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If there’s one factor you will need to find out about Grant Koontz it’s that he actually loves biking. That singular truth, or relationship in case you take into account it in a barely completely different context, explains lots.
It’s a love story that has introduced him from the highway, to gravel, to the observe, as a journeyman searching for a profession to make the love story final just a bit bit longer. It’s taken him from nightly dinners of eggs and candy potatoes in a pop-up RV parked illegally on the streets of Boulder, to a bikepacking journey to the Midsouth gravel race on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, after which, pivotally, to the Eurovision-esque glitz and pageantry of the made-for-TV Observe Champions League.
In the end that keenness has delivered the 30-year-old to the Paris Olympics as Workforce USA’s sole male observe consultant, even when it has been a wildly roundabout strategy to get there.
“In a way, I used to be a misplaced pet,“ Koontz mentioned a few days earlier than the Video games started of his journey from gravel vagabond to the Olympic prep camp in Belgium. “Three years in the past I used to be watching the Olympics from the sideline because the observe world immediately shut down in the course of the pandemic. I used to be nonetheless very a lot a novice. I knew I had the barebones instruments to be a superb observe racer however I hadn’t had an opportunity to excel.
“Clearly, I wished to make it to Paris however I wanted to start out out taking child steps ahead. I assume that’s all the time been the paralyzing factor for me, simply the distractions elsewhere. Issues like gravel grew to become a distraction as a result of it was actually about having enjoyable and staying motivated by way of the pandemic, however I knew, and my spouse actually satisfied me, that if I may get to concentrate on one factor I’d be tremendous good at it.
“Once I was lastly in a position to try this and be adequate to show my again on different attention-grabbing alternatives was what introduced me success. The main focus needed to be falling in love with the method and never solely counting on the love of biking that has been happening for 12 years.”
Whereas these sentiments and the journey Koontz has been on do match the beats of different athletes’ dragged-out battles towards luck, competitors, and motivation to make it to the Olympic degree, Koontz had the added problem that comes from the USA’ difficult relationship with observe biking.
Within the early 1900s, observe biking in the USA was large. Figures like Main Taylor have been worldwide stars, whereas followers packed well-known venues like Madison Sq. Backyard in New York Metropolis to observe not basketball or hockey, however observe occasions. Actually, all through the primary half of the twentieth century European professionals got here to the USA to race observe occasions for further money and publicity.
Now, observe biking is however a shadow of its previous. Velodromes are sparse, with solely three indoor tracks among the many 22 whole tracks presently in use within the U.S., which places the U.S. on the again foot in worldwide competitors and improvement.
There have been exceptions to the rule — most notably Jennifer Valente’s gold medal on the omnium within the Tokyo Olympics and the ladies’s workforce pursuit silver medals in London and Rio, bronze in Tokyo, and now gold in Paris — however on the boys’s aspect, success in main championships has been under par as evidenced by their incapacity to qualify a workforce pursuit for the previous two Olympic cycles regardless of important funding into that trigger.
“I’ve shifted my focus just a few occasions,” Koontz mentioned of his time within the Olympic pipeline with USA Biking’s observe program. “The preliminary plan was for us to qualify within the workforce pursuit, however as soon as it was clear that the writing was on the wall that we weren’t going to qualify for the workforce pursuit I switched my focus to the Madison which is what I assumed we’d have a greater probability of getting a spot.
“I actually hadn’t centered lots on the omnium till this yr as a result of I assumed my finest shot on the Olympics was in actually every other occasion. However in the end my concentrate on all the opposite occasions has helped me be a well-rounded rider for the omnium.”
However, qualifying questions, funding issues, and the uncertainty of choice are actually behind Koontz. As an alternative, he’s now dealing with the purity of the racing and faces the final word check of endurance observe racers: the omnium.
The omnium is a one-day occasion consisting of 4 races: a scratch race, a tempo race, an eliminator, and the all-important factors race. Whereas every of those races has its personal intricacies, when it comes right down to brass-tax the calls for of the races are just like the technical challenges the remainder of biking faces. Increasingly more, the large variable past uncooked watts is the aerodynamics of the rider.
For Koontz, a self-described biking romantic, the technical challenges may not appear to be they’d be of a lot curiosity. However ever since he was chosen to the workforce earlier this summer season Koontz has delved into the tech challenges that include racing on the tippy-top of biking efficiency.
“Two weeks in the past I did a bunch of on-bike on-track testing,” Koontz mentioned. “Clearly, which means all the things needs to be taken with a grain of salt as a result of exterior forces can have an effect on it, however nonetheless it’s pivotal to see what helmet to make use of, what gloves to make use of, what shoe covers to make use of — all the things.”
With eyes in direction of optimizing all the things, exhausting selections needed to be made, together with skipping over a motorcycle constructed for the American observe program with the specific function of getting a bonus at these Paris Olympics.
“Look simply launched a brand new P24 observe bike and it simply didn’t work for me,” Koontz mentioned. “It isn’t adjustable sufficient for me and my place so we went again to the (Look) T20 bike as a result of, on the finish of the day, the bike is barely nearly as good as your place. It can save you far more on helmets and shoe covers and people issues somewhat than simply driving all of the cool new shit.”
But on August 8, the deck will get reset once more. All of the riders from around the globe who will compete for medals over the frantic 4 occasions should overlook concerning the aero benefits they could or could not have and easily race. On the finish of the day, no matter manner one splices it, racing is all the time extra of an artwork than it’s a science. The omnium is not any completely different, particularly since its greatest level haul comes within the race the place surprises can flip up the established order.
“Consistency is essential,” Koontz mentioned. “You don’t need to be one of the best on the planet at the entire occasions, it’s nearly consistency over the primary three races and simply putting within the cash, as a result of the factors race is the best weighted occasion for these general factors, and that’s actually what the coaching has been geared in direction of. In the event you can’t factors race, you may’t be the omnium winner.”
To be taught extra about Koontz and his journey, make sure you try his Instagram (@rakoooontz) the place he has been sharing particulars and journal entries from the pivotal factors over the previous few years. It’s nicely definitely worth the learn!
