PART 1: 

At the highest level, every sport has one: The GOAT, Showtime, The King, The Great Bambino.

Keith Curtis is among the best in two sports -- with dozens of snowmobile hill climb world championships, hundreds of first-place finishes and this year a third overall in the 2022 AMA US Hard Enduro series.

At 35, a KLIM Backcountry Team Official Member and one of the few two-sport factory-sponsored athletes, the Montana native says he’s still perfecting his program and finds motivation in mastering how hard he can train, which redefines for all of us what it takes to reach a spot on the box.

Yet, going into the hard enduro season this year, Curtis wasn’t even thinking about the podium.

“Planning a podium in points didn't even cross my mind to be completely honest with you,” he said. “My goal was to get top fives.”

And he did, every time for Factory ONE Sherco -- a first place at Silver Kings in Idaho, a second at Donner in California, three fourths (Ohio and twice in Pennsylvania) and a fifth at Round 2 in Montana. 

It wasn’t until Round 7’s Tough Like RORR, with one race left, that he started thinking about points.

“I was like, ‘I wonder where I’m sitting,” he said. “I gotta be sitting pretty decent.”

And he was, finishing six out of eight rounds for third overall on the season behind 25-year-old Trystan Hart and 20-year-old Ryder LeBlond.

“I definitely exceeded my expectations, and I’m really happy with that,” said the father of two.

He and his wife, Katie, whom he met through a mutual friend in 2014, stay “very busy” with their 2-year-old son, Knoxyn, 13-month-old daughter, River, plus running multiple businesses and the life, training and travel schedule of a full-time athlete. 

“It's a really delicate balance, for sure,” he said. “It’s really tough. And there's a lot going on.” 

What some call a life-consuming commitment to Curtis comes naturally.

“Honestly, when I don't train hard and when I don't eat healthy, I always feel like I'm missing out on an opportunity,” said the factory Polaris athlete of 15 years. “I just always try to progress in whatever I do in life, whether it's racing, family stuff, businesses or just being a mentor for the younger generation.”

Doing things that other people don't think are possible is what keeps him going, he added.

“What's cool is I continue to feel a progression, which is really rewarding too, because I train hard. And when it all shakes out, and I'm able to feel and see the results, then it's worth the time.”

Before the US-based hard enduro scene was even a thing, Curtis was watching videos of the world’s toughest extreme enduro races, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and Romaniacs, and knew he wanted to give it a try.

“I remember watching David Knight and some of those guys do really well,” he said, “And I was like, “Yeah, it’d be really awesome to go race there.’”

Over time, he networked his way into an opportunity, started learning and gearing his training toward hard enduro, and in 2016, he decided to race both of the world’s toughest enduros that year.

“I actually stayed in Europe for like a month and a half and just rode and trained,” he said. 

At Erzberg, his goal was to finish, which he didn’t quite. 

“I was like 45 minutes or an hour out from finishing if everything would have been right,” he said.

A few weeks later, at Romaniacs, he finished eighth overall in the premier Gold class.

“I’m really happy with that,” he said, adding that he returned to Erzberg in 2017 and finished 20th. “That was awesome -- a dream come true there.”

Of course, success has not been without its challenges like at the last round of the USHE series in Sugarloaf, Penn.

“That was the most physical race that we've had all year,” he said. “Towards the end of it, I was like, ‘I hate this. I do not want to do this race again. This is just too much.’ And I've actually found myself saying that a couple times, especially in the hard enduro realm, because you're out there for so many hours and so many days. There’s a whole new level to being destroyed on the hard enduro scene.”

He had a similar moment when he returned to Romaniacs in 2019 and finished 18th in Gold.

“That was right after my wife and I got married,” he said. “That was kind of like our hard enduro honeymoon, and it didn't go super well for me.”

“The last day kicked my butt,” he continued. “I was literally like laying on the ground on Day 4, two to three hours from the finish. I thought I was closer than that. But my stomach hurt. And I was just dehydrated and tired and beat down. And Katie was there, and she went to this little village close by and got some chicken and mashed potatoes. She brought it over to me and she's like, ‘Finish this and get your butt back on your bike and finish this race.’”

Those ups and downs always shape your personality, he says.

“It really enables you to overcome bigger things in life, too. It sucks at the time but once you get through it, you’re like, ‘OK, well, I made it through that event. I didn’t quit, and I dug deep and made it happen.’”

(Editor’s note: Romaniacs was taking place at press time, and when asked if he was missing it, he replied: “I do miss it. There's part of me that wishes I was there. I'm sure they're just finishing up with Day 2 right now. It's an amazing event. A lot of work, a lot of time for, you know, four days, racing through the Carpathian Mountains, anywhere from 5 to 8 hours a day of just grinding. It's a really, really, physically and mentally enduring course.”)

Looking back on the esteemed 2022 USHE series, which was divided into two regional championships – four rounds in the East and four in the West – Curtis mentioned offhand that he really loves the big mountain scene of hard enduro and wishes there were more races on the West Coast. 

“The East Coast is just intense,” he said. “I mean, they're all intense – hard enduro is just an intense scene, for sure. It's really tough racing. But the East Coast, you throw humidity and the slippery factor into it and the high temps. And, holy moly, it’s tough. It is some tough work.” 

Not only is Curtis one of the top hard enduro athletes in the world and the most decorated hillclimb racer in history (more on that later), he’s also one of the oldest going up against 20-somethings. (Graham Jarvis, 47, claimed the overall win and his record-breaking seventh at this year’s Romaniacs, by the way.)

“It's kind of a crazy deal,” Curtis said. “Because I feel like the hard enduro scene, you can be pretty dang old and do really well. Graham is the perfect example. He's just insanely smooth and talented. And he doesn't really make any mistakes. So he's very consistent and precise and just is really good at conserving and not making mistakes. And that's what it's all about.”

As for his future in hard enduro, he definitely wants to continue, he’s just not sure as to what extent when his Sherco contract expires in March of 2023.

“We’ve been in discussion for next season,” he said. “I’d like to do this when I'm in my 40s. I’ve just been doing it for so long that maybe there are some other avenues down the road that are gonna be a little more fulfilling at that point in life. I really like the mentoring side of things. I probably definitely could write a book.”

Whether he’s out training on sleds or racing sleds or training on bikes or racing bikes, he’s been covered in KLIM from head to toe since 2006.

“It’s a perfect fit for what I do. I mean, I really like high quality everything in life,” he said. “It's really important to have high quality everything because it's just better in the end. It's more efficient, it's more practical, it lasts longer. It allows you to train harder.”

After all, training at this level is “pretty hardcore” so he’s recently picked up an E-bike to go even harder.

“You can really dial in how hard you want to train that day, and you get to use the battery for a little bit of that, so you can really hone in how hard you want to train and go and cover twice the country in half the amount of time,” he said. “Why wouldn't you want to do that?”

Rest assured, the longtime Rocky Mountain States Hill Climb Association hillclimb champion and four-time RMSHA racer of the year isn’t just sitting around waiting for this winter’s hillclimb season to start. 

“Snowmobiling is my number one focus,” he said. “I could probably race snowmobiles longer than I race dirt bikes.”

Look for Part 2 of this story coming soon!