Welcome to Houston Kindhuman!

Thanks to Justin Borden for introducing us to KindHuman!  We thought you'd like to know a bit more about us because nobody visits Houston...ever...




Justin Borden
Race Age: 40 (editor's note: Justin is the first person we've encountered who lists his older race age...he is proud to be 40)
USCF: Cat 3
Hometown: Denver, CO
Current: Houston, TX
Profession: Oil (pronounced Earl) Bizness

I have never seen E.T. I started racing in 2009. I shave my legs daily. I like the smell of embrocation. I think the full windsor is the only acceptable way to wear a tie.

Anna Felton
Age: 30
USCF: Cat 4 (road), Cat 3 (cyclocross)
Hometown: Wenham, MA
Current: Houston, TX
Profession: Geologist

Anna learned about cyclocross through riding too much the past summer and trying every crit race available in Houston. Cyclocross sounded a lot more exciting, and seemed like a good bike investment. Her dad gave her a road bike for her 21st birthday and that bike still is the best gift she has ever received!

Anna had very low goals for the texas cyclocross season, only race in Houston, stay on her bike and don’t get injured! With some initial success this season, Anna entered the state cup races with a lot of excitement. She decided to race the 3-4 and the women’s open race for the state champion. Anna won the cat 3 race and placed 3rd in the women’s open! Thanks to friends and fellow kindhuman racers!

Anna’s goals for the upcoming road season are to have fun and learn how to race on a team! She also plans on baking lots of cookies to bribe people to ride with if there are no donuts nearby!

Career Highlights
1st (2011) Terra X Cyclocross Race (Texas Age Based Championship 19-34) (The Woodlands, TX)
1st (2011) Bikesport Cyclocross Challenge- TX State Skill Based Championship 3/4 (Houston, TX)
3rd (2011) Bikesport Cyclocross Challenge- TX State Skill Based Championship women's open (Houston, TX)
1st (2011) Sugarcross (Sugarland, TX)
1st (2011) Cyclehaus Tough Cross (Fredericksburg, TX)
2nd (2011) America's Choice Home Loans Criterium (Houston, TX)


Mandi Hall
Age: 33
USCF: Cat 2 (Road)
Current City: Gainesville, FL
Profession: Research Assistant, University of Florida, Doctoral Student

Mandi Hall started cycling in 2001. She joined Team Florida, University of Florida cycling team, while obtaining her master’s degree. At UF, Mandi competed in multiple national collegiate cycling championship events for road, track, and mountain biking. Mandi was a member of the Trigators at UF, triathlon team, where she competed in two Ironman events and collegiate triathlon nationals. After graduation, Mandi continued to race and competed in Fitchburg Longsjo Classic stage race with top time trial, road race, and GC finishes. She also competed in Redlands Bicycle Classic stage race. Additionally, Mandi is an avid adventure racer and placed second in the 2005 US Adventure Racing Association National Championships.

Mandi loves cycling. She has been fortunate to race on phenomenal teams who together successfully won many races and conference championships. She is a team player and enjoys racing with others who share her passion. She seeks to race hard, have fun, and spread the love of cycling. :)

Natalie Kurz
Age: 30
USCF: New
Hometown: Katy, TX. Though Katy is now part of the Houston metro, she unfortunately does not count as a "Houstonian"
Current: Houston, TX
Profession: Lawyer

Natalie has been known to travel far across the great state of Texas, completing epic rides with beautiful scenery...for donuts. Her training mileage has increased greatly in 2011 due to the influence of teammates from the northeast who will bike great distances to one of Houston's few Dunkin Donuts. Because the Houston crew has realized that training may be compromised by integrating donuts and cookies into our rides, Natalie's greatest challenge in 2012 looks to be identifying a new source of motivation that enables her to log miles and also fit into her bibs.

She is expected to take the Cat 4 scene by storm this year and will have great success in the KindHuman kit. We promise to teach her not to not get chain grease all over her calves and shorts...

Career Highlights
Natalie has won a few MTB races (by margins of 18 minutes or so), but was a sandbagger and didn't buy a USCF license until we made her start racing cross.

Christy Lan
Age: 31
USCF: Beginner all the way around. This is Christy's first season racing on the road, but don't make any mistakes, this is not her first season on a bike.
Hometown: Louisville, Ky
Profession: Engineer

Christy started biking like most young girls, with her dad chasing her down the drive way and a huge smile on her face. The thrill of biking subsided as other sports took over in middle and high school, but was revived after college when Christy was introduced triathlons.

Christy became an accomplished triathlete within her first three seasons, winning several sprint distance triathlons, several half ironmans, representing the USA at the Long Course World Championships in Australia, and qualifying for Ironman World Championships in her first Ironman by placing third in her age group. Christy has become know as much for her never failing smile as for her speed on the course. Because her strength was running, Christy decided that she needed to focus her efforts on the bike in 2011 which proved to be an inspired choice. A new love for the bike formed along with some new friendships.

After several season competing in three disciplines at the same time, Christy decided that she needed a new challenge....and thus begins her career as a cyclist. Christy competed in her first cyclocross race this past December and is ready for more. Although there aren't many pure bike accomplishments to speak of this far, this girl is ready for the thrill of the race!

Her goals for the year are focused on leaning the ins and outs of road racing and cultivating the love of cycling in other woman.

Career Highlights
1st place AG Lone Star Half Ironman
1st place AG Oil Man Half Ironman
1st place AG Cajun Man Triathlon
Team USA Long Course World Championships
3rd place AG Ironman Louisville
Ironman World Championships, Kona Hi

Cycling...Hey, give me a year and I will get back to you :)

Kelsey McArthur
USCF: Cat 4 (road)
Hometown: El Paso, TX
Current: Houston, TX
Profession: Geologist

Kelsey loves long rides in the sunshine. She is contemplating retiring early and moving to Tucson. Until then, she enjoys long rides around Houston when the temperatures are moderate or hot. She is still hesitant to jump into racing with the rest of us, but enjoys cookies and is easily convinced to join any ride.

She has completed a few Olympic distance triathlons, but considers herself a cyclist; don’t get her confused with multi-sport enthusiasts!

Kelsey just needs a little push to enter a road race!

Annie Radecki
Age: 31
USCF: Cat 2 (road), Cat 3 (cyclocross)…and total beginner (MTB) once I get a bike.
Hometown: Newtown, CT
Current: Houston, TX
Profession: Real estate market researcher

Annie got her start in cycling at age 2 by sitting on the back of her father's bike yelling "wheeee!!". Now in her 9th year of road racing, Annie Lux is a Category 2 rider and has officially been racing a really long time.

She has numerous wins in regional time trials, crits, and omniums and has raced in NRC races such as the Nature Valley stage race, the Charlotte Criterium, Hanes Park Classic, Speedweek, and Superweek. She made a foray into triathlons and did pretty well because she once swam and played soccer, but mostly because she could bike really fast. However, she realized that she didn’t share the “multisport enthusiast’s” “enthusiasm” for waking up early to exercise excessively…and has retired to the greener and more sarcastic pastures of cycling.

Her current cycling goals are to have fun, to race hard, and to use her experience to help develop new riders. She's excited to see more women on bikes, and would be even more excited to see more women out racing. Oh, and if you couldn't tell, she really likes flames.

Career Highlights
1st (2011), 2nd (2008, 2009) Sanford Critierium (Sanford, NC)
1st overall (2008) Piedmont Triad Omnium (Lexington, NC)
1st (2010), Capital Cycling Club Road Race (Apex, NC)
1st (2007), I’On Criterium (Mt. Pleasant, SC)
1st (2011) Sugarcross (Sugarland, TX)
1st French Broad Classic TT (2nd omnium, 3rd RR, 4th Criterium), Asheville, NC
2nd (2009) Downtown Wake Forest Criterium (Wake Forest, NC)
2nd (2009, 2010) Uptown Greenville Criterium (Greenville, NC)
3rd (2008) Ride Sally Ride Criterium (Chantilly, VA)
Finished (survived) 2007 Nature Valley Grand Prix (in 70th), Minneapolis, MN

Courtney Scott
Age: 27
USCF: Cat 4
Hometown: Katy, TX
Profession: Analyst

Courtney was always involved with sports as a kid. Basketball, swimming, gymnastics, and soccer, and the occasional bike ride.

Courtney’s first taste of competitive cycling was in high school during her first triathlon, in which she crashed on the bike course. Although abraded and bruised, she finished with a smile on her face. She put aside the bike for a while to focus on swimming and running, but due to various injuries, picked up cycling. She joined her collegiate cycling team her senior year. It was a perfect match. The fun involved, the team atmosphere, and the great workout was something that could not be compared.

Courtney just enjoys being on a bike. On two wheels, you can find her running errands, bike commuting, and participating in local races. She looks forward to the challenge ahead of a fun racing season.

Her goals for the year are focused on riding hard, having fun, and staying injury free.

Career Highlights
2nd place AG Cinco Ranch Triathlon
2nd place Baylor Road Race, Baylor Criterium
2nd place TAMU Criterium
3rd place MSU Omnium

Scott Merrell
USCF: Cat 4

Scott didn't send us a bio...but he did send us a Christmas card.  

I made Ritchey's Nice List.

Angelo over at Ritchey heard my Chrimbus Wish List plea and quickly rushed out a WCS C260 stem, replete in it's wet white finish. There are several reasons to add to this stems awesomeness: First, this is the first part to arrive that will go on our marketing sample (and my personal) Human Cycles KorsAir. This stem is so dreamy in person, it's almost uncomfortable. Really, attraction to an inanimate object of this particular shape and stature (130mm) isn't appropriate. I should probably seek help and guidance of psychiatric sorts but I shall digress into an enthusiastic euphoria of directional device coupling fastener empatheticalism.

See the sleek, sexiness of the stem and not the model...new addition to the team and coworker of mine, Matt Tagliaferri:

That all being said, I'm looking forward to putting the C260 through it's paces. I've been using Comp level stems from Ritchey for several years and have been more than pleased with the better-than-par performance and durability in comparison to Easton, Specialized and FSA products I've used in the past...so this is a big step up for me. Once the KorsAir is fully built, I plan to do a full video review for Hawley (my 9-5 employer) and post detailed photos and ride reviews. If you can't wait until then and you are a team member be sure to contact Angelo or Travis at JRABS.com. If you're a fan or friend or both, then be sure to contact Travis at JRABS.com or your local independant bicycle dealer to order a C260 in your choice of carbon or aluminum, in BB black, wet black, wet red or wet white in one of seven sizes.

Cheers and Merry Chrimbus!

Marky Mark Duroy Is Back.

Mark Duroy has been with the team since it’s inception in California. When I went to work at Specialized, I was shocked by the speeds of the daily lunch ride. It was a full-on road race at sub 3K to go speeds with national and world champion caliber racers that happened to be my coworkers at the time. As I was being crushed, physically and mentally there was one person who went out of his way to pull me along on the hardest days and on the days when it just got too hard, slow down and pedal-in at a more enjoyable pace. This guy was Mark Duroy.

For those of you that don’t know, when mark was younger he raced at the highest level of junior racing and spent some time bouncing around from professional outfit to professional outfit, eventually landing himself in Europe. The guy has experience. His legs have been hurt by top-notch guys like George Hincapie and a close-personal hero of mine Chad Gerlach (I casted him on an episode of Intervention).

When you look at Mark, the first thing people notice is his height. Sure, he stand about as tall as I do but the guy seems a bit larger than life even alongside his usually quiet personality. His legs are huge and have muscles in places most people don’t have muscles. Then you’ll notice how low his position is on the bike. Flat-back doesn’t begin to describe it.

Mark has power for days and I’ve been lucky enough to hop in a few breaks with him and experience his draft/wrath first hand.

Two years ago, Mark broke his leg. Pretty bad. Dealing with the healing and trying to get through his MBA Big Mark was put out of commission. There were some complications latter in the healing processes that were quite scary for him. Nerve damage. Gnarly. Mark gained 65lbs, gnarlier. Luckily, after visiting some specialists at Stanford this past July he was feeling better and was finally able to get back on the bike.

Fast-forward to this September, 55lbs later; Mark decided to hop into his first race in nearly three years. A Pro/1/2 event called The Sacramento Grand Prix. The SGP is a heavily contested event by the majority of California’s fastest pros. Every contender enters this race after a full season of fast road and crit racing. Some of them arrive with stage race experience in their legs. I can’t imagine how hard it was for Mark to line up after a virtual complete hibernation away from the bike. Away from the race. Away from the pain.

Mark finished in the field that Rahsaan Bahati bested that day. I can’t imagine how difficult a feat that was. It speaks milestones for Marks character and strength as a rider and man.

I am proud to say Mark will be lining up as a fellow KindHuman Sports racer, #GettingRad at every opportunity. Everyone, give him a warm welcome back to the team and back to the scene.

My Christmas Wish List

We are cyclists. We want what we can’t have. It’s, like, engrained into our DNA. Luckily, we have some incredible sponsors that make it easier for us to ride in style with the best performing, most comfortable and effective products on the market. Here is my 2012 Christmas Wish List…and probably yours too.

RUDY PROJECT | I’ve been rocking the Rudy Sterling since it’s debut two-three years ago and I’ve loved it. But, seeing their latest WindMax at Interbike a couple months ago sealed my future with it atop my head. It is super stylish and surprisingly lightweight. I did notice it was a touch smaller in the S/M sizing than my Sterling so I’ll likely try the Large. Now, the real question is: do I get matte black or white? Truth be told, I’d be happy if Santa’s elves made me either.

I’ve been wearing Rudy Project ExoWinds for like, four years now. It’s time for a change. Santa needed Rudolph to guide him on his journeys; I need me some Genetyk frames with Photochromatic clear lenses.

GAERNE | It's no lie that I am pretty much obsessed with my Gaerne G.Myst Plus kicks. Since my brother-in-law is getting into cycling this year I told him I'd help him out so I will be somewhat reluctantly bequeathing him my shoes, somewhat, because I am totally stoked to try their new G.Air Carbons. These babies are sexy and all-white...clean...PRO.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Gaerne mountain offerings from Ryan and the gang so I also figure it’s about time I get some G.Inkas dirty this season. Ryan, being the penultimate style guide said I should rock the whites…but the Reflex option came in a close second.

RITCHEY | Angelo and Sean at Ritchey Logic have kept us rolling this season with some fantastic offerings from the Comp-WCS line of products. My new favorite being their WCS Contrail saddle, I’ll be purchasing a couple more for my cross and mountain bikes. The item I am most excited about is the Ritchey WCS C-260 stem. The stem is a product that hasn’t changed a whole heckuvalot since the industry wide standardization of the threadless opposed to the quill model. The C-260 has changed that. Angelo, Sean…if you’re listening. I would much appreciate it if Santa would provide me one, in Wet White, size 130. Danke.

JRABS.com | Travis has been a huge supporter of not only our Mid-Atlantic riders, but the rest of the team with sweet deals and service. He’s also putting our team logo on his trailor! Badass! Travis and his own contingent of elfish monkey wrenches are all talented wheel builders and if you are on the lookout of either a tubular, clincher or tubeless handbuilt wheelset then I highly recommend their Rolling Blackout custom sets. Travis starts with Chris King’s R45 hub (which I love and have on a build courtesy of Greg Borchert) mated to your choice of HED clincher or Stans Alpha 340 tubeless rims laced with Sapim CX-Ray spokes. What an impressive combination. I highly recommend giving tubeless a try especially with this speedy setup.

DEFEET | There are two things that have been constant since I began riding road bikes…those are the socks on my right and left feet. I’ve been a committed DeFeet wearer for a long time. Woolie Boolie, Air-E-Ator…love. Ryan is actually working on a custom KindHuman Sports order as we speak and I can’t wait to rock them real soon.

TRP | I’ve been in love with my R960 road calipers this past year and my EuroX alloy cantis have been fantastic but I’m contemplating shaking things up a big and running a V-brake set up for next season and also hoping Santa brings me a set of Dash hydraulic brakes for the 29er I’m building up.

As always, I’d love a few stocking stuffers from NuuN and Soigneur. Maybe some Challenge tires? Who knows?

So Santa, if you’re listening, I’ve been a good boy. I’ve stayed away from sweets and I’ve ridden lots. I’ve gone to bed early and haven’t watched cartoons in like, 4 months…so if you should find my name on the Nice List, then hook a brotha up.

Do us a favor, if you're a non-team member and visit the sites of our sponsors and advocate their well being by purchasing some products over and over and over again.

Merry Christmas all!