Hill Climbers

Send us Fan Mail The Austin meetup that started 4 years ago with 4 friends who mostly wanted to eat breakfast, has uncovered a need in this sport to encourage newcomers with a warm welcome and a bit of structure. The proof is in the monthly attendance, which has reached 800 riders of all skill levels, as well as the thriving online community and expansion to other cities. What outwardly appears to...

Send us Fan Mail Eric Schlange is one of the most well known Zwift riders on the platform, and he comes to the notoriety honestly. When Eric started Zwifting in 2015, the engineer and web master immediately identified a need for a Zwift knowledge base to address the nuances of riding in the brave new virtual world. Exponential traffic growth led to an official Zwift sponsorship, cementing Zwift In...

Send us Fan Mail Mikey Thompson is hard to miss in Austin’s endurance community because he’s everywhere at once as a core member of the Breakfast Club cycling group and longtime High Five events associate, which organizes Austin’s major endurance events. You’ll immediately notice Mikey’s bubbly personality and the sparkle in his eye, which is partially due to his battle with pediatric cancer and t...

Send us Fan Mail Our branding was borrowed from Sub Zero, THE preeminent Philadelphia skate shop of the 90s, where I spent a lot of time and a little money when I was a kid. The shop’s owner, and one of my childhood heroes, was kind enough to give me his blessing for the logo AND to share his incredible story. Schane Von Hartleben started Sub Zero as a response to his passion for skateboarding, a...

Send us Fan Mail If you’re racing bikes in Austin, TX, welcome to Tolleywood. The timing of this episode could not be more opportune given the slate of projects Chris Tolley has planned for 2024, and what I love most about this race promoter, is that he understands the value of branding, not just for individual races but for the sport of cycling on the whole. Chris’s background is firmly entrenche...

Send us Fan Mail Interview Part 2/2 takes all the context that we collected in Part 1 - Doug's upbringing in a creative household, brief flirtation with a serious cycling career, and epic journey pioneering the craft coffee industry - and gets to the good part. That is, how Doug rediscovered bikes after a decades long hiatus and hatched a brand that blends his flare for hospitality into a cyc...

Send us Fan Mail Doug Zell is the cofounder of various businesses including Intelligentsia Coffee , Allied Cyle Works , and of course, The Meteor , where you can find him fastidiously attending to the smallest details of the cafe, bike shop and wine bar. What unfolds in part 1 of our 2 part interview, is a story about racing bikes in the midwest in the 80s, pioneering the modern coffee industry in...

Send us Fan Mail Instead of taking a well beaten path after attending UT Austin, Caitlin Cash taught English in France and Thailand, but her travels did not stop there. For the next 5 years she guided cycling tours all over the world and upon her return to Austin, she took up bike racing, but she also yearned for the sweet and refreshing Milk Tea she enjoyed in Thailand on hot days, so she set abo...

Send us Fan Mail What started in 2017 with casual Sunday rides from a Philadelphia neighborhood barbershop has become an internationally recognized cycling club and brand called, KRT , short for Kings Rule Together. As co-founder, Curran J. Swint, emphasizes, the club makes waves because it chronicles the lifestyles of chronically under-represented riders. The fresh content and positive energy ref...

Send us Fan Mail Nick Weber fell in love with Texas crit racing as a young man and his extraordinary commitment to training made him a contender in the competitive and dangerous arena. This dedication pushed Nick's heart over the limit while making a dig during a practice race—at 22 years old, Nick suffered Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), which is a tear in the heart's art...

Send us Fan Mail Four friends at different stages of life bond over triathalon and bikes, and share a real passion for bringing people together. They’re NOT hardcore roadies and so identify a gap in the Austin cycling community— accessible rides that welcome veterans and newcomers equally . The point and message is not just to bury yourself in a workout then go home (the norm), but to enjoy being...