Bronze for USA at the UCI Track World Championships

Last April, I met Team USA cyclist Anders Johnson at the Sea Otter Classic expo in Monterey, California. Of course I would be excited to have him in our shoes - particularly since our customer base is mostly triathletes and I was eager to start making a push towards cyclists as well. I fitted him with a pair at our booth and asked for him to get in touch with any feedback he might have. Over the next several months, we went back and forth to get the sizing perfect, make sure the shoes were up to the insane stresses of a world-class standing start and get them tested when the team spent several days in the state-of-the-art wind tunnel at Silverstone.

After the wind tunnel testing, Anders got in touch and told me we had won out in the tunnel and he would be using them at the US Elite National Championships. Months later I would hear from others who were present at the test that they had been astonished at the aerodynamic advantage they measured. At nationals, Anders won two golds, a silver and a bronze and was officially on his way to the World Championships in the Team and Individual Pursuit events.

The governing body of international elite cycling is the Union Cycliste Internationale, or the UCI. They are famous for banning new and innovative equipment and had banned aerodynamically designed shoes in the past such as the Bont Crono. While I was sure that an fair judgement of our shoes against the written rules of the UCI should lead to our approval, the organization is not known for consistently applying rules to different kinds of equipment or from different manufacturers. This year they have banned almost all handlebars used in the pro peloton, gearing ratios manufactured by one company, certain kinds of wheels, helmet visors and more. Many people believed we would be banned. For Anders' submission to the UCI commissars, we worked out the language to include, based on the exact phrasing written in their rules and their further explanation of their rules and how that applied to the design of the shoe. I tried to maintain a stoic attitude towards their coming decision, knowing that there was no more I could do about it and either it would work out or it wouldn't. I was making plans on how to try to turn a rejection into a PR win.... And then we were accepted.

For the first time, our shoes would be used in a UCI World Championship. While we had been on the biggest triathlon stages in the world before, this was our first time in the cycling big leagues. The first event for Anders was the team pursuit, where two teams of 4 riders start on either side of the track and ride 4km as fast as they can to either catch the team in front of them or complete the distance in the shortest time. The USA finished in fourth, just 1 second behind New Zealand in 3rd - a fantastic result! Finally came the individual pursuit, where Anders made it to the bronze medal round against Australia's James Moriarty. A fantastic start had Anders out to a 2 second lead at 1000m. By the line at 4000m, Anders won with a 2.5 second margin!

Anders' positive attitude, dedication to excellence, analysis and attention to detail has put him among the very best in the world. I'm humbled to have been able to get a small amount of insight into what goes in to creating this kind of athletic success and to have played a small role. I look forward to the future!