Fit Mutha Trucker: Here's how this Ohio triathlon race promotor made it through COVID
Shannon Kurek is an Ohioan triathlete, a race promoter, cyclist, hardcore Zwifter, dad, husband and — for like two years — he called himself the Fit Mutha Trucker as an over-the-road hauler.
His old stomping grounds were the Mohican forest area near tiny Lucas, Ohio. Back in the late 1980s, while still wrestling as a lightweight in high school, his dad bought him a road bike. His first ride, out on the meandering hills, made a lasting impression.
“I loved it. It was amazing,” he said.
It was also around that time that he started getting introduced to the nascent sport of triathlons — back when they still incorporated canoes instead of swimming. His dad participated in them, he said.
“And my aunt, she was the wellness director of the Mid-Ohio Heart Clinic (at Mansfield Hospital),” he said. With her, he kicked around the idea of hosting their own tri.
They did just that. It was 1988. They called it the Mid-Ohio Heart Clinic Challenge and held the event at Pleasant Hill Lake Park as a fundraiser for United Way.
“It was baptism by fire,” Kurek said, laughing. “It was very grass roots. That’s how it was back then. But it was the domino that set things off.”
PROFILE
Shannon Kurek
Age: 54
Family: Wife; son, 22; daughter, 18; son, 17.
Occupation: Race promoter.
Road or mountain: Road.
In the early 1990s, he enrolled at Ball State University, where he stayed for a semester. Long enough to meet his wife, who would later also become his business partner at Health and Fitness Promotions. It wasn’t big in those days. Maybe around 100 participants, he said.
“But it was received well by locals and it gave us practice on putting things together,” he said.
The couple did that for five or six years. He worked nights as a driver for places like UPS and FedEx. Little did he and his wife know: they were essentially creating an industry, the event management industry.
Over the last 30 years or so, Health and Fitness Promotions grew and grew and grew and grew. The business, which later became HFP Racing, created and hosted events like the Ohio Triathlon Series, the Ohio Adventure Series and the Ohio Mountain Bike Series. Several others. Over the years, Kurek amassed enough contacts in the industry that they were calling him to create and service events for them. They managed events with 15,000 people in them. The company accumulated items like barricades, enough to service Ohio State University football games.
There were years where Health and Fitness Promotions was involved with more events there were weeks in a year. And through it all, Kurek competed as a triathlete — finishing races on the podium in Mexico, Hawaii and the Netherlands.
In 2020, just before the pandemic, they sold HFP Racing and kept the event management part of the company.
And then the pandemic hit, putting a stop to all events everywhere.
Kurek’s solution? To become an essential worker by earning his Commercial Driver’s License. Between September 2020 and March 2022, he logged 140,000 miles as a hotshot trucker.
“It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done,” he said.
Hot shot trucking refers to hauling smaller, more time-sensitive LTL loads (less than truckload) within a specific timeframe and usually to a single customer or location. Most hotshotters use a smaller truck with a flatbed trailer.
Kurek’s rig, at first, included a F-450 dually truck with a 40-foot gooseneck capable of hauling heavy loads of steel, tractors and other machinery. Most hotshotters sleep in their truck, Kurek said.
“I did that for two months. I remember waking up after that first night and saying, ‘this is horrible,’” he said. It wasn’t long he drew up the plans for a sleeper cabin that he eventually monikered The Mobile Pain Cave.
He went over the top with the MPC, a 4x8x6 foot cabin with enough room for his Wahoo Kickr, a swim trainer and a pull-down bed. Oh, and an A/C unit.
The MPC allowed him to stay in triathlete form while on the road for days on end. With trucking, there are laws against non-stop driving, though. So on his 24-hour mandated breaks, he’d go “on these crazy adventures.”
“In Montana, this one time, I did a half Ironman at a truck stop,” he said. The Ironman consisted of something like 56 miles on the bike, a bunch of miles on the swim trainer and 13.1 miles of running around the truck stop, something like 40 laps.
“And one time, it was during winter. There was this big mountain that was shut down. I hike it. It was like 2.5 miles up, super dangerous. There were these giant elk op on the mountain.”
He remembers a memorable ride he took out of Oakland, California, up Mt. Diablo.
“It was so beautiful. It was December and in the 70s.”
Another time, he rode around Utah Lake in Provo. “The mountain in the background, just breathtaking.”
He called himself the Fit Mutha Trucker. He handed out shirts when he saw truckers walking around truck stops.
It was the first time in his life, he reminisced, where he didn’t have an enormous amount of tasks on his plate.
“Suddenly, all I had to do was drive. It was a great distraction.”
It was also lonely.
Kurek remembers the first Thanksgiving he missed. He said he felt extraordinarily lonely, and sad for his trucking colleagues. He was at a truck stop that night and it was completely booked.
“That’s the biggest challenge about driving. Being along that much is not healthy … you’re just by yourself a lot. It gets a little nuts.”
In March 2022, the world started waking up a little from its pandemic slumber. He decided to park the truck and get back to his love: event management and triathlons and running and cycling.
“I didn’t know how much I really liked it,” he said.
These days, the father of two teens and a college-ager doesn’t have a whole lot of free time for riding long treks. Oh, and he’s building a house in Mount Vernon. He does most of his cycling on Zwift in the early morning hours or late in the PM.
“That is a tech that is a game changer for someone that wants to be competitive and with a schedule that’s not conducive to that,” he said.
And competitive he is. He finished second in his age category in 2021’s USA Triathlon Long Course Nationals in New York. He finished second again in 2022 in the bike and run event — he was injured.
“Next year, I age up for the 55-59 age group and I’ll be on the younger end of that — so I’m hoping I can be competitive there.”
Thanks for reading today, cycopaths. If you’re reading this, it means you’ve signed up to be a paid subscriber. I’m so thrilled. Honored, really. Thank you for your support.
Shannon is a tough dude who found a way to stay physical despite challenging life logistics! Keep on truckin'!