Axell, CEO and Founder of AXN Fitness and Coaching, LLC, a cycling coaching and personal training business who coaches her athletes 100% online.

I help 40+ women cyclists ride and climb faster, and adventure farther without feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, or spending all day on the bike or in the gym.

As a USECA certified cycling coach and ACE certified personal trainer, Marissa has nearly two decades of experience turning riders into faster, stronger cyclists.

Known for her inspirational and committed coaching style, she show athletes how to train, fuel, and taper for optimal cycling performance, especially as a woman over 40 who deals with an enormous amount of stress and fatigue.

Her insights have been featured in Self, Bicycling, and on the Seasoned Athlete, and Hit Play Not Pause Podcast.

Her athletes have won at TransRockies Gravel Royale, top 5 at the National Senior Games time trials and road race, ridden from Cairo to Capetown in the Tour d’Afrique, another cycled from Paris to Istanbul, and another rode 18,100miles around the world. 

Based in El Cerrito in the San Francisco Bay Area, Marissa continues to coach and inspire by fulfilling her own competitive cycling goals, proving that strength training and cycling are the ultimate power couple that pave the way to success.

To learn more, follow Marissa on Instagram @marissa.axell and online axnfitnessandcoaching.com.

Here’s a bit more about me and my business.

Around age 39, I started experiencing extreme perimenopausal fatigue, the kind that left me feeling like I need to glue my eyelids open.

I’ve always been the kind of person who is wide awake after one cup of coffee, but this was different since the fatigue was damaging my cycling training, my sleep, my career — basically my entire life.

I had heard of perimenopause because I read in “Roar” by Selene Yeager and Dr. Stacy Sims that women might experience deep fatigue and it’s associated with perimenopause and there was something I could do about it! 

When another friend came to me with the exact same problem… I realized that NONE OF US 30 and 40-something women athletes KNOW SQUAT ABOUT THIS PERIMENOPAUSE SHIT.

As a former lab researcher with a background in science and human anatomy,  I started learning everything I could get my hands on to help 40+ women navigate our changing biology, applying it and figuring out what worked and what didn’t.

I've been a cycling coach for 15+ years, and all the things I'm talking about are also the same way I trained for my big, hairy, audacious cycling goals too.

It was directly responsible for bringing me a world championship medal in 2023, and multiple top 5  places at Masters Track and Road Cycling National Championships and World Championships from 2014 - 2025.

Since 2020 I’ve coached over 135 women cyclists in this way too, helping them achieve cycling dreams, and changed their lives and what’s possible for them along the way.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and love that I can easily ride my bike on world class roads of Marin, Napa, and Sonoma, as well as the dirt trails out my backdoor, and be on a velodrome inside of an hour.

When I'm not riding bikes with my husband and friends, I’m busy cooking my favorite meals,  traveling somewhere new with my bikes, or just chilling at home with our rescued maine-coon cat, Jackson.

I believe that love is love, Black lives matter, trans-women are women and belong in sports, no human is illegal, the current administration should be in prison, and bikes are a form of therapy.


And I also believe that one of the biggest ways that I'm making this world a better place, is by helping every athlete become empowered, strong, defiant, and worthy women on and off the bike, for their family, their community, and in their career.

I say this because my athletes are out here changing the world.

They're out there inspiring people in some amazing ways.


I offer Private Cycling Coaching (Level Up 1:1 Cycling Coaching). I also run the Cycling Success System, a group coaching program for 40+ women who want training, coaching, and community.

Here are some of the results I’ve helped my athletes get with the power of cycling coaching:

Level Up 1:1 Cycling Coaching 

✨ a busy working professional in the 55-59 age group qualified for Senior Games
✅ improved her FTP by 40 watts and she came in top 5 in every event at Nationals

✨ a 50+ athlete who had never been coached before decided to race TransRockies Gravel Royale stage race, her first race.
✅ won her race by over 40 minutes! She’s climbing faster, riding farther faster, and setting new PRs everywhere. 

 Cycling Success System -

✨ a 60+ Canadian athlete who described 'flailing around' trying to get faster for the Okanagan Gran Fondo
✅ rode to 6th of 26 60+ women, despite the hills and the heat
✅ increased her power and speed, fueling smarter and way more confident to try new rides now.

✨ a 40+ triathlete who tackled her second season of half-ironman triathlons, wanting to ride faster.
✅ she set new power and speed records during training
✅ came in 6 minutes FASTER than her stretch goal.
✅ increased her speed by 4mph on the course, achieving her goal of 17mph average.

Read and watch more stories on our athlete success page.