ROOTED MTB
A Privateer Story
Season 2
Words by Austin Hackett-Klaube
Who is RootedMTB?
We are just a group of friends from Colorado that have raced together since we were kids. We have traveled all over together, and had the same goal of racing pro and seeing where we could take it. We are all at a point where we are working a bunch, but still trying to chase the dream of racing as much as possible. Ultimately, we all would love to qualify for a World Cup.
The team consists of three riders, Wiley Kaupas, Harrison Ory, and myself, and our friend Kasen Schamaun who does the filming/editing. I am currently rehabbing after a knee reconstruction, and I am helping Kasen film at the races and kind of playing team mom. The goal is to get back on the bike and racing a bit by mid summer, and progress to being faster than before by the time the 2020 season starts. We met Kasen through the local motocross community and we all hit it off and collaborated on the Rooted video series idea. Kasen’s style brings something different to the MTB world and we are stoked that we pretty much just have fun and make a video based on whatever real events are going on at the races.
We are really lucky to have the support of Specialized to keep the series going through 2020. Along with that we have the best local support from Dirtlabs in Longmont, The Fix Bike Shop in Boulder, and Great Divide Builders. We’re pumped to keep making goofy videos and hopefully get some decent race results all making entertaining videos. We hope you enjoy watching our journey and also hope you don’t lose too many brain cells from our dumb jokes!
