The 2022 Year in Review

The 2022 Year in Review

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Hey, hi, hello! Kait and Kurt here. We’re about to announce our team plans for 2023 and we thought we’d take a moment to look back on where we’re coming from. 

 
In 2022 we officially launched the Industry Nine – Pivot Pro Backcountry Team! After years of sharing most of our sponsors and sharing a vision and direction as professional mountain bikers, it was logical to combine forces into a unified team. 
 
A year later, we’re proud of everything we achieved, together and individually, and are grateful for each sponsor for believing in the value of our vision and contribution to the mountain bike community.

Fred Marmsater photo

  • We both raced the Fat Pursuit race in January – Kait won the women’s 60k race and placed 3rd overall and Kurt won the 200k race!

  • Our winter team camp took an alternative approach to the standard warm weather training camp; we went on a 3-day winter fatbike bikepack in the Gros Ventre Range. 

  • Kurt broke his hand in a crash and took it as an opportunity for some foot adventures in Grand Canyon

  • We attended the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival, met rad folks, and Kait led a ride.

  • We both raced the Pisgah Stage Race!

    • Kait placed 2nd in the Overall GC and 1st in the Enduro GC!

    • Kurt took 5th in the Overall GC in his first hard riding since breaking his hand

  • Kurt gave a shop talk in Harrisonburg, Virginia raised ~$1,000 for the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition 

  • Kait traveled to Finale Ligure, Italy to return to the 24-Hour World Championships for the first time since her car accident in 2018 (just after winning worlds in 2018). While leading the race she made the hard decision to stop racing and retire from ultras. You can read more about it here, or listen to her talk about it here. 

  • Kurt set a new FKT on the 520-mile Comstock Epic route across Nevada of 55.5 hours!

  • We traveled to the Swan Range in Montana and worked on a multi-year vision of clearing Posey Creek trail to make the entire Alpine 7 Trail more rideable. 

  • We co-produced the film We Ride For the Mountains for Protect Our Winters

  • We spent 3 weeks in the Alps, riding 4 different 3-5 day routes in a hut-hut style, linking as much incredible singletrack together as possible. Check out the routes and staggering statistics and photos here and here!

  • Kurt returned to the Alpine 7 Trail in September to ride it in a day and set a new FKT of ~13.5 hours

  • We gave our first Where Trails Lead Us shop talk for POW and screened We Ride For the Mountains at the WYDAHO Mountain Bike Festival. 

  • We hosted a Bikepacking Gathering for Bikepacking Roots in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

  • We gave another Where Trails Lead Us shop talk for POW at Pivot Cycles’ HQ, and screened the second film we produced this year, Along The Swan about the Alpine 7 Trail. The event raised $2,500 for the Arizona Trail Association’s Gear Girls program. 

  • Kait joined the Roam Fest Sedona panel and led two climate advocacy workshops at the event. 

  • Kait served on the board of directors for the Arizona Trail Association as well as for Mountain Bike the Tetons and chaired the Advocacy Committees for both organizations. 

  • Kurt continued to scout out and share resources for new bikepacking routes in amazing places across the West, including the Kofa Nat’l Wildlife Refuge and Utah’s Henry Mountains, as well as for Bikepacking Roots in his role as Routes Director. 

  • We both continued to develop how-to and educational materials to help others work toward new backcountry experiences on the bike – everything from preparing for ultras to what we carried for hut-to-hut bikepacking in the Alps to what to bring for food or shelters while bikepacking.