040. Josh Kato - The Heart of the Matter

I’ve been wanting to have a chat with this dude for a while now and we finally were able to connect. Those of you who are even mildly interested in the Tour Divide, a self supported race that takes riders 4,400 km down the continental divide and has them climbing the equivalent of Mt. Everest 7 times (nearly 61,000m), will know who this man is.

In 2015, Josh Kato had the fastest time and finished this track in 14:11:37. Like other riders, he has returned again and again to challenge himself on this amazing route. While racing in 2019, a series of events occurred that would profoundly shake things up for Josh, forcing him to scratch.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress-induced cardiomyopathy can strike even healthy individuals. In general terms, it is caused by extreme cardiovascular stress. Those who followed the race that year will remember how Sofiane Sehili and Josh were burning the track up. While a number of riders hunkered down at Brush Mountain Lodge due to very extreme weather, Josh was one the riders who persevered and pressed on. To say that he left everything out there would be an understatement.

Josh grew up in the mountains in Washington and spends most of his time exploring with his wife Val and his superstar dog, Winston. As a nurse, he has been working the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic and for that we owe him, and all the other medical professionals, our gratitude.

It was such an honour to connect with Josh to get to know his story. He’s a great story teller and there are some great tales from the trail in this conversation. If there is one thing I took away from this chat, as I get ready for my own crack at the Divide, It’s to have fun! This goes for any of you too. Ride bikes, have fun and your journey will be a success no matter what the outcome. Oh, fun fact! I also learned that you can break your fibula and still ride 800 miles. What a bad ass!!