Kevin Aiello Pro GRT Round 3- Northstar Resort

Truckee, CA—The Pro GRT National race series makes its third stop in Truckee California, at the legendary Northstar Ski Resort, for the biggest GRT event yet. This Awesome resort played host to some of the world’s fastest racers, including the Santa Cruz Syndicate, Giant Bikes, Transition Bikes, DRD Tomac, and KHS Factory team. With all these world class individuals attending, I knew I had to be on my game. The race track on the other hand had a wide variety of terrains that included fast, loose, high speed berms, big jumps, bridge drops, and a few nasty rock gardens. After a few course changes, riders took to the track, and started hammering in lines. I got my runs in and was feeling good for Fridays seeding run.
Come Friday morning, riders were excited and a bit nervous to do their first timed run down the rough four minute track. I took a few cruiser runs and soon enough was lining up for my seeding run. My run went well at about 90 percent speed with minimal mistakes. I crossed the finish line winded to find out nothing… No times, or live results. After a much needed shower and some lunch, mom called to let me know I had qualified in 5th place and I was in the mix! Saturday, I did a couple runs with Minnaar to see what needed to be done on the track, and have a little whip contest while we were at it too! After a quick track walk I called it good, and hit the pool with some friends during peek bronzing hours.

Race morning I was up at six smashing a quick bowl of cereal before throwing the bikes over the tailgate and heading up the mountain. I was excited to get on the track and get loose. My warm up runs were smooth and consistent, giving me some confidence for finals. Practice commenced and the waiting game was on. I had nearly five hours of waiting to do before the top qualifying pros took to the course. After what seemed like forever, I finally finished my warm up and was in the gate listening to the beeps. My run started out great, putting out some good power over the first rocky pedaling section. I dropped down onto a ski run, scrubbed some table tops, and was quickly back into the woods. The course turned from awesome conditions in the morning, to what seemed like a race on mars during my run. I slid out twice, bringing me to a near stop in the middle of the blown out track, but threw that out quickly to focus back on my run. I had a great rest of my run, and an all out 30 second sprint to the finish line jump. I finally caught my breath after the last rider crossed the finish line and heard I still finished in the top ten. A solid 8th place result had me stoked for the rest of the day. All in all it was the best national race I have ever attended because of the awesome rider turnout, and the amazing resort that it took place at. I would like to thank all my sponsors for their continued support including GT Bicycles, Epic Stealth Cameras, SRAM, Kenda, Mavic, Fox Clothing, Funn, Ethirteen, SDG, Twenty Six Products, Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, FiveTen Shoes, EFX, DarkTimbers , ODI grips, Freestyle watches, Diverse Suspension Springs, The BikeCo, and Cadence Works.