Home, Sweet Home?

After closing the Cycling House, I made the drive to Durango, CO. I was in Durango long enough to unload my stuff and leave it in a friend's garage. Then it was back on the road to California where I moved into my new place for the next two weeks. I like to call it, "Andy's Pleasure Palace".


I can give you a tour if you would like, but I warn you, you're going to have to walk fast if you want to keep up, we have a lot of ground to cover. First if you look down and to your right you can see the pot and backpack stove that make up my kitchen. The front passenger seat doubles as both the dining room and the rec room. My shower consists of that red bucket and the bike wash a couple hundred yards away. And finally, that self-inflating air mattress makes up my bedroom, where the magic happens. I know, some people just have it so good. Just try to hold in your jealousy for all of our sakes.

But its not all fun and games out here. I mean I HAVE to spend all day riding trails like these


and soaking in views like these


all day long. Life is tough.

In other news, Evan is going to start racing in the Vuelta de Bisbee today and then will head over to Silver City, NM for the Tour of the Gila on Wednesday. Owen will be joing Evan down at Gila in a few days. While Evan and Owen see how fast they can get their skinny tires to spin, Sam and I will be dodging rocks, trees, and maybe even the occasional gangsta' at National Mountain Bike Series races in Santa Ynez, and L.A. It must be racing season.

Back to Montana

This is how schultz got so strong. rocks in his jersey.


This is my last sunny morning in Tucson til November. I'm flying home to Missoula, MT in about 3 hours and looking forward to it. People say I'm getting soft with this 80 degree, no cloud in the sky riding weather so I need to go train in the 40 degree snow/rain for awhile. I've always found that this kind of training gets your head back in the game. Evan and I spent the last two days moving all of our stuff out of The Cycling House. Its amazing how much stuff you aquire throughout a period of 4 months. Andy left on saturday morning for Durango and it sounds like he is getting settled in.

We did manage to go race the Arizona State Championship Crit. on saturday and Evan had an amazing race. He's going to write a race report beings that he was up there in the big finale.

For me I'll be in Missoula for a week then its off to the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico then to the Joe Martin Stage race in Arkansas. Should be some good stories coming out of both of those races and I'll do my best to keep the posts coming.

Closing Time

As the rest of the country slowly emerges from the grip of winter, Tucson has begun to enter the choke-hold of summer. With temperatures consistently topping 100 degrees, the Arizona desert is not the place to be during the summer. With this in mind, Evan, Owen and I have begun to pack up the Cycling House and make plans to head our separate ways for the summer.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to a "hotbed" of cycling, Durango, CO. I'll use Durango as my home base and race mountain bikes out of there for the summer. Evan will be hitting the road for most of the summer, promoting 53x11 Coffee at events across the U.S. Owen will be racing out of our hometown, Missoula, and joining up with Evan on the road later in the year.

I've had a great time at the Cycling House this winter. Whether its been playing a game of "Cruiser Hockey"


or watching Owen try to grow a mustache (look really hard and think black peach fuzz). "Look Andy, I'm becoming a man!" Yeah, give it a few more years before you try that again Owen


or just hanging out with a good cup of joe, I have had a good time.


For everyone who joined us at the Cycling House this winter, thanks for the good times. I hope that we helped you jump start your season and you have your best year of riding and racing yet. Keep us posted on what you are up to, either through email or just post a comment on this blog. We really would like to hear how you are doing.

For those of you who haven't been to the Cycling House, start making plans for next year. After dealing with Montana winters for the past 22 years, I can honestly say that there is no better place to train in the winter then Tucson. Whether you are a hardcore racer or you ride for fun, come let us help you have your best year on the bike yet. You can log as many miles as you want, work on your tan-lines, and unwind.


Until then, here's to a great summer of riding.

Rockstar

During my first couple of trips to Sea Otter I would spend countless hours cruising through the venue gathering as many stickers and swag as I could. Little did I know, in just a few short years, my brother would be featured on one of the posters that I use to covet.


I missed the autograph session but had I been there it might have gone something like this: "Sam I was really hoping that you might sign this poster. Yeah, you can sign it 'Andy, Owen, and Evan are cooler then Sam.' Thanks."

Our sweet new video

Wow, it's amazing what we can do with a camera and a computer. Owen, Andy and I spent the better half of the morning having fun making a coffee video. All I can say is it's in the coffee. Check it out on our home page.

Ballyhoo of Bikes

For those of you who have never attended the "Sea Otter Classic", you're missing something special.


Sea Otter takes place at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA. It hosts the full gamut of bike racing. Everything from road, to mountain bike (both XC and gravity), to adventure racing. The racing is fast and usually muddy.


The real story story takes place in the pits though. It seems as if every company that manufactures something bike related has a tent and is showcasing the latest and greatest. There are movie premiers, autograph signing sessions, and free swag galore. You can think of it as Interbike for the public.


This year's XC field consisted of several former World Champions, one current World Champ, and numerous National Champions. There were riders all the way from Switzerland, Australia, and Great Britain. The finishing straight of XC course.


The Schultz Brothers represented with both of us in the top 20. While this is the most international field that I will see all year, Sam is off to Belgium on Thursday to race against the best in the world at the first World Cup in Houffalize. Wish him luck.

Race report

Sunday was the last stage of the Tucson Bicycle classic. With the bad luck I had the day before I really wanted to win this stage. The coarse was suited for my riding style as there we some good climbs. The race leader, a friend of mine told, me that if a break went up the road with no GC contenders in it, they would let it go. That's all I needed to hear.
We rolled out for a 50 mile race with the wind starting to howl. Within 15 min I found myself in a great move off the front with 6 other strong riders. We pushed hard and opened up a good gap of about 2 minutes or so. I was feeling really good and the finishing stretch was uphill and perfect for me to try to win. At one point our gap grew to around 3 minutes. I figured this was good enough to stick throughout the day.
With three laps remaining our gap was coming down fast. I wasn't really expecting the main field to be chasing as all the top GC contenders were in that main group watching eachother. The next time gap I heard was 1 min 20 seconds. I knew they were chasin hard and I was getting nervous. It turns out the race leader cracked and everyone was going balistic attacking and trying to get away to make up time. This was bad for our group.
With 3 laps left a group of 14 riders bridged up to us. All of these riders having fresh legs. As soon as they caught our group the attcks started. At this point my legs were feeling fried. I tried my hardest to stay with the new group , but couldn't. I blew and I blew hard. I finished the race 7 minutes back from winner.
I felt good about going for it, even though things didn't work out in my favor. There's a sense of satisfaction when you put it all on the line. Most guys in a race never know this. I've raced both ways, but always feel better going out with a bang. Maybe next time it'll work out. Next weekend is another race and another opportunity. Wish us luck. Until then, ride hard!

Coffee and Racing

Getting up at 4 am makes for a long day. That's what we did yesterday. We are sponsoring a local stage race here in Tucson and part of the deal was to provide coffee to the riders. But we also wanted to race the event. We were up at 4am brewing coffee, on the road by 5am, and racing in the middle of the desert by 11am. It made for a very very long day. Everyone was jacked to see the 53x11coffee crew at the race site offering piping hot Chain Breaker, Big Ring , and The Early Break coffee. Most of the Tucson riders know about the coffee and are big fans so they were happy to see us. The race was on a grueling 6 mile circuit with three killer climbs in it. Doing this race feeling fresh is one thing, but to do this after getting up at 4am is another.

Some where on the 2nd lap my rear wheel came loose in the dropouts and started rubbing the frame. After getting dropped on the 2nd climb I looked down to notice the wheel rubbing the frame. I jumped off the bike to fix it, my chain fell off, I struggled to get things going. I had these thoughts going through my head of the Kona Iron man Champ yelling at his bike. I felt like doing the same. He is German, I forget his name but it was pretty funny. He's yelling ( I'VE GOT NO POWER, I'VE GOT NO POWER). That's just how I felt.

But this is a stage race and in order to race the follwing day, you must finish each stage. So I rode 65 miles and 10 more laps solo. It sucked, but I did it. I finished, recovered and slept good. I'm up this morning drinking some Big Ring and planning how I'm going to win todays stage. It's new new day and after yesterday it should be easy. What doesn't kill ya just makes you stonger. Check back later for todays stage. Evan

CleanUp

We have been working hard on starting up our 53x11 CleanUp crew. Its easy to join and you can help make a difference. Clean up your favorite road or trail for a little while atleast once a month and you can be part of our CleanUp crew. I want to get pictures of our members and the places that they are working on so we can all see how beatiful some of these areas are. You also get some coffee and bottles for the effort. Email me if you want to join.

We are in our last week of running The Cycling House and it has been a great winter. I am going back up to Missoula, Montana, Andy is making his way to Durago, CO and I think Evan will be in California for a little bit. Montana is a great place to be in the summers but not too great being a cyclist there in the winter.

For us, its time to go ride up lemmon.

The Circus comes to Town

What's better then doing a short track mountain bike race at night under the lights?

How 'bout doing the race with a cheer squad dedicated to cheering for you and your brother.

The 53x11 Coffee Cheer Squad of Owen, Evan, and Alison were out in force for the first "National Mountain Bike Series" short track of the year in Phoenix, AZ. While I never saw them during the race due to being blinded by all the dust and bright lights, I definitely heard them every lap. I have actually never heard anyone cheer that loud at a bike race. This shirt says it all.

And Sam really gave them something to cheer for. He rode with the big boys (aka the top racers in North America) for the entire race and ended up in 4th. He is the baby-faced one to the far left.

Incidentally, this isn't the first time the kid has been on the podium at a NMBS race. He took care of that during his first year as a pro, before he could legally go to a rated R movie.

The Schultz Dynasty

So who are these Schultz brothers anyway? We are a couple of mountain bikers hailing from Missoula, MT racing on the professional cross-country mountain bike circuit. I'm the older (23), wiser version of Sam, while Sam (21) is the skinnier, faster version of me. I was the 2005 U23 National Champion and Sam will ride in the stars and stripes this year as the current U23 National Champ. Sam currently rides for one of the premier mountain bike teams in the country, the Subaru Gary Fisher team and resides at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. I am currently living in Tucson, AZ and riding on the Bear Naked/Cannondale Mountain Bike Team. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

I can't believe that Owen and Evan asked ME to contribute to their blog. Here is Sam's best side. What is he doing anyway?

By now you may be wondering what our connection is with 53x11 Coffee? When Sam and I first started to race mountain bikes as juniors, Evan was one of the hot-shot mountain bikers in Montana. He was a hero and mentor to both Sam and I. In high school, Sam and I met Owen, who is the same age as us, and trained with him on the road bike. Now, I'm living with Evan and Owen in Tucson.

As for life advice, I try to heed the words of Dwight Schrute from the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company, "Whenever I'm about to do something, I think 'would an idiot do that?' and if they would, I do not do that thing."

While our focus is on the mountain bike, and we don't quite have the big 53x11 gear ratio that a road bike does, we still love to pin it just as much as you. While we might not be able to pedal quite as fast, keep in mind that when we pin it we are doing it over rocks and roots and through trees. We hope that you will occasionally pour yourself a cup of the Big Ring and join us as we share our experiences from the coast of California, to Patagonia Mountains in South America to the cobbles of Belgium, and beyond.

Hello all

Hey this is Evan here. We now have a cool blog to talk about cycling, training and COFFEE. So what's new with 53x11coffee. Well we are looking into a RV for some traveling to events and doing coffee samplings. We are really excited about this and it would be a big step for us. If things work out you'll see the 53x11coffee bus at some of the larger cycling and triathlon events around the country. We'll keep you posted. We now have a spot on the website for the 53x11 clean up crew. This is something we feel strongly about. It's all about keeping your favorite roads clean. We are dedicating a few days a month to get out on our favorite cycling roads to pick up trash. Go to the website for more info. Besides this, it's getting very hot here in Tucson. Things are winding down for the cycling house training camp. It's been a great winter and we enjoyed all the company. That's all for now. Evan

New 53x11 Coffee blog

53x11 Coffee blog is up and running!