So a little background.. On me

The Beginning: Let’s see.. Were to begin.. Let’s go back to the early 1980's.. While growing up in my free time, some how I had alot more of it when I was four, I was the terror of on the big wheel. I vividly remember my first and only trip to the "Big Wheel Dealership" aka G.I. Joes picking between the models. No fufy streamers or fake plastic radio for me, just red, with big black wheels. I road it around the front driveway till the hard plastic wheel was ground flat.

Scouts: Flash forward a few more years. About the time I was starting middle school, the Berlin wall had just fallen and Rob Kish was had just finished his 3rd RAAM, I started working on my cycling merit badge in scouts. At that time, the riding component of the merit badge was to ride two 25 mile rides a month for four months and then 50 miler in under 8 hours. Having started the merit badge in late summer, January saw me out completing my 50 miler. It took my dad and I 7 hours to complete our trek, with lots of coasting on his part. Somewhere along the way struck a cord and over the next few years, every spring my dad and I would ride in the "Monster Cookie", a local club metric century.

The STP: If you ride a bike, and grow up in the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard not to hear about the STP at some point. Someone, knows someone who road in this crazy ride, stretching from Seattle to Portland. The 1993 STP had been a main feature in an issue of Boy's Life, the scouting magazine; it was presented as a huge adventure some Scouts had taken on. My junior year in high school, 1994, a good friend of mine from Scouts, Cowan, my dad, and my uncle Larry decided that we would try the STP. Knowing nothing about training,we did a few training rides, riding out to burger stands and then set out on our first two day 200 mile adventure. At the end of the first day I discovered the "genius" behind cycling shorts, and swore to never ride again without a chamois. The STP instantly became a family tradition and over the last 10 years my dad and I have only missed it once. As a side note I've ridden it with every one who will be on the Team Tartan crew at RAO.

Adventures at Burger King (HOW NOT TO FULE): Besides riding faster there also grew a parallel goal to ride father and maybe one day actually do the whole STP in a single day. Just by chance the local bike club held a single day 150 mile ride on my 16th birthday and with a friend I set out to set a new single day personal distance record. Some where late in the ride we bonked, finding ourselves not too far from a Bugger King, we celebrated the $1.00 Whopper. Another discovery was made; eating four Whoppers in one sitting isn't such a good idea. After about 135 miles, it was growing dark and we called my mom. This was the only ride I've DNFed on.

University of Washington: On leaving for the University of Washington, I immediately checked out the university cycling team. The team members were all really friendly, but at the time I was so slow that I didn't feel comfortable riding with them. While not racing, I did ride very regularly on my own. I found riding to be a great way to escape the stresses of university life. After my sophomore year at the UW, my uncle Larry and I both felt very good coming out of the STP and decided to go for glory and attempt the Salem Bike Club's Water melon double century. It was a 200 mile ride looping from Salem to Eugene and back. My uncle and I were definitely most novice distance riders in the group and were soon dropped. But some where along the way the riders ahead of us took a wrong turn because we were soon in the lead, and led till maybe mile 70. The trip out had been uneventful; the trip back wasn’t, on the way back I suffered eight flats. Just as the sun was setting my uncle and I finished. After this ride I thought I would never ride 200 miles in a day again, it was just too hard. Little did I know. Kenneth Racing for the UW On returning to Seattle, I got a lucrative summer job temping for Microsoft, and saved all my earnings for the entire summer to buy a Litespeed. On starting my junior year at the UW, my cycling had progressed to the point where I felt comfortable riding with the racing team.

Kenneth Enters the Ultra Scene 2001: Flash forwards another three years, graduating from the UW in 2001, I had just finished racing with the UW and was looking for another adventure. My uncle Larry had talked about an attempt at the Davis Double, when he was in college and how the route was just epic. Coming out of the collegiate racing season and feeling like I was in the shape of my life I thought why not give it a go. I trained for a few months with a local cycling team, Salem Capital Velo, and then headed off for Davis in May. The Davis double that year was hot by Davis standards, and thus was an inferno by Seattle standards. Over the course I set a personal record for the most sports drink consumed, 480 oz of sports drink in addition to the fluid I consumed at the stops, without ever peeing. Yeah it was hot. It took me around 13 hours.

2002 - The Triple Crown While down at the Davis double, I quickly learned about the whole CA triple crown phenomena, and that there were indeed much more challenging rides then the Davis Double. The goal for 2002 was to become a triple crown member by completing three doubles in one calendar year. I started it off by riding a much cooler Davis Double with a good friend of mine Ben, we logged a Davis time around 13.5 hours. Then in late June it was back to CA again for the terrible two. Where I ended up placing 22nd, in 12.5 hours, and finally back in late September for the Knoxville double, where I ended up finishing first and riding far ahead of the support.

2003 - Mt Hood Stage Race and Terrible Two: In 2003, I had a number of different goals, but in the end had a fantastic time racing at the Mt. Hood stage race. Up until the last day of the sage race I was near the back of the standings, the last stage was a 75 mile stage starting and ending at coopers spur, a small ski resort on Mt Hood. I ended up finishing right in the middle of the standings. At the end of June I was back down in Santa Rosa for the Terrible Two, unfortunately mid course, I took a wrong turn adding 10 bonus miles. In the end I finished 22nd, in 12hrs 59 min and in September it was back for Knoxvill.

2004 - Tendonitis The goal for 2004 was to Race at RAO. In April I went down to California to race at the Devil Mountain Double. There were two starts, a 5 AM and a 6AM start. I took the 5 AM start. I ended up soloing ~160 miles of the course, finishing first for the 5 AM group, and placing 6th overall. After Devil Mountain I did the three day RAO training camp, and the following week was in Davis for the Davis Double. But some where after/during Davis for the first time my body complained and my knee's began to give me trouble, and well that was it. I ended up taking the rest of the summer quite easy, letting my knees heal, and then in September road the Knoxvill double with my good friend Ben who was finishing his triple crown.