Cyclist: Thanks for making the time to chat with us, Kyle. First of all, why should I listen to you about riding in Nevada? Just joking – but tell us about your riding background.
Kyle Horvath: I played bikes all my time growing up in Virginia. Nothing competitive, just pedalling with friends and finding things to jump off of until it got dark. I moved to Lake Tahoe after college in 2000 to be a USPTA-certified tennis teaching professional. Tennis was my thing. I bought my first full suspension, a Proflex 857, and started riding west coast trails. Everything about that bike was wrong – I should be dead – but eventually marriage, kids, job all positioned themselves at the top of my priorities for over a decade.
My kids and job are still up there but bikes have found themselves back up into the top three. The people I started riding with again became my friend group. Their kids became my kids’ friends. Bikes became important, and the people I rode bikes with became even more important. I met some phenomenal humans who are doing things in their communities who are still an inspiration to me. That’s what started a real desire to get more people on bikes. My kids are strong riders and I wanted their friends to be too, so I got involved with the state junior XC racing league, joined the local trail building organisation, started signing up
