FEATURE
2017 PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILL CLIMB
P130
the bike was surprisingly close to what I wanted
to race on in terms of suspension settings—only
a change to the high-speed compression and re-
bound circuits in the shock on Thursday to make
it handle the last three miles of track were need-
ed. It made the bike a little loose on the bottom
section of the course but it was a fair compromise
for overall speed.
Once the qualifying session was over, we
headed into downtown Colorado Springs for the
Fan Fest, a smorgasbord of racing all served on a
plate for the public. Every walk of life comes out
at the Fan Fest, all wanting a poster, autograph
and a picture. This truly is a great initiative by the
race organizers and one many race committees
around the United States could take lesson from.
We exposed more people to the KTM brand than
we could have imagined in a short space of time,
and I'll admit to being a tad chuffed that a few kids
came up to me and said they still had my poster
on their walls from the 2016 race.
The only day
that matters
The feeling on race day morning
was a good one. Thanks to Colo-
rado's own Michael Brown of Exit
Tours, we had ourselves a camper
trailer at the back of the paddock
and for the first time in seven days,
Fillmore and I woke at 5:30 a.m.
with more than four hours sleep
in our systems, while the rest of
the paddock trudged in at 1 a.m.
Fillmore also had his good friend Anneke Beerten
make us some meals. That may not sound like
much, but Anneke is a three-time world moun-
tain bike champion, so she knows a thing or two
about race day nutrition. I didn't open my Pringles
after she arrived.
Michael also left us a yellow-colored dirt bike
to ferry us two orange KTM riders into the pits on
A job well done
for Cycle News
and Team KTM
North America.
From left:
Scaysbrook,
Nate Abila, Tom
Moen, Ulrich
Toporsch and
Chris Fillmore.
