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If there may be one factor you need to learn about Grant Koontz it’s that he actually loves biking. That singular truth, or relationship if you happen to think about it in a barely totally different context, explains lots.
It’s a love story that has introduced him from the street, to gravel, to the observe, as a journeyman on the lookout 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 Monitor Champions League.
In the end that keenness has delivered the 30-year-old to the Paris Olympics as Group USA’s sole male observe consultant, even when it has been a wildly roundabout approach 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 at present 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 very good observe racer however I hadn’t had an opportunity to excel.
“Clearly, I needed to make it to Paris however I wanted to begin 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 deal with one factor I might be tremendous good at it.
“After I was lastly in a position to do this and be ok to show my again on different fascinating alternatives was what introduced me success. The main target needed to be falling in love with the method and never solely counting on the love of biking that has been occurring 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 US’ difficult relationship with observe biking.
Within the early 1900s, observe biking in the US was big. Figures like Main Taylor had 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. The truth is, all through the primary half of the twentieth century European professionals got here to the US to race observe occasions for additional 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 growth.
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 crew pursuit silver medals in London and Rio, bronze in Tokyo, and now gold in Paris — however on the boys’s facet, success in main championships has been beneath par as evidenced by their incapability to qualify a crew 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 crew pursuit, however as soon as it was clear that the writing was on the wall that we weren’t going to qualify for the crew pursuit I switched my focus to the Madison which is what I believed we’d have a greater likelihood of getting a spot.
“I truthfully hadn’t centered lots on the omnium till this 12 months as a result of I believed my finest shot on the Olympics was in actually another occasion. However finally my deal with 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 at the moment are behind Koontz. As a substitute, he’s now going through the purity of the racing and faces the last 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 much 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 look like they might be of a lot curiosity. However ever since he was chosen to the crew earlier this summer time 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, meaning every part 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 — every part.”
With eyes in direction of optimizing every part, laborious decisions needed to be made, together with skipping over a motorbike constructed for the American observe program with the specific objective 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 using all of the cool new shit.”
But on August 8, the deck will get reset once more. All of the riders from all over the world who will compete for medals over the frantic 4 occasions must overlook in regards to the aero benefits they could or could not have and easily race. On the finish of the day, no matter method one splices it, racing is all the time extra of an artwork than it’s a science. The omnium isn’t any totally different, particularly since its largest level haul comes within the race the place surprises can flip up the established order.
“Consistency is vital,” Koontz mentioned. “You don’t must be the very best on this planet at all the 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 total factors, and that’s actually what the coaching has been geared in direction of. If you happen to can’t factors race, you may’t be the omnium winner.”
To study extra about Koontz and his journey, you should definitely try his Instagram (@rakoooontz) the place he has been sharing particulars and journal entries from the pivotal factors over the previous couple of years. It’s properly well worth the learn!
