Kerkove has solid race in the Crested Butte Fat Tire 40
June 29, 2013
Crested Butte, Colorado, USA
The Fat Tire 40 is part of the Crested Butte Fat Tire Festival, claimed to be the longest running mountain bike festival in the USA. Planted at 9200 ft. above sea level, the Fat Tire 40 is a single 40-mile backcountry loop that traverses over some of the most breathtaking and organic mountain bike terrain the USA has to offer.
Beginning at 8 AM under clear sunny skies, the Fat Tire 40 rolled out of Crested Butte Mountain Resort under neutral control. After about 1.5 miles of neutral controlled pacing, the race was on as the field shot straight up the backside of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Jeff Kerkove of Team Topeak-Ergon pedaled his effort wisely as he sat around 10th place during the long slow grind to the top of the mountain. Opting to run the 28T SRAM XX1 front chainring, Jeff was able to gauge is effort early as the later half of the event throws lung busting climbs and technical terrain at the racers.
“I opted to ride my heavier full suspension 29er over my lighter hardtail 29er. This course is pretty brutal, so I want to conserve energy over the duration of the 40-mile, 3.5 hour race”, said Jeff Kerkove.
PHOTO: Chris Miller | Miller Perspectives
Over the 40-miles, Jeff would find himself racing around the same 5 or 6 competitors. “We battled back and forth all morning. The racing was really good, everyone is so fast and the competition is so tight here in Colorado”, Jeff Kerkove following the race. “I paced perfectly and improved a lot over last year, so I am happy with my result”
Jeff would place 15th overall, improving last years race time by 10 minutes. Next up for Jeff is the Firecracker 50 on July 4th.
Results
Jeff Kerkove, 15th, Pro Men