EARNING HIS CHOPS
The never-ending career of Canadian legend Geoff Kabush
THERE ARE SOME IN CYCLING WHO LIKELY WISH GEOFF KABUSH WOULD RIDE OFF INTO THE SUNSET AND CALL IT A CAREER: the racers half his age who he still beats to the finish line, and perhaps the dopers, who have been told they suck by Kabush for more than a decade and a half. But at 43, Kabush isn’t going anywhere.
While some mountain bike racers struggled in 2020 with a race schedule annihilated by covid-19, Kabush continued the ongoing evolution of his career. No racing to be had? No problem. Kabush took to the trails of his childhood playground of Hornby Island, not far from Courtenay, B.C., where he grew up, and did what he does best: had a blast on the bike.
The peak of most professional mountain bike racers’ careers would be lining up for their countries in the Olympics, which Kabush did in 2000, 2008 and 2012. Most of the people he competed against during that era have retired (or been banned from the sport for doping). Kabush is as relevant today as he was 10, 15 or 20 years ago. “Retirement is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about,” he says. “During my World Cup career, I thought in Olympic cycles and didn’t want to be that old guy hanging on for too long. That made me think about ideas for transitioning my career.” Kabush’s modus operandi is “keep riding until the fun stops,” and 2020 reminded him how much fun he’s still having on two wheels.
What seems like a lifetime ago in January 2020, Kabush narrowly beat Peter Stetina to win the Grasshopper Adventure Series opener in Ukiah, Calif. It was a gravel race for the ages, with Kabush using his incredible downhill bike-handling skills to close a more than threeminute gap on Stetina to snatch victory from the former Worldtour pro. “It was a pretty memorable victory and I joked that it would be the high point of my season,” says Kabush. “Maybe it was foreshadowing.”
A few weeks later, Stetina got his revenge by winning the second race of the Grasshopper Series, and then, in what seemed like an instant, the world changed. “Nobody thought it would be that big of a deal, and then more and more stuff got cancelled,” Kabush says. “Even in the fall, there were a few events on the schedule, but I definitely didn’t want to be getting on a plane until things improved.”
Kabush knows how fortunate he is that his income isn’t directly tied to the number of international races he lines up for, calling 2020 “a bit of a sabbatical.” Still, he worked to support his sponsors in different ways. “I’m lucky that I don’t have any major racing goals. It’s really tough for younger athletes with a race focus dealing with what’s going on,” he says.
He knows about the pressures of racing, having spent years in the cycle of a professional cyclist away from home for months at a time and always chasing race results and new sponsors. For nearly two decades, Kabush was part of traditional professional mountain bike teams – most notably Maxxis-rocky Mountain from 2009 to 2011, and then over to 3 Rox Racing.
The man with the most famous facial hair in cycling finished on the podium of World Cup cross country races nine times, winning Bromont in 2009. He won 15 Canadian national championships in cross country, cyclocross and marathon racing, five U.S. national cross country series titles and four U.S. short track series crowns. There are also many other one-off or annual regional races. As many of his peers stopped racing as they hit the big
four-oh, Kabush was, it would seem, just getting started.
He parted ways with 3 Rox after the 2016 season and launched his own one-man team known as Scott SportsMaxxis. Much like his career, Kabush’s privateer backers have evolved during the past few years. In 2020, his main sponsors were Yeti and Maxxis, along with support from Shimano, Fox, Stan’s Notubes, pro, GU Energy and others.
To say the relationship between Kabush and Maxxis is simply that of a sponsor and sponsored athlete is to miss the role Kabush has played with the company since the early 2000s. No athlete has been a more visible ambassador or been involved in the development of more products. “For a lot of athletes and companies, the longer the relationship, the more value there is because you understand the product more,” he says. “I’m lucky I have the skillset that I can cross over and cover a diverse set of events and equipment for my sponsors.” Where he once helped refine the orange brand’s hardcore cross country tires, he now helps Maxxis develop off-road rubber of all types.
Two other 2020 partners – Cush Core and Open Cycles – speak to Kabush’s continued relevance in the sport, and what drives him. The deal with Cush Core, which makes foam tire inserts that provide extra suspension, came about because of Kabush’s curiosity about the product. “I’m a bit of a bike nerd, so I’m always looking to try new things and new products. That has put me in a good place,” he says, pointing out a similar partnership with Zwift that started just before covid hit in the winter.
During the past two years, Kabush has had great success piloting Yeti Cycles mountain bikes. The Golden, Colo.-based company, however, doesn’t make a skinnytire gravel bike. Open Cycles, the mountain and gravel bike brand started by former bmc ceo Andy Kessler and Cervélo co-founder Gerard Vroomen in 2012, does. Rather than discouraging Kabush from riding another brand, it was Yeti president Chris Conroy who made the connection with Open.
At first, Kessler said, he and his company had no interest in sponsoring a rider. “When we started Open nine years ago, we had both been working for bigger companies. We wanted to do a couple of things differently,” he says. “That included no traditional marketing. We’ve never spent $1 in an ad and we said we wouldn’t sign people.” But as Kessler
looked more into Kabush’s background, his outspoken nature and his versatility as a rider, the Open founder changed his mind.
“He’s a great rider who does a gravel race one day, and then wins a cyclocross race two days later on the same bike with a different set of wheels,” Kessler says. “We wanted to show that one bike can do everything. And we like Geoff as a person. He’s not just an athlete, but he’s a great personality. He combines it all and that’s why he’s the only guy we’ve ever sponsored.”
While ye ti remains his primary bike sponsor–providing Kabush’s cross country and all-mountain bikes – he rides a Yeti-blue Open drop-bar bike in gravel races and when he feels the temptation to “underbike,” a term referring to hammering trails on a bike that shouldn’t be able to handle them. It’s something he did a lot of during the covid downtime.
“You want to match the bike for the trails you’re riding, but it’s fun to challenge yourself to push the limit of whatever bike you’re on,” Kabush says. “With underbiking, you’re on the limit and just feeling the trail.”
“It’s super fun to be riding the Yetis on challenging terrain, but especially down in places like Truckee,” he says referring to the California town where he spends a lot of his time. “There, it’s possible to link up all these cool rides from home. It’s pretty cool how diverse the Open is.” Back home in B.C. this past summer, Kabush pushed the Open even further, taking it on some challenging singletrack in the Comox Valley and even the North Shore.
Kabush admits there was something fun about the pressure of days gone by when he would spend every weekend racing and winters training. He is, however, enjoying his current role in the sport. “Part of the fun is evolving and having to learn something new,” he says. “As my career evolved, so has the sport.” Kabush himself has turned into mountain biking’s elder statesman.
“With my long career, people respect my opinion,” he says. “That’s the tough thing as an athlete; you have to speak in an authentic way and not just be pushing products.”
Never one to shy away from telling it like it is, the Canadian’s opposition to doping in professional cycling goes back to his early days in the sport. After a 2004 season that saw him lose to Filip Meirhaeghe in the Sea
“I’m a bit of a bike nerd, so I’m always looking to try new things and new products.”