The highlight of this edition is definitely Sam’s account of his last few weeks of being on the road. His article is the most entertaining thing I’ve read in a long time, so I know you’ll love it.
I hope that you enjoyed the inaugural Cycling House Circular last month. We’ve received a plethora of positive feedback about our new circular so thanks for checking it out.
In this issue of our newsletter we have more pictures for your viewing pleasure. The highlight of this edition is definitely Sam’s account of his last few weeks of being on the road. His article is the most entertaining thing I’ve read in a long time, so I know you’ll love it. Our Cycling House Campers are starting to post some serious race results, so our Cycling House Camper Update section covers those success stories. Lastly, I put together a photo collection of my road trip back up to Montana, so you can get a glimpse of how I live when I’m not running The Cycling House.
The weather is finally making a turn for the better, which hopefully translates into more riding for all of you. Keep making the best of what you have and I hope you enjoy this edition of The Cycling House Circular.
Sincerely,
Owen Gue
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On the Road by Sam Schultz
I am now in the middle of my first big block of racing of the year, and I am pretty psyched to be back in the race/travel routine since it seems to keep things pretty interesting. This string of races all started with a road trip to Monterey, CA for the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race. I managed to pack all of my belongings into my brand new, ’08 team issue Subaru WRX. Included in the pack job were my three prized bikes that I fixed onto the roof rack of the new car. After getting the car just over a week before the road trip, I was pretty excited to spend a little quality time behind the wheel. After making a final check to ensure I had locked all of the doors and shut off all of the lights at The Cycling House, I paused for a second to admire how nice the new car looked with all of my sweet bikes on the roof. Little did I know that would be the last time I’d see that particular combo of bikes all in one piece…
Once I got on the road I was intent on making good time because it was a long drive. The car wanted to go really fast, but I was trying my best to keep it under 85mph because a huge ticket was the last thing that I wanted within the first two weeks of my team trusting me with my dream car that is way too fast for a 22 year old who races for a living. About an hour outside of Tucson, I heard a faint metallic “clink” on the roof. Instinctively, I glanced in my rear view mirror and what I saw shocked me. All 3 of those nice shiny bikes were flying through the air behind me, still hooked securely in the rack. I saw the whole configuration bounce once upside down and then the rack (with the bikes still attached) began sliding upright on the rack towers. I watched while it slid right into the shoulder, thinking, “dang, that was pretty sweet.” I kept driving for a second before I came to the realization, “@#$!, those are my bikes!!”
I swerved onto the shoulder, skidded to a stop, and reversed down the interstate as fast as I could. I was standing on the side of the interstate with over $18K worth of crumpled aluminum and carbon sitting next to my car, still perfectly fixed on the rack that had somehow flown off of my roof. It took a while to hit home. After a few panicked phone calls to my team manager and brother, I realized all I could really do was try to fit everything into my car and continue on my way to CA. After an hour of the most intense pack job I have ever done (under the close watch of two highway patrolmen who were way too entertained by the situation) I was back on the road. Luckily my team manager was very understanding of the incident, much of my equipment was salvageable, and I still had plenty of bikes on the team trailer to race. It even turned out that starting the trip with a serious dose of stress was not a problem since I ended up having one of the best races I’ve had. I took first place in the Sea Otter short track while Andy took last podium spot in 5th. This was the first time Andy and I have both been on the podium in a National pro mountain bike race. The next day, I took second in a hard and windy cross country race, which lasted nearly three hours. All in all, it was a great weekend of racing for both my brother and I.
Now I’m in the middle of my first European trip of the year and things are not going quite so hot over here. I had a pretty meager race in the first World Cup in Germany, a shocking reminder that World Cups are not fun when you aren’t riding as fast as you want to be. I came down with one of the most intense stomach bugs I’ve ever had after the race (I won’t go into detail but it was not pretty). I’m on the mend now, and slowly regaining my oomph. Hopefully, my energy stores will be topped off by this weekend because I’m racing another World Cup here in Madrid, Spain on Sunday. All I know is that my week’s activities have left me nice and light so hopefully I can work that to my advantage on the climbs. Either way, it’s definitely going to be interesting.
-Sam Schultz
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I hope that you enjoyed this edition of our T.C.H. Circular. Thanks for all of your support. If you have any questions or concerns regarding The Cycling House, feel free to email or call us. We’d love to hear from you! Also, for more information, check out our website. Remember, The Cycling House has the best prices on all HED racing wheels, Garmin GPS Forerunners and Edge series, and also Saris Cycleops Powertap training tools. We’re always updating it so you’ll get something new everytime you visit. Until next time, stay healthy, stay happy, and keep riding.