Moab Triple Crown FKT: MTB Athlete Conquers White Rim, Kokopelli, and Whole Enchilada Records, Unsupported

JT Crenshaw5 hours ago

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Moab Triple Crown FKT: MTB Athlete Conquers White Rim, Kokopelli, and Whole Enchilada Records, Unsupported

Hannah Otto knew her plan was ambitious from the get-go, but she saw an opportunity and meant to seize it. To her knowledge, no one had successfully set unsupported fastest known times (FKTs) on three of Moab’s most challenging and popular mountain bike routes — the Whole Enchilada, Kokopelli, and White Rim Trails. Individual records existed, sure, but no one had ever owned all three FKTs at the same time.

So, in October 2022, the 29-year-old set out to become the first. Otto started with the Whole Enchilada, a 55.27-mile technical loop through the La Sal Mountains. She crushed the previous record by nearly a full hour, finishing in 5 hours and 50 minutes. FKT number one was in the bag.

Then, in 2023, she attempted the 142-mile Kokopelli Trail, riding from Fruita, Colo., to Moab. It was less than 10 degrees outside when she started, but she pedaled through the cold. The effort took 13 hours. The whole time, it looked like she had it. Then, she told GearJunkie, “In the last 10 miles, I fell apart and missed it by 15 minutes.”

In 2024, she returned to try again. This time, she held it together and finished the Kokopelli Trail in 11 hours and 53 minutes, an hour and 14 minutes ahead of the previous record. She was back on track.

Her final challenge was the 100-mile White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. She set out in the early hours of May 2, 2025. Exactly 6 hours and 36 minutes later, she crested the White Rim’s Shafer climb, her final push, and secured the FKT, wrapping up a year-long journey to complete the Moab Triple Crown.

A film documenting the final FKT, titled Chasing the Moab Triple Crown, premiered in August 2025. GearJunkie caught up with the rising MTB star not long after to talk about the FKTs, her training, the biggest challenges, and even what she ate when she was finished.

Hannah Otto and the Moab Triple Crown

GearJunkie: Why did you pick these three trails to set FKTs? What was your thinking when you started this?

The way those really came into the picture for me is one, notoriety — what are the rides in Moab that everybody knows about? And then two, what rides do I think offer the best of mountain biking?

These three rides together really embody everything that I love about mountain biking: the technicality of the Whole Enchilada, the speed of the White Rim, and the endurance of the Kokopelli. To me, all three create a full picture of what mountain biking in Moab has to offer.

Obviously, you did other races in between these attempts. So, were you just constantly in a state of training for the last 4 years?

Yeah. Like you said, I have a full race calendar, so I feel like I’m always training for the races I’m doing. But I think for this project in particular, the way I would phrase it is I was constantly planning. Like it just felt like in the background, you know, the training at this point in my career, I’ve been racing for so long, it sort of takes care of itself.

I’m racing huge events all the time. But, like you also mentioned, I hadn’t done the Kokopelli before. I hadn’t done the White Rim before.

So I’m researching on the back end and learning about the water sources. I’m figuring out, well, how light can I make my bike? What do I need to carry? What equipment do I need? And also trying to fit all of these things into the race calendar, including getting down to Moab and pre-riding these massive attempts, too.

Are you always training, or do you ever go on chill, casual bike rides?

It’s funny because I feel like everything on the bike serves a purpose for me since it is my job. But I will say that across the course of my career, I’ve realized that just having fun on the bike is its own purpose, and I think it’s important to mix that in. Typically, for me, that comes in the form of inviting other people on the rides.

A lot of my training is solo missions because I’m doing intervals or whatever, but when I can have other people join, like when we did the pre-ride for this FKT, like it was Clayton, my husband, and then one of our friends, Jono, and you know, it’s still work, right? We’re still out there pre-riding, but at the same time, it was just so fun to be out there with friends.

Like I remember pausing like halfway around the White Rim [pre-ride] and just being like, there’s really nothing I would rather be doing right now, and that’s a good feeling.

Logistically, how hard was it to get all the pieces in the right place at the right time for each of these rides?

It was quite complex. I mean, that’s why some of the, especially with the Kokopelli, there were some big learning experiences there. That’s such a huge effort. It’s hard to fit it into the race calendar.

I joke like we did that [Kokopelli] pre-ride in July, where I think the temperature was 107. Absolutely brutal on myself and the whole crew trying to do this pre-ride in 107. And then when the season’s over, we come back to do that first attempt that I didn’t get the first time, and the temperature was seven.

So I have ridden the Kokopelli in a 100-degree swing, which I imagine to be some of the hardest conditions available. And that’s just because it’s the hand we were dealt, trying logistically to fit it into one season, to fit around the film crews, other projects and obligations, my projects and obligations. It was a huge learning experience that we took to the next one.

Which of these trails would you say was the hardest for you, and which was the easiest?

They’re all uniquely challenging. I think for anyone who attempts to do these, every person would probably have a different answer because it depends on what background you’re coming from. The Whole Enchilada was the shortest, but if you don’t have an intense mountain bike background, that will be the hardest because it’s very, very technical.

The White Rim is on paper, the smoothest. Not super technical. It’s very high speed, but that’s what makes getting that time the hardest. It’s been so sought after that the minutes have really been shaved down, and it has to be optimized.

The Kokopelli is just so long. It’s its own sort of mission out there. Perhaps the length means there are more minutes to sort of play with. But I mean, for me, that first Kokopelli attempt in the freezing cold temperatures was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. That has redefined what “hard” is for me. And I think I’ll forever carry that with me.

How did you manage your water on these huge FKT objectives? Were you stopping and filling up wherever you could?

No. All of these were unsupported efforts. I carried everything in and out that I used. I had no support in any of these. And we make it a rule with the film crew as well that we cannot speak to each other. I want it to be as raw as possible. And so even if the film crew is there and I see them getting a shot, we don’t interact. We don’t speak. It’s just me riding.

So, logistically, that was one of the biggest things with all of these. It’s the desert. Water is like gold out there. And for the White Rim, aerodynamics were really important, and so was weight because of the Shafer Climb at the end. So I wanted to carry as little as possible without hindering performance by being so dehydrated. But also not carrying extra, ’cause that can slow you down too.

I’ve been working with a dietician to figure out my parameters in terms of what I’m losing hourly in different conditions. And ultimately, you know, we definitely walked the razor’s line, but I carried 3 liters, which is not recommended for most people attempting that effort. But it worked out great. Basically, when I hit Shafer, I had two sips of water left, and I took one at the bottom and one at the top.

Was there something in particular you really wanted to eat when you were finished?

Oh my gosh. I mean, after all of these long attempts, I always just want a milkshake. Like this is my thing. After long races, after Leadville, after Unbound, we are going to get a milkshake. That’s for sure my thing.

So, of course, I did that. But it was funny because when I finished the White Rim, like I said, because I pushed the water so far, you know, I finished, and I’m thinking in my head, like, “Okay, I haven’t gotten to talk to the crew all day. I’m done; there are cameras in my face. What’s like my man on the moon statement?” Like I’ve done it. Like, what’s my one line I’m going to say?

And all that could come out of my mouth was, “I need water.” I was just so thirsty at that point!

When you’ve been on a multiyear journey pursuing an objective like this, when you finish it, do you feel like you get to kind of soak in that accomplishment and enjoy it? Or is there always that ‘what’s next’ factor for you?

This is a really good question because this is something that I’ve worked really hard on in my career, because, you know, I started racing when I was 9. And so I’ve checked off a lot of things that, as a 9-year-old, I dreamed of doing. But as any athlete has to, you move the goalposts.

And so, in a good way, there’s always something you want to do, but if you forget to celebrate along the way, that’s really sad. So it’s kind of a mixture of both. I really worked hard to pause and celebrate this, you know, we had a big [film] premiere. And also at the same time, we started planning the next FKT before this one was even released.

So it’s always a mixture.

Hannah Otto’s Moab Triple Crown Gear Breakdown

Getting your gear dialed for a single FKT (let alone three) requires some serious premeditation. For runners, that means having just enough pack space for their nutrition and water. For thru-hikers, it means having enough pairs of shoes to get them through their objective. Bikers have a lot more gear (and far more technical gear lists) to perfect.

Otto broke her gear down into lists by attempt.