Category: Mountain (Team)

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Riding Southern Utah with Friends

What was originally going to be a weekend getaway visiting my good friend (and absolute shredder), Dylan, turned into a few weeks’ stay, heavy sessions, and overall good vibes. Dylan and I had one vision when we decided to put some content out for the public to see. That vision was to capture the raw Utah sessions that go down out in the desert using only my “Dad Cam” and not to make this video a “project” but only to capture what happens when two buddies feed off each other’s riding and progression, head to the zones, and throw down whatever comes to mind that day. Although this time of year is not ideal for filming, digging, and riding here in Virgin, we were able to make the most of the 4:30am wake ups to beat the 110+ degree heat and film some solid lines we were stoked on.

KHS Pro MTB rider Luke Whitlock rides Southern Utah.
KHS Pro MTB rider Luke Whitlock rides Southern Utah.

Virgin has a special energy that cannot be described, but only to be experienced, and that’s exactly what we wanted to capture. We wanted to take freeriding back to its roots and create a more raw, big mountain, Utah feel, and that fueled the motivation to hit some of our favorite legendary zones that we had always dreamed of riding. Zones we’ve seen our idols ride in movies and videos.

KHS Pro MTB rider Luke Whitlock rides Southern Utah.
KHS Pro MTB rider Luke Whitlock rides Southern Utah.

Dylan and I love riding the big mountain lines that Southern Utah…
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Winning at Tamarack Resort

KHS Pro MTb rider Kailey Skelton on the podium in first place at the Northwest Cupat Tamarack Resort Id.
KHS Pro MTb rider Kailey Skelton on the podium in first place at the Northwest Cupat Tamarack Resort Id.
Racing resumed this weekend for the team up in Tamarack, Idaho for round three of the Northwest Cup. It would be Kailey Skelton who would be holding it down for the pro women’s Downhill category. With Steven and Nik still over in Europe awaiting World Cup round two and Luke Whitlock is still finishing up film projects in Virgin, Utah.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton taking a practice run at Tamarack Resort,ID. for the third stop of the Northwest Cup.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton taking a practice run at Tamarack Resort,ID. for the third stop of the Northwest Cup.

This would be Kailey’s second time at this venue; she would complete a track walk Thursday which would entail a steep dusty loose track with lots of technical drops corners and tree sections that the Idaho mountains would create for this weekend’s race. Being a dry track Kailey was very familiar with these types of conditions which would play in her favor for Sunday’s finals.

KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton taking a practice run at Tamarack Resort,ID. for the third stop of the Northwest Cup.
KHS Pro MTB rider Kailey Skelton taking a practice run at Tamarack Resort,ID. for the third stop of the Northwest Cup.

Friday’s practice started off early morning and would go till 1 PM which would give…
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Crankworx, Austria

KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on his race run at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria.
KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on his race run at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria.

Being one of the most pristine races that gathers all disciplines of mountain biking under one event was held this past  weekend in Innsbruck Austria! The team would be competing against the best top riders in the world in Sunday’s Downhill Finals.

KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on his race run at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria.
KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton on his race run at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria.

They would begin their journey with Thursday’s track walk which would be showcasing in the Austrian Alps with heavy vegetation, lots of roots and a big challenge ahead to memorize, calculate and get the best lines down to put in there one shot on Sunday to grab a solid result.

KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on his practice run during Friday's ​practice at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria
KHS Pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on his practice run during Friday’s ​practice at the 2021 Crankworx even in Innsbruck, Austria

Friday would be day one of training which would consist of a dry track with over 200 Pro Downhill men fighting to get the top spot. With ever so many people including amateur racers going down the track every day the conditions were changing drastically every run for team athletes Steven and Nik. They would continue…
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World Cup Racing Starts in Leogang, Austria

It’s the most exciting part of the year with World Cup racing beginning in Leogang, Austria! It would be Steven Walton & Nik Nestoroff who would be making the European trip to compete at the highest level of racing. They would be flying from Los Angeles, California all the way into Munich, Germany to race. A lot of pre-trip planning and documentation would go into this trip to make it as safe as possible and following the CDC guidelines. Nik and Steven would be showing up one week in advance before the first round. To dial in their KHS Downhill bikes and get their feet underneath them with time changes, jet lag, language adjustments and do some overall testing to adjust to the European Alps.
KHS Pro MTB RIder Nik Nestoroff getting in a race run at the first World Cup race of 2021 in Leogang, Austria.
KHS Pro MTB RIder Nik Nestoroff getting in a race run at the first World Cup race of 2021 in Leogang, Austria.
They would need a place for all this testing to happen, it would be in Schladming, Austria just down the road from the actual race venue to complete some of their crucial testing and get them up to speed and rolling at top-notch levels! The KHS athletes had sunshine and a great few days of riding some of the best DH track in the world. After testing was completed and the athletes were feeling up to pace they would move onto Wednesday’s track walk which was a crucial day for nNik and Steven to get a look at the track that they were going to have…
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Kailey Skelton Calms her Nerves to the Podium

The Pacific Northwest always has provided some of the best tracks in the Nation particularly the one on Dry Hill in Port Angeles, Washington where the notorious under world cup race event happens every year. This Northwest cup race will bring the best racers from East and West coast areas also including some of the best downhill racers from the borders of Canada to all come together and compete against each other for the top spot.

With Steven Walton staying back home to finish up some suspension testing it was up to Kailey Skelton and Nik Nestoroff to hold it down for the team in the PNW. The team would arrive Wednesday in Seattle to make their four hour journey North to Port Angeles. The official first day was Thursday with only track walk and sightseeing of the course.

KHS pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on track during a practice run at the Northwest Cup in Port Angeles, WA.
KHS pro MTB rider Nik Nestoroff on track during a practice run at the Northwest Cup in Port Angeles, WA.

After track walk both athletes were very excited to gear up for Friday’s practice session. After seeing the awesome well maintained track with tricky sections, lots of cornering, steep sections and roots to deal with, they were up for the challenging conditions.

Friday’s practice went very well for both Nik and Kailey; they adapted to the track very well and to their benefit they have raced this track for many years at past events. With that said they were getting up to speed very quickly and making very little changes to the bikes and they’re set ups.

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