Austin showed up.
The first weekend of SXSW was a massive one for cycling in Austin. Breakfast Club hosted their first group ride of the year with 1,000+ riders, RUBBER N’ ROAD took over the Meteor, and Hill Climbers brought together founders, investors, athletes, and community members across two days of conversation and riding. This was the kind of weekend that reminds us why Austin is so special.
Before we get into the recap, Devon from Kenetik is hooking up the Hill Climbers crew in case you weren’t able to get your hands on a can of Kenetik at any of the events. Use code HILLCLIMBERFAM for 20% off. It stacks with the subscription discount for anyone making it part of their routine. drinkkenetik.com/discount/HILLCLIMBERFAM
Here's a look at what went down.
Thursday lunch
Kyle Dawes (Built on Bikes) kicked off the conversation with a question that set the tone for the whole afternoon: how do we grow youth cycling? From there, Karl Pelletier (USA Cycling) and Devon Price (Kenetik) joined the dialogue alongside a room full of founders, investors, and builders. Big thanks to Startuplandia and Standard Metrics for making it happen.
Friday morning ride
30+ riders rolled out together, including Karl, Kyle, and Max Davis from RUBBER N’ ROAD. We had demos of the new Insta360 Go Ultra courtesy of Zeyu Wang. We wrapped up the ride at the Meteor with coffee and breakfast tacos compliments of Doug Zell.
Friday panel
Devon Price (Kenetik), Lucas Bourgoyne (Crit National Champion), and Karl Pelletier (USA Cycling) joined us for a live podcast recording covering their individual cycling communities, what drives them, and the role innovation plays in the sport's future. We heard Devon break down the potential of ketones as a performance tool, Lucas talk through his "wild wild west" approach to crit racing and how his time in Europe shaped it, and Karl walk through his journey to USA Cycling — including how they're leveraging data to make decisions like selecting Kristen Faulkner for the gold medal-winning Women's Team Pursuit at the 2024 Paris Olympics (crazy story!). If you weren’t able to join, we’ll be sharing the recording for subscribers soon.
Whether you were in the room or not, this is what Hill Climbers is about. Bringing the right people together and seeing what happens.
If you haven’t already, make sure you check out Kyle Dawes’ newsletter Built on Bikes: builtonbikes.substack.com
More to come. See you on the road.
Sam & the Hill Climbers Team
