Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Part II Of Our Interview With US Cup Puppet Master Ty Kady


MTBracenews.com- The Fontana racecourse was more technical and difficult that previous years and also incorporated a Pro only section. Would you like that to be the norm for US Cup/Pro XCT races in the future?

Ty Kady- Ya for sure. We changed the opener at the Bonelli Park course as well. Again Bonelli is a classic venue, but riding the same course for the last 6 years gets old. So I went out with Tom Spiegel and Scott and laid out a new design that I think was a hit with most of the riders.

As for Fontana, that change was forced upon us in the 4th quarter, as we lost some of the course do to an endangered sand fly.


So I told Scott and Tom we have to run the old National hill that hasn’t been used since the days when Tinker used to come out and Big Ring the thing. From there we just bush whacked our way into some single track and added the rock garden section at the bottom to add a more technical element to the course.

From what I heard most of the PRO XCT riders thought it was good and fairly tough. Next year I’m going to run the gals down the rock garden section as well. We hadn’t planned on it because Scott was concerned for their safety, but as he is finding out, these girls want to bring it just like the boys!

MTBracenews.com- I know you made a fairly big push to bring Short Track racing back to the Pro XCT. Are you considering incorporating any other events into the series, like Marathon for example?

Ty Kady- Easy there Shannon, let’s not start anymore projects for me! I’m buried as is running this 13 round series and a Pro Team. The addition of the short track was a small miracle in its self. If it wasn’t for Dave McElwaine at TrailWatch.net being so persistent and coming up with some sponsorship dollars, we were just going to let short track sit on the side line and address it for 2010. But guys like Dave are awesome for the industry and are the bright light of the sport when they step in like he did to help subsidize some of the expenses.

That said, I think we need to stick to what we do best, and that’s put on some of the best XC races in North America. There is some talks that we might want to make next years series an “all mountain” scenario were we crown the PRO XCT champion and make them race Super D, Short Track and XC for the title. Were still in the details of seeing the actual logistics of pulling that off, because again you got to have venues that offer the ability to put on a three events at one place….but you never know?

MTBracenews.com- Tell us more about the two rumored U.S. World Cup events for 2010?


Ty Kady- Again Tedro wants to take everything to the next level, so I have to give him the credit on this one! Will it pencil out financially, I’m not sure, but I know we are already in talks with Windham Mountain and Rick Hodge, plus Scott wants to host one out at Interbike. With two WC’s in the US and two in Canada, that would make four for North America. I think that would totally legitimize racing in the US again, big time. Plus now these athlete’s wouldn’t have to get strung out flying across the Ocean as much chasing UCI points, when there right in their own back yard.

But putting one on is very expensive and very time consuming. So at this point were in the process of talking to venues, USA Cycling, and potential sponsors to see if we can make it a reality? Only time will tell and you’ll be the first to know when I find out!

MTBracenews.com- What is Sho-Air and how did Sho-Air become so heavily involved in mountain bike racing?

Ty Kady- Sho-Air is a freight logistics specialist, specializing in transportation of time sensitive materials. Our niche is trade shows and some of our clients include Micro Soft, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Intel among others.

We are also looking to break into the cycling industry, specifically Euro bike and Interbike etc. Our track record speaks for its self and when you have an important show on the line, no one does it better.

Now if you just want to ship a pair of socks or cookies to your grandma, then you’re better off using UPS or FedEx. But if you’re shipping expensive prototype computers, bicycles etc to anywhere in the World, give us a ring.

As for Mountain biking, Scott got into it as a way to regain his health and fitness after some personal setbacks in the years following the 9/11 attacks, which almost put him and Sho-Air out of business.

Scott is totally dedicated to the sport, rides five day’s a week and backs his Pro Team and the US Cup Series with 110% commitment.

MTBracenews.com- In your opinion what needs to happen to bring mountain bike racing back to the level it was in the mid 1990’s?

Ty Kady- I’m not sure what it needs to get back to the ‘90’s? There might have been certain conditions that we just may not be able to replicate to make it as popular as it was back then. By all accounts I think registered racers and USA Cycling license holders are up in volume, but some people just tend to hang onto the “good ole days”. It’s like my Hendrix albums, and Elvis in his 1974 Dragon jumpsuit, I guess you just can’t ever let the mystique go? And I think the same holds true for the ‘90’s MTB scenario as well.

You know Jazzercise was huge in the ‘80’s, all those people bouncing around with knee high fuzzy socks, and sweat bands; but I don’t necessarily want to see that come back anytime soon.

I think the ‘90’s were what they were, but the US Cup is about the here and now as well as 5 years out. So I want to focus on making the sport relevant again, making new hero’s out of today’s Pro riders, and giving the amateur rider an experience that when they leave, there stoked and want to come back and bring their friends.

I’m also big on developing new young talent. As you can see we added Sam Jurekovic and the “Mountie” Max Plaxton to our roster. These guys are some of the young guns, and we want to give them everything we have so they can chase their dream of becoming the next big thing in Mountain Biking. And after Plaxton’s duel with Kabush, that may not be too far away?

MTBracenews.com- I am sure you have heard a lot of opinions and ideas about what would make mountain biking once again successful at the national level. Share some of the more interesting or funny ideas you have heard?

Ty Kady- Dude I don’t even want to touch this one! If I had a nickel for every crazy or funny idea people threw at me, this series would look like NASCAR in that we would have so much money! All in all the feedback is pretty legit and we try to listen to everyone and respect all input. But at some point and time there’s only so much of me to go around, so I just have to pull the plug and go with what we can accommodate for now.