About Ken

Ken Hurd

Home Town: Calgary, AB Canada
Age: 32
Height: 6′
Weight: 170lbs
Occupation: Art Director at Critical Mass & freelance designer

MTB Passion

I’m not sure why I love mountain biking so much – I think you could probably liken it back to the feelings you had as a kid. Your first bike was your first taste of freedom. Suddenly you could go so much further, so much faster – you were the master of your own destiny (or at least I was ;-). As I got older, I don’t think that feeling really changed much, only instead of exploring other neighborhoods and parks like I did in my youth, I wanted to explore the mountains, the trails, the places I couldn’t regularly get to. Now that I’ve started commuting I’ve started to feel that a little bit for the city as well – you definitely get a different sense of a city on the ground feeling the fresh air, rather than locked inside your car.

Why the Transrockies

Surprisingly I didn’t just wake up one day wanting to subject myself to the rigors of 7 days in the Rockies, I think it was more of an evolution. A good friend of ours – David Lilley – introduced me to the sport of adventure racing a number of years ago and I have to admit, I found it a little addicting.

After a number of great races Dave’s job took him away from Edmonton, and without our fearless navigator, Sheldon and I struggled in the AR circuit. After having a blast in a really great non-navigational race called Sea2Summit I was really intrigued by the idea of stage racing. Since mountain biking is the sport nearest and dearest to my heart the TR seemed like the next logical (or crazy – depending on how you look at it) step.

Expectations

To be honest I’m not sure what to expect. Laughter? Tears? Enough lactic acid to make me wish I was dead? Perhaps a little bit of it all… I think it’ll be a great experience over the next 9 months, really gearing down and training hard – and a lot of anticipation as things build up to race day.

Fears

Really, if I train properly I think I’ll be ready for the race – I don’t fool myself into thinking I’m going to win or anything, and I don’t have enough race experience to really nail down a target time to shoot for – based off how the lead up training goes I’ll just set a pace and try and keep it. That said, one thing I am concerned about are the conditions – namely the weather. I’m not really scared of getting a little wet or dirty, but 7 days of solid rain would definitely make for a slightly more challenging week!

First Ride

I started just like any other kid, on a variety of Sears classics, but my first *real* bike was a Mongoose Iboc Comp. Dear lord did I love that bike. It took me everywhere. Took me to school, to the store, around the mountains when my family went camping and stuck with me through everything. I remember returning to the bike store almost weekly, tweaking the bike just a little bit every time – new White Industry cranks, braided spokes, new rubber, the list goes on and on. Truth be told, I bet I’d still have that rig in my garage if it hadn’t have been stolen.

Current Ride

I’ve come a long way since my first bike, and after working my way through a number of stupendous rigs, I’m really happy with what I’ve got right now – I thinks it’s worthy of the challenge coming, and I feel really confident on it:

Specialized Epic Marathon Carbon

• Weight: ~24lbs
• Fork: Fox F100 RLC
• Rear shock: Specialized AFR Shock
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT / SRAM X.0
• Brakes: Magura Marta
• Rims: DT Swiss XR
• Tires: S-Works Fast Trak LK

Want to get in touch? Contact Ken.