BOULDER — Will Kelsay jumped out of an airplane the other day, and as usual, the Boulder XTerra triathlete was smiling.
Kelsay brought to his first skydiving experience the same zest for the active life and eagerness to share that joy that has made him a favorite on the professional off-road triathlon circuit.
“The guy that I’m strapped to, he’s like, ‘Dude, you totally win the award for most excited guy of the year,’ ” Kelsay said. “Because as soon as he rips open the chute, I’m just screaming my head off like, ‘Yeah! This is awesome!’ “
Now Kelsay has taken another leap of faith: Setting out to compete in six Xterra triathlons in six countries and six weeks.
Kelsay’s odyssey began Sunday in Aberdeen, S.D. This coming weekend he competes in Mexico, followed by events in the Czech Republic, Germany and Japan before the “Triple Six” tour finishes Sept. 4 in Whistler, British Columbia. The trip will stretch well over 20,000 miles, with nearly as many smiles, I’m sure.
I love triathletes. Some of my best friends are triathletes. But let’s face it, some can be a little grim and self-obsessed. Some find it difficult to crack a smile, as if it might take too much time from their training or distract them from their all-important focus.
Even Kelsay sees it in some of his peers.
“People start out with this excitement and enthusiasm, and then slowly they get the blinders on and they’re so focused, they lose sight of everything else,” Kelsay said. “Eventually, all they’re seeing is themselves and everything about them. That, I don’t think, is right. You have to take a step back, and a lot of those people don’t. Once you’ve worked yourself into that hole, it’s hard to get out, because you’ve built your whole life around this. How do you break free?”
One way is to see the life of an endurance athlete as such a blessing that you want to share it and the joy it brings you. Kelsay gets it.
“He’s an incredibly happy person,” said his girlfriend, Shelby Katz. “He’s got a great, positive outlook. He wants to get people outside and involved. It’s not just about Xterra or triathlon per se, it’s about getting people outside. Getting people excited about triathlon is his passion.
“The way he does that is with this infectious smile of his. People just can’t look away.”
Kelsay grew up in Oregon and ran track in high school, moving here 12 years ago to attend the University of Colorado and — he hoped — to run with the Buffaloes. He didn’t get to be a teammate of Adam Goucher’s, but he discovered his future when he found the CU triathlon team, a club program.
“All of the stuff I learned there made becoming a professional athlete possible,” Kelsay said. “Had I not been on that team, triathlon never even would have been part of my life. I can’t believe I would have missed out on this.”
In 2007 he did 12 domestic Xterra races in 12 weeks, putting more than 12,000 miles on an old RV. Then, as now with his international “Triple Six” tour, the objective was to compete hard, have fun and promote the sport.
“The main motivation is fun — that’s always the main motivation behind why I race XTerra,” Kelsay said. “But I always love having big, crazy adventures that people are like, ‘I don’t know if you can do that.’ Or, ‘Really, you’re gonna do that?’ “
Accompanying Kelsay in his latest adventure will be Shonny Vanlandingham of Durango, another Xterra triathlete known for “racing with a smile.” She’s doing four of the six (Mexico, Czech, Germany and Japan) and will join Kelsay in putting on clinics.
Kelsay hopes to get urban triathletes to consider XTerra — to set aside the road bike occasionally and hop on the mountain bike for a jolt of downhill adrenaline.
He has even gotten his girlfriend — a longtime road cyclist and triathlete — interested in riding the trails.
“Do you like more of the urban experience when you go somewhere, or do you want to be off in the woods?” Kelsay said. “We get to go play in the dirt and the mud and find all these cool things. So many times I’ve been in a race and you feel like you’re just in the middle of nowhere. I love that feeling.”
