Profile of Chris Kostman, SoCal Regional Brevet Administrator

Published in American Randonneur, Volume Four Issue #2, May 2001

Click here to read the original interview on the RUSA website

Cycling background: I got into cycling at age 14 in 1982, after being inspired by a friend of my parents named Sheldon Jackson. He had bicycle toured across America. That Summer was the inaugural Race Across America and I got to meet Lon Haldeman before the race; he and his crew were staying in my home town of Glendora with other friends of my parents, coincidentally. I was the biggest fan of RAAM anywhere and vowed to do the race by age 25. Five years ahead of schedule, I raced and finished it at age 20 in 1987 and am still the race's youngest finisher. Since then, I've raced the Iditasport in Alaska seven times, the Ironman Triathlon in Canada, Triple Ironman Triathlon in France, the 24 Hours of Adrenalin in Laguna Seca and Idyllwild, plus back in the 1980s I set or broke seven different UMCA distance records.

Kostman, left, with our 2001 ride director, Scott Scheff, at the finish line of the 2001 600km Brevet.

Memorable experiences: Meeting and becoming friends with people like John Marino, Michael Shermer, Michael Secrest, and Jonathan Boyer. Rolling across the RAAM finish line beneath Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. in 1987. Taking five of my indoor cycling students on a two day, 400 mile high speed bicycle tour from San Jose to Santa Monica, when none of them had ridden more than 50 miles outdoors before, but had been teaching spinning with me for several years. Traveling across America a dozen times with RAAM.

How I got started in randoneuring: Back in the early to mid-80s, John Marino was the SoCal RBA and he put on the brevets as "RAAM Building Rides." I did the 200, 300, and 400 a few times then, riding with superheroes like Marino, Shermer, and John Howard. I also did Darryl Skraback's brevets of similar distances in the San Francisco area while going to college in Berkeley in the late 80s. And, in 1999 I enjoyed riding the same distances in the San Luis Obispo series that Kevin Main organized. I have never done a 600k as I’ve never intended to qualify for any of the 1200k events and that just seems too far to ride without a darn good reason! I like the spirit and the simplicity of randonneuring. I've done plenty of events with a support crew, but I love even more being out there without a motor vehicle tagging along.

How long an RBA? I’m new this year in 2001 with this position in Southern California.

Why an RBA? The previous RBA left the post and it needed filling. More importantly, I thought far better routes could be found and that the events could be put on a lot more cheaply than they had in the past. Finally, I want to help bring the world center of ultramarathon cycling back to Southern California, like it was when I got into the sport in the early 80s. By producing and promoting these brevets, along with my Furnace Creek 508 in October (which I have produced for over ten years), I hope to accomplish this goal.

My inspiration? SoCal is a beautiful place with a lot of diversity and interesting and challenging places to see and ride. My brevets will showcase that truth. I am inspired by all the great cyclists and friends I have in this area who will be participating in the brevets and helping to spread the word about what we are doing. I am also particularly thankful to Scott Scheff, who will be the actual Ride Director during the brevets, since I will be riding them as a participant. (Read Scott's bio below.) I have never before had the luxury of participating in an event which I have organized.

Other Ultramarathon Riding/Supporting/Crewing? I went across America with Race Across America a total of twelve times: twice racing, three times officiating, once crewing, and six times as Race Director of Team RAAM. I have been an honorary lifetime member of the UMCA since 1984, after setting the first SF-LA cycling record and working as a Race Official at the 1984 John Marino Open. I have been at 24 of the 26 west coast RAAM qualifiers (AKA John Marino Open, RAAM Open West, and Furnace Creek 508): two racing, two crewing, eight officiating, and twelve as the Race Director.

PBP? Nope, not yet.

The SoCal Brevets:

Entry fees: They're cheap! $20, $35, $50, and $70, respectively.

Services provided: Each entrant will receive a route slip, timing checkpoints along the route, and basic food support such as fruit, sandwiches, water, Sustained Energy, Hammer Gel, and energy bars at all of the checkpoints. For the 400k and 600k events, transportation for drop bags will be provided to a few checkpoints. For the 600k only, one hotel room will be provided for group use at the turnaround. Plus a few roving vehicles will sweep the courses.

Terrain: Varied, fun, and challenging. The 200k route is an urban tour of the San Gabriel Valley foothill communities with what I consider the best 50 mile loop anywhere in the middle. This quiet, remote loop goes up to Mt. Baldy Village and is the first ride I did when I got my first real bike at age 14. The 300k route is very challenging, with about 14,000 feet of climbing. It tours most of famous Mulholland Highway, various canyons and climbs in the Santa Monica Mountains, plus Ventura, Ojai, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, and more. It's a fantastic showcase of some of our area's most beautiful, remote, and challenging roads. The 400k route also features lots of climbing and is held in the west end of the San Gabriel Mountains, passing through a few national forests, dips its toes into the Mojave Desert, and includes an abandoned road near the Grapevine. The 600k route is very remote and, of course, very far! The course goes from Simi Valley to Ojai, then takes remote state routes over to the edge of the Central Valley, then up to Santa Maria and onto the turnaround in Pismo Beach. It's an epic, remote, fascinating ride with a wide variety of terrains and climates.

Difficulty rating: Hard to say, because I don't believe this much fun and adventure is difficult in the traditional sense of the word. I mean, this is why we're out here, isn't it? But if pressed for a rating, I'd say: 200k = 6, 300k = 8, 400k = 8, and 600k = 7.

Controles staffed? Yes, all of them!

Typical weather? It's SoCal! It's always beautiful and sunny here! (Well, it can rain in February and April, but I don’t think it will.)

How many riders? In 2001, we had 42 riders at our 200k, and expect 25 at our 300k, for example. We expect that it will double or triple over the years. Now that there is not only PBP and BMB, but also the GR1200, there are more and more reasons for more riders to complete the whole series.

Bike seminars? No, we don't do that, but we do have an informative website and we have been sending a lot of info to the local bicycle touring and bicycle racing clubs to enlighten them about this particular type of cycling and event.

What's Distinctive? New routes! Beautiful routes! Easy to get to start lines, each in a different place! Cheap entry cost!

Particular Problems? OK, I admit it was a bit challenging to set up routes that are very close to, and sometimes within, such a giant, sprawling metropolis, but we did it. Around the periphery of Los Angeles there are a lot of beautiful places to ride. We have no junk miles in our events.

Local Trends? Local ultra riders are tired of doing the same double centuries every year, especially at prices up to $95 per event. At the same time, there are too many doubles on the calendar, something like 20 a year. It's crazy. We have done our best to create routes that are easy to get to, yet interesting and diverse. I think brevets should be pretty darn challenging and should showcase a lot of different terrains and climates. These routes more than do the job and will hopefully give all the locals (and visiting out-of-towners) some neat places to ride that they haven't seen before. Watch us grow! Come join in the adventure!

"I was one of those kids who grew up playing video games and eating junk food. To me being fit meant scoring the highest amount of points on a video game. An athlete was one who could beat the other team in some sport game. As a result of my "workouts," lets just say I was not the most slender of kids. My sedentary lifestyle changed when I was 13 and came across a bicycle catalog with a shiny, skinny tired, clip less pedal equipped road bike. In between video games I started to flip through the pages of this catalog and quickly became mesmerized by how cool road bikes were. I had been excited for a new video game before, but I was never so excited at the idea of riding a road bike. I immediately began to save my money in anticipation of a bicycle purchase. By the end of the summer before high school I had enough to purchase my first road bike, a white and red Nishiki Prestige. Everything changed after that bike. I was no longer dependent on others for transportational needs, but more importantly, I was hanging out with a new crowd- people who shaved their legs and completed events with funny names such as centuries and brevets. Soon after my road bike purchase I was ditching the video games and candy bars for group rides and power bars.

Since that first bike I have gone through a dozen more. I have ridden countless centuries, double centuries, triathlons, duathlons, marathons, and Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifiers. I have worked as a ride leader, bike shop employee, and an indoor cycling instructor all over both Arizona and California. I have also been part of several cycling-related organizations in various capacities, including president of the University of Arizona's triathlon club. I have also crewed for cyclists in RAAM three times and officiated for events such as Furnace Creek and Badwater Ultramarathon.

Through cycling I have had the opportunity to travel across the country and meet incredible people from all over the world. Every where I turn there is a new adventure resulting from riding on two wheels.

My newest adventure has been as the Ride Director for the Southern California Brevet Series. I feel honored to oversee these great events and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working with all of those who have ridden or helped out."