COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — With little braking and a lot of let-it-rip, Kylie Moerk rides her mountain bike through the rocks and ruts of a single-track trail at Ute Valley Park.
"What I love most about mountain bike racing is you really get to challenge yourself and you get to know that you're doing your best and it's all up to you to do your best and to be happy with your result and how you feel," said mountain bike racer Kylie Moerk.
News 5 got to know Moerk back in 2024 heading into her junior year of high school, and getting ready to take on the Pikes Peak Apex Mountain Biking Race. She is still at it and back for the new 2026 version of the race.
"Yeah, I definitely still love it," Moerk said.
Many taking on the Apex are top athletes who travel to Colorado Springs to race, and plenty of the strong contenders are locals.
"Colorado Springs is huge for mountain biking and a lot, even like the teenagers are incredible and definitely not to be underestimated," Moerk said.
Moerk's path to racing has an element shared by all of the News 5 sponsored racers - they have a history with the non-profit Kids on Bikes.
"I started with Kids on Bikes when they still had strider bike camps and it was like the first thing that I'd really done and so I did summer camps like growing up," Moerk said.
She then became a coach for Kids on Bikes summer camps. Days cycling with kids transition to rides after work to train for races.
"I want to line up with all of these incredible racers. It's definitely intimidating, so I want to finish the race and know that I've done everything that I can," Moerk said.
Racing at this level is very different than when she started at Kids on Bikes, and she wants all levels of young riders to know they will get better the more they ride.
"I definitely had my fair share of crashes growing up. I would come to camp and I would come home with bruises everywhere and so I can definitely empathize with that and with all these kids and when they do crash," Moerk said.
That empathy went into action during the interview for this story. Moerk just graduated and is studying for her Emergency Medical Technician certification in advance of possibly pursuing nursing as she heads off to college. Her bike experience and EMT training combined when one of the Kids on Bikes campers went down hard. She was part of a quick assessment to make sure he was OK.
Moerk will race in the Apex Mountain Bike Marathon. The course traverses 35 miles of trails in Colorado Springs' North Cheyenne Cañon, with an elevation gain of more than 4,500 feet.
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