Durata Athletes and some of the strongest riders in the Texas peloton Kevin Kremke and John Korioth teamed up this year for the annual Tour de Gruene two man Time Trial. The pair obliterated the competition, catching teams that started over 2min ahead of them and coming scintillating close to the course record set by John Korioth and Lance Armstrong last year. Here’s an interview with Kevin on the race
Durata Training (DT): Kevin was this your first time racing Tour De Gruene?
This was the second time for me at Tour de Gruene. I did it the first time a couple years ago with my great friend Dan Hannon. He has a t-shirt printed up with a picture of me drafting off of him during the race. There is a dispute about how times that actually occurred.
DT: How did you and John Korioth wind up being teammates?
John’s teammate from last year had other (clearly less important) obligations and John called me to ask if I would team up with him for this year. Of course I said yes because John and I go back a long ways and this would be the first time we would officially be teammates.
DT: You two were the last team to go off and representing in the Livestrong colors, any added pressure there?
Definitely big pressure! I was half of the defending team, and John and I both put big expectations upon ourselves. I obviously had big shoes to fill being Lance Armstrong’s substitute, but I was confident that John and I could put in a fantastic time.
DT: Any special training or preparation going into this race?
#1 coach Derick Williamson had me doing these insane sets of LT workouts. When I first started them, I thought that was the max I could do. But the weeks progressed and good fitness turned into great fitness and I even surprised myself with what I achieved in my workouts.
DT: Did you two have a strategy going into race day and if so were you able to execute to that pretty well?
We talked about it quite a bit. This is something I carry over from our team Bike Barn State TTT championship victories: there is strategy involved with a TTT. We knew that the river valley section would be crucial. That’s where time is made up. Kill the uphill sections…try to “rest” on the downhill sections…and light it up on the run-in to the finish.
DT: John and yourself did a pre-ride of the course together, what sort of things did you work on during that ride and how did that help for race day?
The course pre-ride gave us a chance to really study the course. The corners…each little hill…where to punch it and where to attempt recovery. It also gave us a chance to ride together in that context. Doing a team time trial is so much different than just riding together on a normal training ride. We coordinated our strategy, communication, warm-up routine, race day preparation, equipment selection…everything.
DT: You seem to be able to excel at all disciplines of bike racing. A national champion several years running on the track, state champion in the team time trial, state crit champion and a fair share of road race wins. How are you able to be such a versatile and successful cyclist?
Well great coaching is an obvious start! I have a few modestly decent talents as a cyclist and I try to work those to my advantage in any given race. I know what I am good at and where my weaknesses are…I try to force race situations that put my relative strengths at an advantage in any given situation.
DT: Any big plans for 2010?
My perennial goal is to win another national championship title. I am still missing a road title, so that will be a big objective for 2010. The road race is back on the same course as 2009, so I know the course well, know the players well, and will be in absolute peak condition for it.
DT: So, which one of you gets to keep the trophy…?
Neither! They kept the trophy to put on display at Gruene Hall. We weren’t quite sure why. I guess I will have to tell my kids some day to visit Gruene Hall instead of my mantle.
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