Ultra cycling pioneer John Marino and endurance event promoter Chris Kostman will lead a group ride and give a presentation on their exploits at The Bicycle Outfitter in Los Altos, California on 7 November.
The programme will include a broad view of the origins and history of the sport, where it is now and where it's headed. It will also include a screening of the award-winning film Psychling, which documents Marino's 1980 Guinness Book transcontinental cycling record.
Marino and Kostman have been friends since 1983, and are both passionate about promoting ultra cycling. Marino created the Great American Bike Race, Race Across America (RAAM) and Furnace Creek 508. Now 60, he still rides at the same weight as he did 30 years ago.
Kostman set world ultra cycling records in high school in 1984 and 1985, and completed the 3,127-mile, 11-day RAAM aged 20 in 1987. That was a springboard to competing in events as diverse as the Triple Ironman in France and numerous winter ultras on mountain bike or snowshoes in Alaska. This led to a career producing some of the toughest endurance events available through his company, AdventureCORPS.
"This programme was Bicycle Outfitter manager Dave Prion's idea, after Dave and his wife Kathy joined Marino, myself and other RAAM luminaries at the 2009 Solvang Century and an apres-ride dinner at my parents' home in Solvang," Kostman told BikeRadar.
"Always a fan and friend, Marino has gotten much more heavily involved with my AdventureCORPS events in 2009: he rode the Hell's Gate Hundred century in Death Valley in April, he worked on the race staff at the Badwater Ultramarathon in July, he rode the five-day CORPScamp Shasta in late July and he worked on the race staff at Furnace Creek 508 in October."
Marino and Kostman doing what they enjoy most: gobbling up the miles
Ultra Cycling: Past, Present and Future: An evening with John Marino and Chris Kostman
7 November, 2009 at The Bicycle Outfitter in Los Altos, CA (SF Bay area near San Jose / Palo Alto)
- Ride: 10am for 3-4 hours; 40-50 miles
- Meet & greet: 5-6pm
- Programme begins: 6pm