History-Making Duo The Pease Brothers Return to Kona

If you’re a true fan of IRONMAN lore, the Pease Brothers will be a familiar name to you. 

For those who don’t know their story, Brent and Kyle Pease became the first brother push-assist duo to finish the IRONMAN World Championships when they crossed the finish line in Kona in 2018, in a time of 14 hours and 29 minutes. 

The Pease Brothers represent the best type of attitude in long-course triathlon, approaching the sport with humility, determination, and flexibility. And to a degree, they have to; Kyle was born with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, meaning that he uses a wheelchair for mobility. Brent, the older of the two brothers, is able-bodied. 

Together, they leverage Brent’s physical strength as he tows and pushes Kyle through the swim, bike, and run of an IRONMAN and Kyle’s relentless positivity and iron-clad willpower to not only cross an IRONMAN finish line together, but to do so with gusto. 

Now, the brothers are back on the Big Island after six years away, during which time they expanded and grew their nonprofit, the Kyle Pease Foundation, which aims to “improve the lives of people with disabilities through sports and beyond.”

This trip to Kona comes with a specific mission beyond reaching the finish line, though. During their year-and-a-half-long training journey for this year’s men’s IRONMAN World Championship, the Peases have raised nearly $900,000 – their goal is to reach $1 million – with the purpose of adding more employees to the Kyle Pease Foundation Inclusive Employment Program. The funds raised will allow the Foundation to hire a minimum of two more individuals with disabilities – and potentially even more hires than that – to grow the program. 
Although Brent and Kyle are busy attending to all of the typical pre-race “to-dos” of any athlete, they made time to chat with Slowtwitch about their upcoming 140.6-mile journey.

Get to Know Brent and Kyle Pease

ST: How are you both feeling heading into your second Kona? 

BP: We both just feel so grateful to be here. Everything weighed so heavily on us in 2018: the nutrition, the enormity of the race, the crew and support we had here cheering us on – it all felt so heavy. 

This time, we only feel gratitude to be able to come back to this island and experience the race. Whatever goes down on Saturday – and I’m not saying if it does one direction we wouldn’t be disappointed –  is fine because this time is much more about the experience that we get to have as brothers and sharing it with so many other people.

ST: Kyle, many people wrongly assume that you’re just ‘along for the ride’ during the race. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Can you share a bit about how and why race day is just as taxing for you?

KP: I appreciate you guys asking this question – it’s important that people know I’m not just along for the ride – I’m “in it,” too. Although I don’t go through the same physical tasks as Brent, my body still goes through a lot. I also have to have the mental fortitude to push through the ups and downs of the day. 

At the end of the day, I’m a student of the sport. I did all of my course scouting this week – I know where the turns are, I know what to expect on the Queen K. 

BP:  Someone once said to us, “I can’t imagine what it must be like for you, Brent, to carry another human being for 14 or 15 hours.” 

But what I really can’t fathom is what it’s like for Kyle to not only push his mind and body through that same type of physical effort, but to also have to be this positive emotional force because the race takes such a physical lift for me – to take care of Kyle, to feed him, to push the pedals, to do all of those things. It means my mind goes to a dark place much quicker than Kyle’s. 

We have countless stories of, “Brent struggled and Kyle saved him.”

I’m pushing the pedals of 375 pounds of humans on our bike and it’s grueling in the Hawaiian heat and wind, but then Kyle has to sit there as his body is literally fighting itself because of his spastic quadriplegia and he has to be so positive for the eight or nine hours that we’re on the bike together. 

I don’t think people realize how hard that is. Imagine if I told you that for every minute of your race day, you cannot have one negative emotion that you allow people to experience with you. 

It’s incredibly hard to do that and to not complain. Kyle can handle those things. He can handle my emotions, he can handle his emotions, and he can deal with the physical strain of the challenges he faces in our endurance race because of his disability.

ST: What are you both looking forward to most on race day?

BP: Oh man, I want to say all of the race is my favorite part, especially because I don’t know if we’ll get another encore after this. 

But if I had to pick just one aspect of the race, it’s the bike turnaround in Hawi because once we’ve made that turn, we know we get some time back on the descent and that’s a moment of relaxation between us. 

All we have to do once we make that turnaround is make sure the bike goes straight downhill, tap the brakes here and there, and get in the right gear for the Kawaihae climb. 

In 2018 when we made the turnaround in Hawi, we looked out over the Pacific Ocean and there was a deep sense of overwhelming gratitude. So, if I had to pick one part of the race, that would be mine.

KP: I would say that is also one of my favorite parts for me, too. You can feel the energy of the Island and all of the people around you and us working as a team, which carries me in a way I can’t even express to you. 

The most rewarding aspect of being on the bike is helping Brent see the full potential of what he has given to me, and it is a gift I will be forever grateful for. We have to stay connected the entire time on the bike.

ST: Speaking of the bike, how has your bike equipment changed since your first time in Kona back in 2018? Any upgrades for comfort or speed this time around?

BP: It’s evolved tremendously. I mean, our very first bike had an eight-gear internal hub. Every race we did taught us something about how to refine the equipment for Kona. We use a company in Winnipeg, Canada, called Freedom Concepts to build our bike. 

So we bought that bike, and then we built in a race car seat in the front for Kyle and added a bunch of ventilation to it. Our goal was always for Kyle to be in the front of the bike – we want him to have the experience of a cyclist. 

We actually have two bikes here on the Island this week: one where Kyle can sit upright as he does in his wheelchair, and one at a slight angle similar to what we had in 2018. And Kyle made the decision on Wednesday that we will use the slightly angled chair – we all felt like that was a slightly faster setup.

The bike now has a carbon fork, carefully crafted welds to allow everything to work really well – it’s a really impressive machine when you consider our goals as athletes.

ST: What kind of training have you done together in this leadup to Kona?

BP: My TrainingPeaks schedule looks very similar to what every athlete on the Island has done the past few months: big training weeks, big bike blocks. But what we try to do is get Kyle involved. 

Because we had such a long runway to Kona – nearly a year-and-a-half – we’ve been training a lot together in preparation for Kona. 

Getting our running groove down is easy – we sign up for local run races. We did a half-marathon together and ran a marathon in January of this year. Those efforts were to focus on having Kyle be in the chair for a long time, and for me to get the run mileage. 

For the bike, we try to find opportunities to do big bike rides to practice the stress on both of our bodies. This summer we did a “rails to trails” ride on the Silver Comet Bike Trail, which runs from Atlanta, Georgia, to Anniston, Alabama, 95 miles in all. It took over seven hours to do that with Kyle, and it was a fun experience to have Kyle go through a long training day like that, and it was good strength building for me. 

Ultimately, those hours spent together are really, really special. 

ST: Just for a bit of levity before such a serious undertaking, do either of you have any funny stories of training or racing together that you can share?

BP: Even with all of the amazing experiences we have had as brothers and athletes – getting to race IRONMANs, being photographed by Annie Leibovitz – we’ve had these rockstar moments, but one of the best parts about doing something like an IRONMAN is the community aspect. 

On that ride from George to Alabama, that’s what it was all about. Us and about a dozen friends biked there all day, we stayed in a hotel, and then the next day, I biked back solo. 

When we got to Alabama that evening – everything was funny because we’d trained so hard. We’re sitting around eating pizza, and I told a story that was a little inappropriate that I won’t repeat here. And Kyle started giggling and couldn’t stop. I looked at my buddy and I said, “Now we’ve checked every box.”

It was a moment of like, “This is what it’s supposed to be.” We’re sitting around, exhausted, eating pizza, and we can’t stop laughing. This doesn’t have to be serious. We didn’t shave our legs or taper for the ride. We stopped and ate pickles and chips and drank Coke. 

And then I put Kyle to bed and accidentally left the lights on his hotel room all night. So, we had a good laugh about that, too. I can take such good care of him on a race course, but I can’t turn off the f*cking lights in his hotel room. 

KP: Yeah, leaving on the lights was a good one. So, you know, when we’re out there training and you need to use the restroom, it can be difficult. But during an IRONMAN, I get to pee whenever I need to without us stopping. 

So, if I pee when we’re on the bike, it’ll all go backwards onto Brett, so that’s always a good laugh.

ST: Who have been some of the partners who have helped you both return to Kona this time around?

BP: Roark Capital, Adidas, Hyundai, Rabobank, Stein Investment Group, LocumTenens.com, Wells Fargo – we’ve been so lucky to work with a number of incredible partners to make this happen. We always say that our secret weapon is all of the people who help and support us.

ST: What does it mean to you both to get to do this race again, together, on Saturday?

BP: I think doing hard things is what makes us really feel alive. You’d almost never think that sitting on the couch all day was a really great day. But when you struggle and when you overcome, when you laugh, smile, and love and experience these things together, that’s what makes you feel alive. 

When I’m out there with Kyle, I feel so connected to him. I know that any challenging moments we have will pass, and I know we’ll both feel stronger when we come out of them. I want to watch him push himself; it’s inspiring to literally sit behind Kyle on the bike and watch him fight his body for eight or nine hours while he’s still encouraging and pushing and driving me towards the finish. I’m so thankful for that experience. 

KP: I always say that we get to do this. We don’t have to do this, we get to do this. We choose to do this. We could just go to a baseball game or drink the day away, but Brent has allowed me to be an athlete. And to be an athlete with Brent is one of the greatest gifts of my life. 

At the end of the day, there’s somebody always cheering for you, but the best part for me is that the guy who is cheering for me, is literally five feet behind me. 

ST: Kyle, what would you like any athletes or spectators cheering you on on Saturday to know?

KP: Don’t look at me as a charity case, and don’t think of me existing as being an inspiration. I want you to be inspired by our efforts to push beyond your own limits.

Photo Credits: The Kyle Pease Foundation

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