Rider profile - Kim Hurst
Rider name
Kim Hurst
Instagram handle
@vanderkim99
Team or worthy cause
Niner New Zealand
You'll find me riding or racing in... (hometown and racing grade)
Upper Hutt Valley, New Zealand - racing A grade! I love my cross bike and ride it everywhere - I very rarely ride anything else now.
I now usually ride from home - whether it's a ride that is mostly sealed roads with a little bit of gravel, or the old trails I used to smash on my MTB. I don't race much outside the Hutt any more due to my organisational efforts here, but I wouldn't rule out a return to something like Fields of Joy in the future.
The other one I'd love to do is Three Peaks in Yorkshire - I never got to do that while I was [living] in the UK.
Tell us about your bike!
It's a Niner and it's kickass! I have three Niner BSBs - one is bright green, one is cow print (paddock camo), and one is black for New Zealand.
They're all pimped out with a mix of Di2, XTR and Ultegra parts, and finished with Wheelworks carbon hoops that are tubeless-ready. They're sick - I love them!
My riding/racing is supported by...
Mainly me! I get a bit of support from Niner New Zealand and Wheelworks, and Seight help me a lot with my kit. Away from more formal sponsorship, my brother and my nephews are really supportive - it was really special when I raced in the UK because those guys were in my pit crew.
In my day job I'm...
A general practitioner in the Upper Hutt Valley.
An interest I have outside of cycling is...
Not much - I mainly spend my time at work, cycling, watching cycling, racing my bike, or organising bike races! That takes up a lot of my time, though I do love coffee.
What riding do you do apart from CX?
A fair chunk of gravel grinding. I haven't done any bikepacking yet, but there are some epic bikepacking trips across New Zealand I want to try. I get the MTB out every now and again, mainly because the course for the Karapoti (New Zealand's most famous MTB race) is right on my doorstep.
What's your proudest achievement in CX?
Definitely MightyCross [the Huttcross series for kids]!
All those years I spent chasing podium results pale in comparison to something completely off-bike is funny, but seeing 50-60 kids from ages 2-12 loving being on their bikes is really special.
I knew we were onto something when one weekend a mum came up to me and said 'My boy's come out to MightyCross today instead of soccer.' Imagine if we could make kid's cyclocross more important than soccer!
What's your CX strength?
Probably skills - I'm probably strong through corners, descending and technical riding.
What's your CX weakness?
Sprinting or real fast changes of pace. I used to battle Nat Redmond quite regularly, which involved me trying to diesel away when I could, while she'd try to break my by sprinting out of corners or when the pace slowed.
How can we spot you on course?
I'm normally in a really loud kit, though I don't really stick to one colour. The other thing is my cowprint Niner BSB bike - that bike got cheered more than I did when I was racing in the States!
Should we offer you handups, and if so, when?
Ah, handups! The worst one I ever had was a pinot handup (I don't drink beer) - can't say I recommend. The best one I ever saw was at a World Cup, where they're very explicit about handups not being allowed - the next day someone put a chocolate cupcake on the course!
