Sam Schultz

  
  


Date of Birth: December 11, 1985
Height: 6'1"/1.8m
Weight: 155 lbs./70 kg./11.0 st.
Place of Birth: Missoula, Montana
Hometown: Missoula, Montana
Residence: Missoula, Montana
Teams: Subaru-Trek
Website: sam.schultzbrothersracing.com

UCI World Championships Results

  • Nine-time World Championship team member, 2003-2011
  • 35th place — 2011 UCI Mountain Bike  World Championships, Champery, Switzerland — cross-country
  • 3rd place — 2007 Mountain Bike World Championships, Fort William, Scotland — team relay

National Championship Experience

  • 4th place — 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, Sun Valley, Idaho — short track cross-country
  • 2nd place — 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, Sun Valley, Idaho — cross-country
  • 1st place — 2006 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, Mount Snow, Vermont — U23 cross-country

Career Highlights

  • 10th place - 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Windham, NY - cross-country
  • 20th place - 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada - cross-country
  • 20th place - 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic - cross-country
  • 15th place — 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic — cross-country

Points of Interest

  • After three attempts to get him talking about his points of interest, Sam confessed that coming up with anything interesting about him was killing him. In fact, he suggested that he must not be very interesting but you may disagree. According to Sam, other than riding his bike, he's really into hiking, "peakbagging," backpacking and backcountry skiing.

Personal

Sometime in the late 90's, somewhere in Montana, 13-year-old Sam Schultz entered a mountain bike race that kicked off a season that felt like torture, as he recalls it. Unfortunately, that first race happened to be the last one of the season, which forced the impatient teen to endure a snowy Montana winter biding his time while waiting for race season to heat back up. When the snow finally melted and it was time to race again, Sam talked his parents into taking him to local and regional races where, apparently, he did well enough to convince them that he had a future in mountain bike racing. When Sam was 15, the Schultz family traveled to Monterey, Calif. from their home in Missoula, Mont. so that Sam could compete at the Sea Otter Classic, one of the oldest and largest national events in North American mountain bike racing.
 
Later Sam believed that he could make the Junior World Championship team at 18 and lucky for him, so did his parents and the community of Missoula, who supported Sam in his goal to go to Worlds. As a result, Sam received a call from USA Cycling's mountain bike development coordinator at the time, Matt Cramer, who asked Sam if he was interested in riding for USA Cycling's brand new National Mountain Bike Development program.


Sam moved to Colorado Springs right after high school to train all his efforts on chasing a dream to race full time. He spent three years riding for the national program where he was afforded unparalleled opportunities to race and - in his words - unmatched support in the name of development while getting crushed at World Cup races.

Sam also has something else that few racers at his level have: a brother who races mountain bikes with equal passion. In addition to supporting his younger brother's career, Andy Schultz, dispenses sound advice at the right moment and keeps Sam motivated, even when things are less-than-ideal.
 
Of course not every day as a pro racer is perfect and one of the most valuable skills an athlete can have is to learn how to manage disappointment. Like any professional athlete, Sam has had awful days but because of these, he now knows how to recognize the highs as well as cope with the lows.

"I think trying to keep everything in perspective and making sure to maintain a healthy balance are the most important ways to keep the lows in check," he said. "While obviously mountain biking means a lot to me and I take it very seriously, it is still important to remember that, at the end of the day, no matter how much is at stake I'm really just riding bikes around in circles. Remembering to keep it fun is incredibly important. I have discovered that the more fun I am having the faster I ride. I'm not sure exactly how that works out, but I like it and I'm not going to argue with it."