Vegan wins the ‘toughest 48 hours in sport’

The Championships this year was the Silverstate 508, described by the organisers as the ‘toughest 48 hours in sport’. The 508 mile route is world famous for climbs through the mountains, deserts and
desolate roads.” The race website boasts the course’s “reputation as one of the toughest but most gratifying endurance challenges available, bar none.”

The 6881 metres of height gain compare with climbing a major peak.

Tyler set off strongly and was leading the pack of 24 solo riders by the end of stage 1, a little over two and a half hours in. He stayed strong and eventually won by a large margin in 29 hours 26 minutes. The second placed runner rolled in 68 minutes later.

Tyler also finished ahead of both two-rider relay teams and 7 of the 8 four-rider teams.

A cyclist and a vegan

Tyler used to eat fast food three times daily and had a low opinion of cycling. In 2010 he started spending time in the saddle to assist Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training, and got hooked.

In search of healthier food they started raising their own animals.

“let’s cut out fast food, let’s buy organic, let’s buy locally raised animals. We had this idea that we’re super healthy, we’re the healthiest as we can be as we’re still eating meat and consuming lots of animal product.”

“And then we just accidently watched Food, Inc. that changed the way you look at it. It just snowballed. The more education you get, the more it’s hard to turn away. We’ve gotten some chickens. We live in the mountains. I live just below Yosemite National Park. We got some chickens because we want to have our own eggs. When we got them, they were baby chicks, day old baby chicks. Just holding them in my hand connected those dots, even though you know when you’re eating chicken, it was an actual animal. But you never actually experienced that animal, it’s just strange.”

The course

Tyler’s website

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