True Grit 100 NUE

This past weekend was stop no. 1 in the NUE series. True Grit 100 in Saint George, Utah.
Desert chunk and great weather to be promised, the 92Fifty' crew was plentiful and stoked to be soaking up desert sun all weekend.

After preriding the some of the course thur/friday with friends, I was becoming somewhat skeptical of my skill level in such technical riding. Billy and Jon were killing the tech stuff and once you let Mr. Negative in your head, he's a hard man to rid of.

Jeff Kerkove and Richie headed out to preride from the hotel.

All the ladies want a piece.

One of my best friends from Nashville came to race, Billy had a killer race for his first 100 mile MTB race ever. 

Lining up at the start, I was never nervous. Completely calm, it was as if something in me changed. I was ready to race and I believed in myself 100%. I have busted my ass all winter long training in the cold and snow at altitude where most people would never train. I came to race! I fist pounded my friends, wished everyone good luck and the race was on.

The race started with a 3ish mile jeep road full of slate chucky washes in and out, up and down. Guys are flying in every direction at 20+ mph so I quickly made my way to the front with Josh Tostado, Drew Edsall and Cary Smith. Drew was feeling spunky and made his move early, pretty much as soon as we hit singletrack, he was gone and would solo for the win the entirety of the race. Brave, and very impressive.

I stuck to Cary Smith's wheel the next 10 miles or so, we traded pulls on the open sections. I had never felt so comfortable riding in the front group of an NUE race. I was hammering and everything was under control, HR was perfect, I was on top of the world. All of the techy stuff I was fretting in preride I was clearing with ease at a fast pace. I was gaining confidence and race adrenaline was blocking out one major issue that soon led to a DNF for me.

We had a training camp prior to this race in Moab, I injured my finger there and the injury got progressively worse the week leading up to True Grit. A cactus needle or some foreign object lodged into my finer and it was swollen like mad. Unable to grip my handlebar with full force, I just toughed it out in training and pre-ride. As fatigue set in during TG, the pain became overwhelming, my hand was slipping off the bar in tech sections and I was having too many close calls for comfort. Braking was becoming an issue as well.

As I was fighting for position in the top 5 after mile 50, I was lead off course by some markings on the slickrock for the trail run they were also having in the area. I climbed a 400ft jeep road that circled back to part of the trail I had already ridden. At the time, I was livid. I lost at least 20 mins. I no longer knew what place I was in. I started think about dropping out of the race at this point.

No sign of a cactus needle in my finer, just full of nasty puss :/

It's not easy to quit a race. But I quickly became at peace with my decision. This would be only the second DNF I've had in bike racing. People give you a hard time and it just isn't an easy thing to do. I didn't want to crash and ruin what I train so hard for, ruining the season before it even starts. I feel like I made the right choice. Perhaps going off course was my saving grace so I would quit, stopping me from crashing later in the race because I was too stubborn to race with a hand that couldn't hold onto the bars or apply the brake.

I am beyond pleased with my fitness. I am feeling stronger than ever. I just want to get my finger healed and continue training. True Grit was a heck of a lot of fun and I would like to come back next year! Congrats to Drew for the win and all of my friends for a great race!

2014 True Grit prep trip in rainy, horrible Moab, Ut.

This past weekends trip to Moab was so rad I figured it was blog worthy. I've been itching for more singletrack and warm weather ever since Old Pueblo, so Moab was the perfect dose of medicine. Jonathan Davis, Anthony Thorton, Richie Trent and I all headed down and found a killer campsite that was completely empty and set stage for 4 days of desert fun.

Richie "tic-tacing" not paying attention to anything but Lil' Wayne.

The first 2 days were cloudy although we had good temps and no rain.

Setting up camp. Jon sleeps on top of his transit, cool setup fo sho.

 We rode Pipe Dream on the first day out, good trail for getting the bearings rolling. We wanted 3+ hours on Friday and got 3.5. Saturday would be the long day as we all wanted 6 hours in the saddle.

 Moab is stupid amazing, the views are stunning and never ending. The La Sals are a backdrop you'll never get out of your head if you see them in person.

 Moab on a hardtail sucks but it can be done! I was chasing the boys all weekend long on their "big bikes".

 Jon's so fit, like whoa.

Richie breaks mo' damn chains then anyone, ever. MTBjesus has an endless supply of new chains, gold chains.

 Headed to Amasaback and found new singletrack Hymasa that connects to Captain Ahab. Killer new trails, seems like Moab is really pushing for more trails. New stuff every time I go.

Duke was happy to see us when we got back to camp. He was super stoked to eat!

 I didn't take many Pics on Saturday because we were alittle more in race mode. Jon flatted coming out of Mag7 taking a big drop. 

 Richie and I climbed to the turn around at LPS and found some mud and snow still lingering. The conditions in Moab right now are stupid sick, tacky and perfect.

 Pee break?

Stopped at the store for a burrito and headed back to camp, rode just under 80 miles on Saturday.

Sunday Jeff Kerkove met up with us and we wanted to show him the new singletrack up Hymasa and he took us to a killer overlook.

Anthony talked Richie and I into using some embro(Em-brah) on our legs... After an hour in the desert sun my freakin legs were on fire, but glistening nonetheless! 

 Jon topping out on the climb.

Richie and Kerkove.

Sick lookout Jeff took us too.

The Fashionable Anthony.

Richie and I stopped in Loma on the way home today(Monday) for some more trail action.

Loma is alot different than Moab, although geographical close, smoother and faster terrain.

 Colorado River, reminds me of 'Into the Wild'.

 Famous, Infamous Horsetheif. I could never dream of clearing this but it does happen and I've seen it done. Blows my freaking mind what people can do on a bike.

Dopers ?

Thanks for checking out the bloggage. 20 hours on the MTB this week, we all had a blast and I am feeling good leading up to True Grit March 15th! Thanks to all my friends for the amazing time! You rock.

-KT

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.

By far, this was the coolest 24 hour event I've been to. 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is the largest 24 hour race in the country, if not world. With 3,000 racers and 5,000 people crammed in the Arizona desert, it's a guaranteed good time. For good reason, they call the Ranch we all set up at camp, 24 hour town.

This pic was taken on a preride night lap just at dusk, over looking 24 hour town.

I have only raced 24 hour races solo. Curt Wilhelm(MTBcoach.com) asked me a while back if I would race Duo with him, as if he had to ask...

I was more nervous about being on a team than I would ever be racing solo. It's one thing to only rely on yourself but to uphold your strength, speed and lap times for another teammate is alot of pressure! We were racing to win. I was stoked to escape the harsh Colorado winter at 9250' and ride in the desert! I am on a new Felt Nine HT mtb and this was my first time to ride it off road.

My new Felt next to some infamous Cholla Cacti. It hurts like hell.

On the 15 hour drive to Tucson, Curt and I had a lot of time to discuss strategy and race tactics. The race starts with a Le Mans run to your bike, it was about 1/2 run. We decided I would do the first lap of the race since I have a running background. We would then alternate every other lap for the duration of 24 hours. This way, we could do "hot laps" with all out efforts and minimize our tiredness with short breaks in the evening and night laps. Getting too comfy is nto what you want in the wee hours of the morning when the race really counts, 18 hours in.

I would also like to mention, the 92Fifty' gang is freakin' rad. I had so much fun and can't say enough about how awesome everyone is/was. We had an amazing camp with 2 sprinter vans plus Jon's Transit. Power stations, tons of food, shade, help from Eric's wife Jen and friend Ben. I am beyond stoked to have such great friends. 92Fifty' had 3 solo racers, 3 guys racing Duo and 4 in co-ed Duo. Jon raced with his 14 year old son, Tanner. And Brian Sells raced with his 12 year old daughter, Bailey.

Pre-race chillin' @92Fifty' camp.

The first lap of the race was nuts. I mis-judged where I thought Curt would be to hand off my bike to me. The run to the bike is insane, thousands of people, bikes everywhere, nuts. A small group of guys were already in a train when I jumped on my bike. I punched it and chased after them. I was redlined to catch the lead group. I kept telling myself over and over, "Yo dude, this is lap one, you're prob going to do 11!" I eased off the gas and kept things comfortably hard for the remainder of the lap. By far, lap 1 was the fastest of the race for me in 56 mins. (16 miles). Flying in the desert!

I used my time in between this lap while Curt was out doing his thing to ordain how I would get in the groove and systematically prepare for my next laps. Charging batteries for night laps, food prep, etc...

Before I knew it, Curt was almost done and I was in the exchange tent to go out on lap 3 for our team, lap 2 for me. Curt had a very impressive and fast lap time. Things were solid. My second and third laps were the most frustrating of the race. With literally over a thousand people on course, passing was insane. Cactus is everywhere and passing is somewhat limited in areas. I was full of adrenaline and burning matches accelerating like mad everytime I passed someone to make up time for having to slow down so much. I quickly learned I just had to dial it back and keep things steady, they are there to race too. I did count or try to however, one lap I passed over 200 people in a single lap. NUTS!

A few pics of the race thanks to Eric and Jen Lord.

One of the fondest memories I have of the race, was on my first night lap. I was passing someone on singletrack and got a huge Cholla ball stuck in my leg at mile 1 of the lap. That baby was STUCK in my leg and wasnt coming out! You cant use your hands to remove them for obvious reasons, so I left it in there for the next hour as I raced. Literally at the finish the ball separated from the spikes, leaving the spikes in my leg. I guess an hour of riding makes enough movement it could separate. That was just a little painful, It took me over 15 mins to remove all the spikes. 

A few days after the race, starting to heal.

The race was a blast, trading blows with Curt hour after hour. We held on to finish 2nd. We got beat by Aaron Gulley and Cary Smith, those guys were flying and simply just had more consistent times than us. 

Duo's are difficult because of the time you are off your bike. The durations you are racing are extremely hard. I literally rode every lap as fast as I could. I would do one again, it just may take more convincing! Solo's are alot of fun too! 

Huge thanks to everyone that helped us out, supported us, cheered for us etc. What an unbelievable treat it was to get away for a break in the desert for some all day bike racing. Just a glimpse of the 2014 race season to come! 

On the podium with Curt. Thanks for your hard work buddy!

Next race for me is True Grit, March 15th in St George Utah!

Thanks for reading.

-KT

25 Hours In Frog Hollow!

This was my second ever solo 24 hour event. This race falls on the day of time change so we "fall back" an hour and the race is actually 25 hours long. The race was in Hurricane, Utah. The course was freaking awesome! Pure desert mountain biking. The course was a 13 mile loop with about 7 miles of double track(which was mainly climbing) and the rest was singletrack. The singletrack was a treat every lap. The "jem trail" was a fast and flowy downhill that had me grinning like a kid every lap no matter how bad I was suffering. It is now seriously one of funnest downhills I've ever done. I would say the last 10 minutes of the lap was the most difficult of the course, it has short and steep full effort climbs and several rock gardens that required alot of energy use and it seemed like I would barely crawl through that section every lap at 3mph, I probably would have been better off to walk like most others were.

I didn't have huge expectations for this race. I was expecting good competition however in endurance events like this, you are your competition. ANYTHING can happen and I challenge everyone who has never raced a solo to do so and live one of the best experiences you'll ever have on two wheels. Riding through the day, watching the sunset, cruising through the peaceful night then having the incredible sensation of the powerful sunrise to brighten your spirits, it is truly a spiritual event riding your bike all day long. After all, most no one does any activity for a solid day.

My friend and BOSS Jonathan Davis let Richie and I take his Ford Transit down to the race. He has this rig so pimped out. Sleeper on top, Sleeper inside along with a cook station and full electricity. It was a luxury and a huge aid to our pit camp. I wasn't sweating the race too much once we arrived, I was calm and collective. I prepared my bottles in the morning over breakfast, made sure I had plenty of food options near our tent and I hung all of my clothes on the railing of the tent for easy access at night. My only goal was to keep moving, I wasn't wanting to waste much time pitting but it's needed fo sho.

The first lap was a little faster than I initially probably should have been going. Everyone was smokin' fast so I found a comfortable pace, studied the course and settled in. My heart rate was super high, so I knew I was well rested and I knew it was going to be a good race right off the bat. Richie(who was racing DUO with Josh) said it best and I caught myself saying this over and over all night in my head, "24 solo's are an eating contest, not a bike race". Eating isn't as much of a problem for me as much as downing liquids, I had an idea to remove a bottle cage from my bike and carry one bottle in my pocket. I absolutely HATE bottles in my pocket. So that was the demon on my back the entire race to remind me and to force me to drink and get the weight off my back! It worked well. First lap time was 52 mins, one down, 24 hours to go!

My second lap was 55 mins long, my third 60mins including a short pit stop. By the third lap I was up into 3rd place. The other two guys ahead of me were killing it. Almost XC pace, I reminded myself to not get caught up in the ego trip, save the juice for nightfall when everyone else get sleepy and grouchy. My first mistake came just at sundown, I went out on a lap(lap 8, I think) thinking I could beat the dark. WRONG! I got caught in the dark about 3 miles to the pits. I literally almost rode off the mesa before the last downhill and totally would have died, it was some scary shit but I survived. FYI, the sun sets fast in the desert. And when it does, it gets cold fast!

Luckily, I love night riding, so I was anticipating nightfall. By 1am I was in 2nd place and had already traded a few attacks with 1st place but he was faster than me in the rocks. Around 3am I ate some veggie soup and I swear it made me a new man, I turned two 71min laps back-to-back after that soup. I was able to catch and fly by the 1st pace dude. I was now in control of the race.

I had extra motivation knowing he'd be gunning for me and chasing me for the win. I was eagerly awaiting the sun to rise. As it peaked over the mountains and the clouds lit up blue I wanted to stop. It was such a beautiful sight. This is a damn amazing world we live in and I cannot believe some of the things I get to see because of a bike ride!

After sunrise, I was full of energy and with the possiblity of setting a new course record, I was cookin'. It was going to come down to the wire and that it did. At the end of my 20th lap(260 miles down!) I had to do my next lap, including pit time in under 66mins. I rode a 56 min lap, 60min with a pit stop). It literally destroyed my body. I was out of the saddle on every climb, constantly pushing that extra gear I didn't think I had. But I knew I could do it. Solo's are all about believing in yourself. I wrapped up the win with that effort and the 22lap was up for grabs if I wanted the course record. No other solo rider made the cutoff time of 25 hours. I cruised an easy 22nd lap to end a total race time of 26:18. 286 miles later, I was done.

I was in such a deep zone in that race it's difficult to look back and reflect on much other than the drive I had to race as hard as I could. I feel so blessed to be able to ride how I do. This race was dedicated to my Uncle Roy. I used to love riding bikes with him as a child. Roy was mental challenged. He was my best friend and he was my motivation to beat that record.

Thanks to everyone who made this event happen, I know it cannot be easy and it must take hella organization. To sum up an amazing weekend, my teammates Richie and Josh won the mens open duo race as well. They freakin' smoked it, no one was even close. Way to destroy it 92FIFTY'!!

The course was crazy dusty and my throat is taxed from huffing all that desert air.

Check out the condition of my bike.

Got caught in my first snowstorm on the way back to Colorado, luckily Richie drove!

Overall Mens Open Solo

Josh and Richie crushed it!

Thanks for reading, If I find more race pictures I will add them later!
-kyle