The morning of day three, Katya and Jackson graciously stopped cycling and chatted with John Stamstad and me for about 15 minutes.
Discussion topics ranged from the quality of the suburban section of the XWA route through King County, Achilles pains, and the history of chamois cycling shorts.
Watch the conversation:
Both riders have growing bikepacking resumes:
Katya
-2021 Arizona Trail Race (AZTR) 300
-2022 Colorado Trail Race (CTR)
-2022 Bones to Blue 1st & course record
Katya is looking forward to racing Tour Divide this year.
In researching Katya, I came across this wonderful quote from her in thetownbicycle.com
“Bikes continue giving me freedom and empowerment, and that’s why they are awesome.”
Despite the physical difficulties she was experiencing during the interview, Katya went on to finish 5th overall, and was the first woman with a new course record of 04d:18h:07m.
Jackson
-2019, 2021 Great Divide Classic / Tour Divide
-2021 Colorado Trail Race (CTR)–Scratch
-2021 Arizona Trail Race (AZTR) 300
-2022 XWA–Scratch; 2023 is a redemption attempt
2023 Results
Katya 7/48 04d:18h:07m = New women’s course record
Jackson 8/48 04d:18h:16m = Redemption achieved!
Thanks to John Stamstad for his contribution and insights.
