This episode is all about determination and perseverance. In 2007 Jeff Kerkove took on the Colorado Trail Race (CTR) as his first bikepacking race. He came into the bikepacking world with an accomplished racing career in 12 and 24 hour events. That year he DNF’d due to trench foot, a mistake he never made again. He would go on to attempt the CTR 5 more times, each with the same result, a DNF on the CTR. This year would be different for Jeff. He lined up to the start line for his seventh time, armed with all the knowledge of his previous attempts, and just as determined to finish. This year his perseverance and determination paid off with his first finish on the CTR. He finished in a very respectable 7th place with a time of 5 day, 1 hour. I love this story and I’m so glad Jeff got that “monkey off his back” and he came on the show to share it with us.
Jeff is also one of the main folks behind Ergon USA, so I took the opportunity to talk about their grips and saddles particularly as they relate to bikepackers and ultra endurance cyclist. Hand pain, wrist pressure, saddle sores, are common issues that come up and they make some good products that help address these issues. *This is not an advertisement for Ergon, he happens to work there, and I was curious.
I met Jeff online in 2018 when I asked a facebook group for help creating a bikepacking route near Eagle, CO. He reached out immediately and was extremely helpful, to the point of creating me multiple route options. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my bikepacking journey and I have him to thank, so it was nice to have him on the show to thank him properly.
On the episode I encouraged him to publish the route. Our BoD Editor, Ben Cranell, just road a very similar route that Jeff created and we can both attest to the beauty of this area and route. Until then, here are some pics from the route (some are from my trip in 2018 and some are from Bens just a few weeks ago).
Episode Sponsors: tell them thanks for making this episode possible!
Kuat: This week Tom Lampe came on to tells us a little about the Piston Pro X
Quad Lock: Ben Moore has been riding with QL for 4 years and he came on to share some of his experiences!
Thanks to this week’s newest sustaining Patrons and welcome to The After Party 🎉
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Anders Hedegaard
Annie Bilotta
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