Kelso MTB Sport Series 2026: A Season of Learning
Moving up
I finished the 2026 Kelso MTB Series 7th overall in Sport and 1st in my age group. It is not where the season began. Last year I raced Intermediate. This year I moved up to Sport at the Kelso MTB Series.
I wanted to see how far I could go. I knew the riders would be faster. I did not know how much I would have to learn. The races were on Tuesday evenings, after a day of work.
At first, I spent much of the race trying to keep up. By the end of the season, I was racing near the front. Between those two points came missed races, hard climbs, a broken bike, and many ordinary evenings of practice. I kept coming back because each race showed me something I could do better.
The good, the bad, and the in-between
I finished 17th in the first race. Then 13th. Then 19th. The numbers did not look like progress. I was disappointed. The start was fast. A hard effort on the first climb could leave me paying for it later. On the second lap, my legs would lose their strength while the climb stayed just as steep.
Then I had to miss races four and five while recovering from an injury. It was frustrating to stop when I wanted to improve. Before returning for race six, I rode three practice laps of the course. I wanted to know the turns, the climbs, and where I could recover.
I finished 10th in race six. Then eighth, seventh, and fifth over the next three races. In race nine I rode my best placement of the series. I was not winning, but it was visible progress.
Not every race after that was faster. I finished seventh, eighth, and sixth in the final three rounds. I learned not to judge a season by one race only. Different courses asked different things of me. Some nights I had the legs. Other nights I had to make do with what I had.
A crash left me with a sore knee and forearm in July. Later that month, the frame on my Giant Talon broke near the seat tube. I had been racing that hardtail and learning on it. The frame was broken. It was time for a new bike.
What the season taught me
A new bike, a new baseline
I kept the parts worth keeping from the Talon and donated the rest to a community bike shop. Rebuilding it around another frame was hard to justify in cost and trouble. After a long search, I found a deal on a BMC Fourstroke LT Two, a carbon full-suspension XC bike. It was a big change from my Giant hardtail. I raced eight rounds on the Giant, including my best result in race nine. I raced the last two rounds on the BMC.
The BMC was more comfortable over rough ground. It gave me more traction and more confidence on rocks and roots. But it did not climb for me 😂. Surprisingly, the Talon was faster on straights and flats. That may have been its tires and its gear ratio, but I am not sure. On the BMC, the technical sections and downhills were much faster.
Learning to maintain the thing I ride
I started the season thinking mostly about riding. By the end, I was thinking more about the bike itself. On the Giant I had sometimes run my tires too hard. High pressure felt fast on smooth ground, but it cost me grip on loose corners and rocks. With the tubeless tires on the BMC, I began working with much lower pressures and learning what felt right for my weight and the trail.
Shifting came up last year too, in my 2025 recap. The one thing I would add: shift before the steep part, not on it. A clean drivetrain matters. So does checking the tires, brakes, and frame before a race, every time.
The new bike brought new questions. When should I use Open, Pedal, or Lock on the rear shock? How much pressure should I run? What should I check after a muddy ride? I did not learn every answer at once. I learned by riding, adjusting, and asking questions.
Racing is better with people
I went to Kelso to race. But the people became part of why I returned. A weekly series is different from a single event. You start to recognize riders. You see who is improving. You notice who is missing.
This year I made friends with many of the Sport riders. We talked about bike setups. We talked about the race afterward, what worked and what did not. I felt more included in the community than I did last year, and that meant a lot. It is a good feeling to find people who care about the same thing you do.
The best moment came in the last race. A friend and I were fighting for 5th place. We were neck and neck until the final downhill. He is much better than me at downhill.
Getting stronger without wasting strength
For a long time I thought the answer to a poor second lap was to train harder. That was only part of it. I was often using too much energy early. I would push above a pace I could sustain, especially on the first climb. I could survive the effort. But I could not recover quickly enough to ride the next section well.
I began working on sustained efforts and recovery: threshold intervals, over-under sessions, long easy rides, and two-lap race practice. I still went to the gym. I had to learn that the gym and the bike both create fatigue. Rest mattered, especially before Tuesday.
I learned to look farther down the trail. To keep my elbows loose and my knees bent. To breathe when the trail became difficult. To brake before the corner instead of dragging the brakes through it. Small mistakes cost energy. Small improvements saved it.
Tips I would give my earlier self
- Enter the harder category when you are ready to learn. A lower placing can still be progress.
- Ride the course before race day when you can. Learn where the climbs begin, which corners matter, and where you can recover.
- Look ahead and stay loose. Your eyes, breathing, and body position affect your speed as much as your legs do. (More in my 2025 recap.)
- Learn your bike. Check tire pressure, brakes, bolts, shifting, and suspension. Do not ignore a strange sound or a crack. (More in my 2025 recap.)
- Rest when you need to. Missing a race is better than making an injury worse.
- Speak to the riders beside you. Ask questions. Share what you learned. The company is part of the sport.
- Keep showing up. One bad result does not tell the whole story.
The season in numbers
I raced ten of the twelve rounds. The chart is not a straight line up. It starts at 17th, drops to 19th, climbs to a best of 5th in race nine, then settles between 6th and 8th.
The overall standings were tight: fifth place earned 3,917 series points, sixth earned 3,916, and I finished seventh with 3,915—just two points off fifth. A better result in just one race could have put me there. Every race counts, even the ones that do not go to plan.
Full series results
Results are from the official Kelso MTB Series Sport-category result pages. Races 4 and 5 have no recorded finish for me. Top % is calculated as position ÷ field size, rounded to the nearest whole percent; lower is better.
| Race | Course | Position | Time | Pace (min/km) | Field size | Top % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 17th | 1:09:17 | 3:46 | 53 | 32% |
| 2 | 1 | 13th | 1:09:03 | 3:46 | 59 | 22% |
| 3 | 1 | 19th | 1:03:53 | 3:29 | 77 | 25% |
| 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | 2 | 10th | 0:50:07 | 3:24 | 71 | 14% |
| 7 | 3 | 8th | 0:53:35 | 3:27 | 63 | 13% |
| 8 | 3 | 7th | 0:50:51 | 3:17 | 67 | 10% |
| 9 | 3 | 5th | 0:50:45 | 3:16 | 61 | 8% |
| 10 | 4 | 7th | 0:57:44 | 3:43 | 61 | 11% |
| 11 | 4 | 8th | 0:56:58 | 3:40 | 59 | 14% |
| 12 | 4 | 6th | 0:54:54 | 3:32 | 69 | 9% |
Closing reflection
At the first start line, I did not know whether I belonged in Sport. I knew I wanted to try. Now I know I can race in that field. I also know where I lose time. I need to climb better late in a race. I need to stay calm when the pace rises. I need more hours on technical trails and more care in how I train and recover.
I have a new bike. I have a list of things to work on. I know more riders than I did when the season began.
The results matter to me. I worked hard for them. But I remember the evenings too: the climb that would not end, the trail I finally rode clean, the talk before the start, and the ride back when it was over.
Ontario has a lot to offer riders. Next year I want to race more, beyond the Kelso series. I would love to try the Spring Epic 8 Hour, the Hardwood Fall Epic 8 Hour, the Hardwood SingleTrack Classic, and the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice.
I also want to ride more of the trails around here. The Hydrocut and Mansfield are high on the list, and I want to get back to Don Valley, where I rode my first trails after I started mountain biking in Canada. I will come back to Kelso next year too. There is still much to learn.
