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BMC’s Schmatz ready to take on new challenges

By Staci Reed, VeloNews.com
Published: Dec. 11, 2007
Dan and Myriam Schmatz
Dan and Myriam Schmatz
Photo: courtesy yourbikesucks

Facing retirement can be a frightening prospect for a professional cyclist — but not for BMC rider Dan Schmatz.

The 33-year-old St. Louis native turned Coloradan is approaching the end of his six-year road-racing career. But for Schmatz, it’s just a new beginning. The coming months will bring him and his wife, Myriam, their firstborn child, as well as a new role — managing an amateur team for 2008.

Schmatz’s goal for the new THF Realty amateur team, which will consist of eight to 10 riders, is to help better prepare them for the professional circuit. The goal is not to assemble another pro team — there are plenty already out there.

Schmatz will switch from racing to mentoring in his new role as manager of the THF Realty amateur team
Schmatz will switch from racing to mentoring in his new role as manager of the THF Realty amateur team
Photo: Casey B. Gibson (file)

“The team will be made up of really talented guys that will race two or three years as amateurs and then become pro,” Schmatz said, explaining that for many amateurs it’s difficult to go from competing in a few regional NRC events to riding at big races like the Amgen Tour of California.

Schmatz experienced that transition when he became a pro in 2002, and again this year with BMC teammates who had raced a handful of regional NRC races as amateurs in 2006 and began the 2007 season riding alongside Ivan Basso and Levi Leipheimer at the Tour of California.

“It’s like starting grad school without doing undergrad first, and they suffer for a few years because of it,” he said. “My goal is to get these guys in like, nine or 10 [NRC] races so they can get to know team directors and people, and understand how things work. People don’t really understand how much networking comes into play.”

To add some experience and leadership, the team will also include the recognizable names of former pros Pete Lopinto (from Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada), Stefano Barberi (from Toyota-United) and Brian Dziewa (from Jelly Belly). As for Schmatz himself, he hasn’t committed to racing with the team.

“We’ll see,” he said. “If I am going okay and I can be an asset, I will race. Otherwise I will just race locally.”

A strong field sprinter, Schmatz compiled a long list of wins during his years on the pro circuit, including the 2003 Athens Twilight Crit while riding for 7UP-Maxxis and a stage win at the 2006 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic while riding for Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada. And though Schmatz said he enjoyed racing as a professional, he is ready to move on and help other riders achieve their own dreams.

The idea for the new team came to him while driving home from the Tour of Missouri — a race where he infamously broke his collarbone following a collision with an armadillo. With his wife pregnant, Schmatz recognized that he could no longer be away from home for long stretches. So Schmatz, who works part time as a property manager for St. Louis-based THF Realty, pitched the team-sponsorship idea to THF owner Michael Staenberg.

An avid cyclist, Staenberg has backed Schmatz’s teams since Schmatz ran the original THF Realty team in 2001 while working at Schwinn. At one level or another, Staenberg’s THF Realty sponsorship has followed Schmatz as he moved to 7UP, Health Net and Kodak Gallery. With Staenberg’s renewed commitment, the sponsorship has come full circle with a reborn THF Realty amateur squad.

Providing bikes are Orbea and Ghisallo Sports, a 5000 square-foot bike shop in St. Louis. With help from Hincapie clothing, SRAM and Denver-based wheel manufacturer ROL, Schmatz’s team is set for 2008.

“It was awesome. It all came together in about a month,” Schmatz said. “Mike and Ghisallo got me where I needed to be, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

And while his team may be a new adventure, fatherhood is the ultimate leap, he said. His wife, who was also a pro racer, is due later this month, and Schmatz said he couldn’t be more excited at the thought of greeting his baby boy, who will definitely have something with wheels under him as soon as possible.

“It’s hard to tell how being a parent will change you because you get advice from people that have kids, and they tell you what’s going to happen,” he said.

“I sort of look at it like driving. Everybody drives a car, and they can tell you how to drive, but you don’t really know until you’ve got one and you’re doing it yourself. It’s going to be really easy for me to retire from bike racing, because I’m going to be really excited to get home.”

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