Hello all,
My name is Ryan Kemp. I am and avid outdoorsman mainly focusing on Mountain Biking and Cycling. I have been racing bikes off and on for about 9 years with consistently good results. I had a great record in MTB racing locally when I was a junior, taking the Nevada and Idaho State MTB championship in the junior sport category a few times each. I moved on to Road cycling when I was 17 and did well earning enough points to upgrade to a Cat 3 racer, however I never upgraded out of the Cat 4's. I took a few years off of the racing scene while I was attending college full time. I just started to enjoy the sport this last spring again... only to be bitten by the racing bug yet again only even harder this time.
I returned to the racing scene by doing a few local criterium’s this spring placing in the top 10 a few different times. Later in the season some friends convinced me to get back on the MTB and start training for the 24 hours of Moab race in October. I have been training with a friend/ teammate for a few months now averaging 20-25 mile rides booking well over 3,000 feet of climbing every time we touch the dirt. In my preparations for Moab I did a "tune up" race to see if I still had what it took to race a MTB. It went very well, I placed first overall out of all of the beginners beating second place in my group by over 5 minutes. I did the beginner course because it was very similar to the Moab course topographically, and in distance... it was a challenging 15 mile race which I completed in 1 hour and 11 minutes... not bad for a guy that hasn't raced a MTB in over 5 years.
I am looking forward to racing in Moab and getting the ball rolling on 24 hour/ ultra endurance MTB races which will be my main focus over the next year or so. Some races I plan on doing next year include 24 hours of old pueblo in NV (first duo effort), 24 Hours Round the Clock in WA (first solo effort), Cascade Creampuff 100 in OR, a few local short XC races in ID mixed in for the fun of it, and last but not least a return to the 24 hours of Moab to Solo with the big boys.
As I have some big plans next year I will need some big help. That’s where you come in. Any help would be appreciated and I hope to represent those that sponsor me well.