Burnt Toast: Josh Tostato at 24 Hours of Moab US National Championships

First off I just want to say that my main competition Kelly Magelky turned out to be one of the coolest guys I have ever met! His attitude throughout the race towards my crew and me was really incredible, plus the guy is super strong and he made this hard race even harder.

From the very start Kelly and I rode together while I pushed the pace through the technical sections, with him pushing on the road sections. We ended up doing a ridiculous pace for the first 2 laps. I should have known better but I kept up the high pace into the third lap.At the start of lap three we dropped into a tricky sand wash and I came in a little to hot and crashed hard breaking my bar-end off and loosening my lock-on grips. This forced me to slow down a bit because I had to hold the grip to keep it on the bar. This tuned out to be a good thing; I had been running at my limit and needed to slow down anyway. The next three laps I slowed my pace way down and my legs were cramping and I puked a little bit! I was in rough shape and the voices of doubt started to enter my mind, I just had to remind myself that it was a long way to go and there was plenty off time to recover.

As night approached I was feeling better and better and I began gaining back the time that Kelly had put into me. Then when the darkness came, I was on fire feeling great and having a good time joking around with people. A little after 9 pm at the start of another lap the racer behind me said “nice job”, I said “thanks” and told him he could pass; but the guy says “its me Kelly”. I was like “wow”, I already caught him, feeling so good, I decided to test him and pick it up a bit and dropped him pretty quick. I kept the hard pace through the night and by morning had about an hour into Kelly.

This is the point in the race for me that was really hard and painful. The opening laps and the fast night laps really put a hurting on me and I was mentally and physically drained. I fought on, just one pedal stroke at a time just telling myself it will end, it wont last forever. Well it seemed like forever but it finally did end and all the pain was well worth it! I had won the 24 hours of Moab and the US national championship.

This had been my hardest race in a long, long time, but with pain and suffering comes pride and accomplishment. That is the feeling I have now because I didn't quit or say I can’t, and that outweighs anything I had to endure out on the course.

Josh "Toast" Tostado

US National Champion, Team INFINIT

EPIC Rides Race Report: 24 Hours of Kona in the Old Pueblo

INFINIT Nutrition was pumped to team up with Epic Rides Race series, the first of which was the 24 hours of Kona Old Pueblo outside of Tucson Arizona. EPIC was celebrating its 11th year of mountain biking in the Sonoran Desert. The Kona Bikes 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is one of the largest 24 Hour events in the world with over 3,000 racers in attendance.

Team INFINIT was out in full force supporting the INFINIT/Bach Builders team. Bach Builders is a top Mountain Bike group of 20+ racers featuring Josh “Toast” Tostado, the current US 24 Hour National Champion. Dax Massey, another top Bach performer won the 24-hour men’s duo title along with Dean Miller.

The race started with an equipment malfunction (exploded chain) that lost the team 20 minutes, but they clawed their way to the top of the leader board by evening. They dominated the 4-man single speed category and in fact lost the overall 4-man class by only 30 minutes! It would have been something to see if they had not dropped those 20 min early in the race. I have never heard of a single speed team beating the open class in a race of this stature.

1st Bach Builders/INFINIT 22 laps
2nd 3 Dicks and a Johnson 21 laps
3rd Sinners, Saints and Single Speeds 20 laps

This is a phenomenal achievement from a group of single speed racers. Thanks to Dax and the boys for making me feel welcome. We had an awesome time hanging out with the team. We went through 100's gallons of product for all the racers at Kona. Lots of BBQ in the Expo. Great time catching up with friends at Ergon. The tribute to Stan of Stan’s No Tubes ™ was raucous. That group can drink some brewskis!

Oh yea, the trip home was a nightmare. A foot and a half of snow made me wish I stayed in the sun of Tucson. All flights cancelled to Cincinnati. Finally jumped a plane into Cleveland and then attempted to get a flight to Columbus or Dayton to no avail. Stuck in Cleveberg, uuugh. Drove an economy car to Cincinnati starting at 4 pm. 3 hours stopped on the Highway North of Columbus in a 29-mile parking lot. Snowball fight with a carload of College kids (I won). No food while I was stuck so I ate a full bag of pistachios. Still starving. 11 hours later I roll into my humble abode at 2 AM dead tired, but happy to be back.

Yes…that is a jack-knifed Budweiser Truck in the middle of I-71. At least the Brewski’s are staying frosty! All good, EPIC time and the season is almost on us. See you all at the races!

Michael

Chief Powder Maker