Last week Kyle Dawes wrote about our SXSW events and experiences in his Built on Bikes newsletter. We’re passing along excerpts because Kyle articulated our mission to bring people together and the subsequent opportunity to support US cycling far better than we can. We love Built on Bikes and think you should subscribe to Kyle’s Substack: 

Subscribe to Built on Bikes for the full write-up, which includes a vignette on Austin that is not included below.

Thank you, Kyle!

Sam Huntington
[email protected]

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The driving force behind all of these events is Hill Climbers, a business network built around cycling. Founded in 2023, the Austin-based group is led by Sam Huntington and Stephen Cunningham. What started as a cycling podcast has since grown into a community of professionals united by a shared passion for the sport.

Hill Climbers’ goal is to promote and grow cycling by connecting people through networking events that bring professionals together, particularly those with influence in the cycling community. Since its founding, Hill Climbers has expanded from podcasting to regularly hosting investor events, live panel discussions that draw large crowds, and a weekly networking ride.

Sam was an early supporter of Built on Bikes, and we always intended to connect. As our schedules got busier, that conversation didn’t happen until a few months ago when Sam called to tell me about an investor lunch he was planning at SXSW.

Our shared passion was immediately obvious, and it made sense why he chose to reach out. Sam knew that I regularly write about the need for outside industries to invest in cycling in order to build deeper development pipelines in the United States. His vision for the event was to bring together venture investors, founders, and cycling industry professionals, including members of USA Cycling.

I will get into the details of the events shortly, but first I want to highlight the diversity of people who were in the room. On one end of the spectrum you had individuals whose full-time job is to grow cycling in the US. On the other, venture investors operating at the cutting edge of their industries, founders of brands with no prior connection to cycling, and even a few guests who weren’t cyclists at all. And somewhere in the middle, me, a passionate fan who happens to share his opinions on the internet.

For the majority of attendees, cycling was the common thread, and as I will describe, that created a uniquely dynamic environment that led to genuinely constructive conversations with real, actionable outcomes. I will circle back to Hill Climbers, but first let me provide some additional context on why the trip reaffirmed my hope for growing cycling domestically.

It is common knowledge in the business world that transactions and deals are far easier to close when both parties share a common interest. The classic example is that a lot of business gets done on the golf course, and that is for a mainstream sport with a broad audience. So how does the same dynamic apply to cycling? It makes the connection even stronger.

When I write about the need to convince non-endemic sponsors and wealthy individuals to invest in the sport domestically, this is exactly the kind of dynamic I am talking about. People are far more likely to open their wallets for someone they trust and share a niche interest with. And if there is one thing you need to know about cyclists, it is that we will not shut up about bikes. We can talk about them all day.

Hill Climbers recognizes this and is growing its reach by bringing together people from unique backgrounds that fit together like puzzle pieces, each one a potential building block for something that could meaningfully grow the sport in the United States. I believe I saw proof of concept at the events I attended in Austin.

The first event I attended was one I would also be participating in: a small lunch with investors, founders, and representatives from USA Cycling. There were even a few guests who were not cyclists, which made for a useful gauge of how well these ideas might resonate with a general, non-cycling audience.

Sam was gracious enough to give me the floor to share some remarks on what I have been writing about, mainly the case for private investment in domestic development pipelines. The conversation was strengthened considerably by the presence of USA Cycling Chief of Staff Karl Pelletier.

One area of focus was the opportunity to grow the sport through women’s cycling. For the non-cyclists in the room, attention sharpened when Karl told the story of Kristin Faulkner and Team USA winning gold at the Paris Olympics. In short, USA Cycling used AI and complex modeling to inform race strategy, ultimately determining that Kristin had a statistically significant chance of winning gold in the road race. They did the math, and it paid off.

The story landed immediately with a room full of venture investors. Beyond the technical appeal, it doubled as a classic underdog story with the kind of patriotism that only Olympic sport can produce.

No commitments were made during the lunch, but that was never the point. By facilitating that conversation, Hill Climbers planted the seed that cycling can be genuinely exciting and helped educate an important audience on why investment in the sport matters. It felt like proof of concept to me: that we can absolutely convey the importance of development and spread the vision of a more competitive cycling scene in the United States.

As mentioned earlier, Hill Climbers also hosted a live panel podcast featuring Karl, Devon, and Lucas. This is not a new format for Hill Climbers, as they have produced multiple live panel events that consistently draw large audiences. Friday night was no exception. On what could have easily been a quiet evening, Sam and his team drew a packed crowd eager to listen and engage in conversation about the state of cycling in the United States.

The panel could not have represented more different backgrounds, but once again, a shared passion for cycling and endurance sport tied everything together in a way that felt completely natural. Every panelist brought something distinct to the discussion, and the audience could relate to and draw insight from each of them. Beyond the formal discussion itself, the time before and after the panel was filled with organic networking that felt effortless rather than forced.

I am naturally a somewhat shy person, but the room was incredibly welcoming and produced the easiest networking environment I have ever been a part of. Even guests who could not directly contribute to specific initiatives often knew someone who could, and they were genuinely happy to make the connection.

If Hill Climbers and the broader cycling community keep the momentum going with events like these, I believe we will achieve real progress in US cycling development by consistently connecting the right people and facilitating the right conversations.

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Ride and rip,
Kyle Dawes (Built on Bikes)

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