Photo ©: Chipps

Test to destruction: The Keith Bontrager diary 2008

Keith Bontrager is best known as the bike and component design guru behind his eponymous road and mountain bike components, but behind the scenes, the man universally known as KB is an enthusiastic and well-respected endurance mountain bike racer.

KB has taken part in a over 50 24-hour races in the last few years, and in his diary takes us inside the mental, physical, and technical challenges of long-distance mountain bike racing while juggling the demands of an active interest in the successful international business he began all those years ago.

Index to all entries

Latest entry: July 2: The late spring flurry

2008 entries

• July 2: The late spring flurry
• May 7: Warming up
• February 26: Oh deer!

2007 entries

• September 23: The first (and only!) six hours
• September 22: 24 Hour World Championships
• September 21: The Vaude Trans-Schwarzwald
• August 21: Twentyfour12
• June 6: TransScotland wrap
• June 6: The penultimate day
• June 1: Rough on the hands
• May 31: Stages 3 and 4 and the second TT
• May 28: The first "special test"
• May 27: Off to a bonny, muddy start

2006 entries

• December 3: A tale of two races - part 2
• December 2: A tale of two races - part 1
• October 17: Yorkshire, here I come!
• October 10: Chasing setup at Landahl 24-Hour
• August 21: Global warming is not my thing
• August 9: Solving the sports physiology puzzle
• July 31: Home remedies cut the cost and pain
• July 19: The good the bad and the ugly
• June 15: Excuses, excuses...
• June 5: Fat Possum freakiness
• January 6: Mountains of Moab Part I

2005 entries

• November 6: Looking back at 3 Peaks
• September 21: Cold and sleepless in Colorado
• September 12: Your roots are showing
• August 24: More singlespeed wonders
• August 22: Many prologues, one stage

TransRockies Challenge

• August 14: Coulda woulda shoulda
• August 13: A call to action for the pros
• August 12: Repairs and recovery
• August 11: Team strategies & a tough call
• August 10: A testing day - for riders and tyres
• August 9: Riding the sawtooth
• August 8: Bears, recovery and staying in the running
• August 7: A very different prologue

Previous Cyclingnews features with Keith Bontrager

• 2004 interview: The crossover man
• Peaking Out - Keith Bontrager rides the 3 Peaks Cyclocross