The Mt Kato Mountain Bike Race is a bit of a love & hate thing… Each lap you climb the full front side and the full back side of the ski hill, along with mid lap going about half way down and back to the top again. It’s a hard course and the reward sections are short, but there is something about it that has us coming back most years. If you like climbing, this is your XC race.
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Results
2024 Results
Lynn (Comp) – 15th overall, 4th in age
Reid (Comp) – 9th overall, 4th in age
Kyle (Elite) – 8th overall, 1st in age
Steve (Elite) – 10th overall, 5th in age
2023 Results
Reid (Sport) – 4th in age, 12th overall
Kyle (Comp) – 4th in age, 4th overall
Lynn (Sport) – 1st in age, 4th overall
Me (Elite) – 8th in age, 16th overall
2021 Results
Reid (Sport) – 1st in age, 3rd overall
Kyle (Comp) – 2nd in age, 2nd overall
Lynn (Sport) – 4th in age, 10th overall
Me (Elite) – 5th in age, 20th overall
2015 Results
Steve (Comp) – 25th Overall
Race Notes
2024 Race Notes
Kyle put the hammer down this weekend and put almost 3 minutes into me (Steve). He came by me early in the first lap. I yo yo’d off the back of him a bit and then about halfway thru first lap, he hammered out of an uphill switchback, pulling away and I never saw his wheel again. By the time I came around the lap to hit the climb again, he was already up it and putting more time into me. It’s so fun to watch him race and being in the race lets me see a lot more of his racing! I must have a couple hours of him racing on GoPro now out in front of me.
Reid is still dealing with his skin issues and it is very uncomfortable for him to race or be in the heat, but he is still getting after it more and more. He had a good race!
Lynn beat her average lap times from last year, even after 3 laps this year in Comp vs 2 in Sport last year.
Side note… We finished off Joel’s entire race cake after the race!
2023 Race Notes
Hot racing weather this weekend. Last time I raced here, it was really hot also. Love the car ride home from the races and hearing each others play by play race stories… The boys both had clean races while Lynn and I both came off the course dirty. She crashed twice. I wiped out and slid down the hillside off the trail on my 3rd lap. The trails are so dried out this year. Need to watch any of the off camber soft corners… I dropped back a handful of places getting my bike back up on the trail. Pulled back in a couple spots in the last lap. Kyle and Reid are racing strong and are good climbers. They both had really good races. Kyle would have beat me in Elite today, based on his lap times. The competition in each class right now with the 18 and under kids is so good to watch. It’s great to see so many kids out there racing this series, along with some of their parents.
Fun side note… Last time I did this on a Supercal that was about 4 lbs lighter than my Niner RKT that I’m riding this year and I set PRs with the RKT on both major climbs with majority of laps/climb efforts beating most of the Supercal times, including a few other segments on the course. It surprised me a bit as the RKT is set up with a 120 Fox 34 and on paper should not be climbing as well as the Supercal did with it’s setup. Need to nerd out on the specific effort power numbers, but do see that overall race NP and avg power was a little higher this year, which is a good sign for fitness as well, but obviously plays into the PRs also. I’ve set PRs on this bike in some of the other races this year as well and this is actually the previous Gen RKT vs the latest updated one.
2021 Race Notes
2015 Race Notes
Bike Setups
2024 Bike Setups
Reid
Bike: Cervelo ZHT-5
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC 1200
Tires: Maxxis Recon (f) / Icon (r)
Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Eagle
Kyle
Bike: Niner AIR 9 RDO
Wheels: Bontrager XXX Rims on DT 240 Hubs
Tires: Vittoria Barzo (f) / Mezcal (r)
Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Eagle
Lynn
Bike: Niner RKT 9 RDO
Wheels: Reserve 28 XC on DT 350 Hubs
Tires: Vittoria Barzo (f) / Mezcal (r)
Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle
Steve
Bike: Cervelo ZFS-5 120
Wheels: DT Swiss XMC 1200
Tires: Schwalbe Racing Ray (f) / Racing Ralph (r)
Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Transmission
Fuel/Hydration
2024
Steve
-USWE pack w/ 2L bladder and 2 servings of the heavy carb SIS powder -Underdiluted the mix and then topped off bladder with ice cubes. Had cold mix for at least the first half of race.
-Frozen bottle hand on the 2nd and last lap (they were thawed enough this time!