STRAIT INVITATIONAL
TWO LANES TO GLORY
Photos: Heather Young
Drone Team: Vlad Shykolnyk | Sasha Sogolow
Camera Teams: Tempt Media | Knowmad Development
Produced by: Jake VanHeel
Post Production: Knowmad Development
Over the weekend legends of the sport descended upon the sleepy town of Alpine, California for an invitational event at Strait Acres. Owners of the property, Kyle and Rachel Strait devoted a huge amount of time and effort into their first ever Strait Invitational. We were lucky enough to get invited by Kyle to help cover the historic event and share the stoke after a rather unpredictable year.
We asked Kyle a few questions about the event from his perspective as track builder, property owner and racer. What a massive undertaking!
TLW: We know you are a huge proponent of Dual Slalom. Would you say it’s the best form of mountain bike racing? If so, why?
Kyle Strait: I don’t know if it’s the best form of mountain bike racing, but I do think it’s the best for racer spectating! It’s such a challenging style of racing. You have to be on your game every run, and make zero mistakes to win.
TLW: What was the reason or catalyst to this event forming / happening?
KS: 2020 has been such a bad year for racing, so many events being cancelled, and some events still happening with Americans being restricted from traveling to them. It just made sense that this was the year to do it. Rachel wanted to prove to herself she could do the organizational side of it, and I knew with some help, the track would be one the best in the world! So we said let’s send it and see how it goes.
TLW: Did you have a goal beyond just hosting a fun weekend and race for you and your friends?
KS: Those were definitely the top priorities! But we also want to have a multiple race series next year. So this was the perfect starting point.
TLW: Any major memories or proud moments as the track daddy and berm builder?
KS: It’s gonna be funny one day when we’re old and sell the place and someone takes the berms down and sees how many Natty cans are buried in there!
TLW: Can we expect this to be an annual event? Slalom World Championships maybe?
KS: Hahaha! Ask me that question in a month! Feeling pretty exhausted right now but I’m leaning towards, HELL YA!!
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Thanks for putting on such an awesome event Rachel and Kyle and thank you for letting us help tell the story.
