Richard Sachs Gets ‘Cross
Mr. Atmo
It’s been a little while since we last spoke to Richard and with ‘Cross Nats just around the corner, it seemed a fine time to catch up about all things ‘cross.
RKP: Richard, you’ve been racing on the road since Sean Kelly was a junior, yet you turned to cyclocross relatively recently and quickly became a big convert. What brought this about?
RS: I don’t think “recently” is accurate. I was at the World’s in London’s Crystal Palace in 1973 when Eric De Vlaeminck won his seventh title and also witnessed the first-ever USA team compete in what was the amateur event earlier in the day. I was hooked then!
RKP: You’ve been legendary in New England for sponsoring racers over the years. How many years have you supported a team of some sort?
RS: As a sponsor, I started doing a ‘cross thing in the middle 1990s as part of the NECSA Junior Development program that I was a bicycle supplier to. The success of that spawned some relationships that took my commercial and benevolent interests to the next level by 1998 or so. I was having more fun in the ‘cross environment than I can recall ever having on the road. The people, the venues, the racing, the time of the year—all of it drew me in and I have never left!
For the record, the Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team as presently known it began 12 years ago. On the road side, the sponsorship program that launched all of this in the early 1980s ended by 2003.
Matt “Pookums” Kraus
RKP: You’ve sponsored some big names in cyclocross including Jonathan Page and Adam Myerson. How is it that you came to sponsor such accomplished athletes as these and others?
RS: I have never recruited a rider. Both of these cats you name approached me. In 1999 if I recall the chronology correctly, Jonathan called from the airport on his way to spend the several months in Germany. His was a comeback of sorts since he was away one full season focusing on off-road with the Diamondback team. He had no ride for 1999 and took a chance to call me. I said “yes” after thinking about it for a day or so. We Fedexed him a box with two frames, kits, and whatever we had to offer. I first saw him later that year when he arrived home for the Natz in KC, the winter storm event that no one will ever forget, due to the conditions.
Adam’s was a different story and his began in 1996. He approached me at the Tour of Somerville regarding a ‘cross sponsorship. It was a privateer thing, separate from what I was doing with NECSA. The liaison was a complete success from the start. Adam was the consummate pro and marketer. He knew at an early age what the sponsor-racer relationship entailed and gave more than good value for all involved. After two seasons sponsoring Adam alone, we rolled his situation into the NECSA fold for another season or so.
For the record, Adam was our team’s and our brand’s first-ever National Champion (Collegiate Men) and Jonathan, three years after he first signed with us, became our fifth or sixth Stars and Stripes winner with a superb ride at Napa.
Josh Dillon
RKP: You’re a one-man shop and pay another guy (Joe Bell) to actually paint your frames. Your wait list will outlast the Obama administration and you aren’t taking new orders. Why persist in sponsoring racers if it isn’t really going to contribute to your bottom line? Is this your version of tithing?
RS: I started a team sponsorship program in 1983 and haven’t taken a break from the sport since. At the front end, I sponsored because I was once sponsored. It’s as simple as that. Through all the years, all of the riders, all the sponsors who have helped along the way and have ultimately moved on, one constant is that I continue to support a team because when I was a serious racer (on the road) I had the good fortune of receiving support. There’s no reason to think about it more deeply than that atmo.
RKP: Let’s take a moment to talk about your team’s resume. Would you please refresh my memory of all the big wins and epic performances riders have delivered aboard your frames?
RS: Regarding ‘cross, I am fond of summoning up the fact that we (not me, the team…) have won ten National Championships since 1997. Several were U23 events, some were Juniors, one was a Women’s 30-34 race, several were at the Collegiate level, and one was Page’s win in the Elite Men’s division. I am going by memory now, but I think RS ‘Cross Team riders have raced at the World Championships at least eight different times. Actually, with regard to wins and epic performances, these are and have always been the icing on the cake. My first, last, and in between laundry lists for the sport, the support, and for the riders involved are, 1) represent the sponsors superbly well, 2) do everything it takes in a four month period to make great memories so that, down the road, we all look at each venue, and every weekend and wish we could bottle it all and make it last forever, and 3) help our fellow team mates achieve as many personal racing goals as possible.
(For background read this: http://rscyclocross.blogspot.com/2009/09/19-september-2009-memo-to-richard-sachs.html).
RKP: But it doesn’t end there does it? Judging from your team newsletters, you have been delivering some spankings to the other old guys in New England. You’ve had a good season this year, no?
RS: Results-wise, this has been our deepest season yet. Personally, my goals for 2009 were to race well at all the venues that were priorities for the team. These include the UCI races, the USGP events, and the Verge Points series here in the northeast. I also want a top ten at the Natz in Bend. So far I have won five times—Grenogue, twice at the USGP in Trenton, and then another two times at the NACT races in Southampton, New York. In the Verge Points series I have hovered between third and fifth all season and the last two events are this weekend. On the national level, in the USA Cycling Men’s Masters Cyclocross Rankings, I recently fell from first to fourth in all riders between the ages of 30 and 99, but still have a decent lead in the 55-59 grouping in which I mostly compete. And what can I say about Pookums, a.k.a. Matt Kraus? He was second at the Natz in 2008 in the Masters 35-39 division and finally, after a good long career in the Elites, decided to focus on age-graded racing. Matt has won a bunch so far this fall and is on track for another high finish in Oregon. Dan Timmerman and Josh Dillon are also on their games this season and the long term results speak to that. They are leading the Verge Series in first and second overall, and Dan also is in fifth place in the USA Cycling’s standings for those Elite Men racing in events on the Cyclocross National Calendar. Dan has won at least four UCI events and between him and Josh, the pair has podiumed at least seven times. Will Dugan, reigning 2009 Collegiate National Champion, is also having another fine year with us with many top tens going back to early September. Will’s focus for ‘cross includes parsing out his efforts and using the Natz as the Golden Fleece for the season, after which he’ll start life as a pro roadie with Team Type One. His first training camp with them comes within ten days of the races in Bend next weekend!
Some Links:
http://crossresults.com/?n=results&sn=verge&series=V09+55%2BMen
http://crossresults.com/?n=results&sn=verge
http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=4550
Will Dugan
RKP: From the photos I’ve seen, your team travels together pretty much, even parking together at the races. It’s a pretty tight-knit bunch it seems. How deliberate is this on your part?
RS: Yes, it’s all part of the plan. The deal is this: we’re a bunch of pals who race. We race hard and often, and our priorities have become the UCI level events. We travel well, stay together, share lots of mid-week emails and laughs, and live for the weekend. ‘Cross fukcing rules atmo, and all that. We’re more like an extended family, a troupe, a private club, a cabal—I could go on….
RKP: You parted ways some weeks back with upcoming talent Amy Dombroski. She says she left the team, but rider contracts normally require agreement from the sponsor as well. I was blown away that anyone would want to leave such a successful formation. Why did she leave?
RS: I initially heard from Amy in the summer of 2007 when she asked for a spot on the RS ‘Cross Team. We had a full roster by that point so I declined. She asked a second time this past May and I thought it could be a good fit, particularly because we had no representation in the women’s field. We went back and forth on how the program works, what the schedule includes, and she was on board with us by late June.
I maintain contact with the riders on the team electronically. Countless emails and phone conversations are exchanged with all members of the team leading up to September, and everyone is CC’d on everything. All know full well by the summer what the plan is for the fall. We are a fully sponsored, soup-to-nuts team and completely looked after by a host of industry suppliers. For the sake of transparency, I should mention here that Amy refused to use the wheels the rest of us were racing (as well as winning on) at all. After agonizing over this very difficult situation that began before ‘Cross Vegas and having to repeatedly address this issue for over a month, I gave Amy an ultimatum: She could either comply with the standards we have in writing and each agreed to way back in June, or all liaisons with my team and its support system would end immediately.
After exhaustive exchanges about stationary weight versus rolling weight, chats about commitment and integrity, and doing all I could to pacify the needs of the sponsorship program without actually going Jersey on one of my riders, I accepted a compromise from Amy. She asked me if I could buy some wheels (from the sponsor) that she deemed light enough to pass her smell test. I ordered two sets of these wheels, delivered them to her in time for USGP in Kentucky, and was happy to see that she podiumed there that weekend. As I routinely do, I spammed out all the pic links to my sponsors on Monday. Cole was ecstatic to hear the news. Finally, after over a month of excuses about the wheels and the brand, she (Amy) finally had a set of Cole wheels in her frame at a race. I’ll add here that, despite Amy’s assertion that her Cole wheels would make her uncompetitive, she had never even USED Cole wheels up until the USGP in Kentucky—or so I thought. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that all of this revolves around a judgment call about some parts that were never ever pedaled.
But I digress. Upon spamming out the pics I zeroed in on an image or three and realized that these were not Cole wheels at all. After receiving the very wheels Amy asked me to get so that this unfortunate chapter would sink into the past, she took the stickers off the rims and applied them to whatever she was using all along. When I called her to the mat on this, she apologized and admitted to the deception. There’s more to it than I can write here, and all of it is tethered to what I consider a complete lack of respect for a system of support that works extremely well. I thought the ordeal, especially after all the excuses I had to make for her, and all the hand-holding that occurred—after all of this, the relabeling debacle was a major league slap in the face atmo. That’s when I decided to open a window and ask her to come in and fulfill the obligations we all made to each other in the summer, or leave through it.
Looking back on the situation, the issues, the arrogance, and the cavalier attitude that I was met with through every conversation I had with her regarding the wheels and related stuff—it was a very bad rider-sponsor relationship. I have to take blame and responsibility for some of it because I could have been more direct about the wheel thing as soon as I sensed there was a problem. I hoped it would right itself with some prodding, peer pressure, and some long race weekends where the team’s energy would somehow communicate that her choices and actions were wrong and counterproductive. That it lasted until mid October will always be on my conscience because I believed we had a good solid foundation of support and trust, and were well on the way to becoming friends in addition to being teammates. And I’ll further qualify that by adding that, in all of my years running a team, I have never had a bad rider-sponsor relationship.
RKP: Couldn’t re-decaling a set of wheels (or any other component) make you look bad to your sponsor, maybe even endanger your relationship with that sponsor?
RS: Without even getting into the ethics of it or what goes on in behind-the-scenes deals made in other levels of the sport, using any part or component that isn’t supplied by a team sponsor (all parts and suppliers being in place and fully committed by the early Summer before each season begins) is not allowed. Except for this 2009 situation, it has been not an issue that has reared its head in our midst. And, to make it worse than worse, to do a relabeling gig after all the meetings we had about brand loyalty, commitment, and integrity, reflects a character trait that I do not wish to associate with personally or professionally.
RKP: So are you saying Dombroski was willing to risk sponsorship of the entire team just to have what she believed would make the difference in winning?
RS: Yes.
RKP: Do you give your riders any latitude about what equipment they use or do you specify everything?
RS: I don’t have to. We are a fully supported and sponsored team with every single part supplied by a long term industry brand name. We race on SRAM drivetrains, Oval Concepts stems, ‘bars, and seat posts, Cane Creek headsets and cantis, Cole Wheels, Crank Brothers pedals, Selle San Marco saddles, Wippermann chains, Clement tires, wearing Verge kits, Rudy Project helmets and eyewear, and most of us using Northwave shoes.
RKP: Has anyone complained before?
RS: To me—only Amy
To others—only Amy as far as I know.
RKP: ‘Cross Nats are coming up. You will be facing riders that you haven’t raced against this season. Any guys out there have you concerned?
RS: Will, Josh, Dan, Matt, and myself have all been in fields this year that have the best from the categories we race within. We have at least five wins in UCI races, countless podiums and top tens, Matt has won several Masters 35+ events, and I have won five 55+ races All of us are in very good shape and extremely motivated. Atmo the Natz will be just another day at the office.
RKP: Care to make any predictions about how your team members will go in their races?
RS: We’ll finish the season as we began it: representing all of our sponsors and suppliers in the best manner possible and continue giving good brand. We’ll use the last two weekends to crowd in many more memories that will carry us through the off-season months, and we’ll be there for each other another 20 days or so to ensure that we all get as close as possible to meeting our personal goals for ‘cross.
In-the-trenches images courtesy Anthony Skorochod, CyclingCaptured.com
“In the end, it culminated with me re-decaling a non-sponsor item, with the sponsor sticker,” Dombroski confessed. “To Richard’s credit, he did not feel I was truly representing the sponsor if I was not using the equipment. Perhaps this loyalty is something we should all learn from.”
End of story, methinks.
Maybe she didn’t like the way he talked to her…..not the kind of thing you can say publicly. I read the email exchange and if someone spoke to me in that tone I’d push back too. God only knows how the phone conversations sounded. Boss is not ruler….and money is not everything.
Simply sounded more like she’s prefer to be sponsorless than put up with something???? No one is that stupid…so I’ll have to guess there is more to the story from her perspective.
But hell it’s all speculations right.
the rider and none sponsored component issue used to drive me crazy. There are few exceptions which were made due to injury related problems. But not using the sponsors kit compromises it for all. Look at Sven Njis he’s had some iffy products to use, heavy wheels etc (obviously not the bike) and its never stopped him being very fast. Speed for many riders is in the mind and not in the legs.
I don’t get how people can’t understand the proportion thing. Women use a smaller basketball and are different than men both weight and strength. She weighs nothing. Maybe your idea of ALL is more exclusive than you realize. Sometimes exceptions are made to be inclusive and allow for differences……and if you are unwilling to see the necessity of her issues, by being able to think and realize she’s not a boy and to stop comparing her to and treating her like one. Then I believe she did the correct thing for herself both mentally and for the legs. Maybe the means were not perfect though when it’s your livelihood and time is more important than trying to enlighten someone who’s not getting it. Then I have room for misbehavior – Greater good.
Of course it could have played out better and it’s a hit to the sponsors and the athlete. But these are real issues that need to be examined more closely, and with greater care. Both side were right and both sides were wrong.
There are several elements at work here.
Firstly, Richard Sachs is a sponsor of this website, true? If this is the case, as it appears, it’s another prime example of Mr. Sachs’ opinions, ideas and overly-inflated ego having the pulpit and the pew to spew his words, which, when the fix is in, become Gospel according the the Book of Cronyisn. In summary, Mr. Sachs, in his metro-New York fashion, uses passive-aggressive techniques, honed decades ago, to chip away, sweetly smear and snidely insult a former member of his team, Ms. Amy Dombroski.
There is talk that Mr. Sachs broke a rule of common, internet decency and posted personal emails pertaining to Ms. Dombroski; Sachs ought to do the thing he does (fairly) well and that’s simply make bikes. Since his frame building career is near it’s end, he’d do well to pretend he’s a noob frame builder, set aside his unbalanced ego for a reality check and understand that without a girl in a bikini using binoculars to radio-in his opponent’s poker cards, he’s just another fat cat sitting poolside, losing his reputation, his money while getting sunburned. Gentlemen’s rules, Goldfinger.
The ‘interview’ begins with the name of a Cycling God, Sean Kelly. “Richard, you’ve been racing on the road since Sean Kelly was a junior, yet you turned to cyclocross relatively recently and quickly became a big convert. What brought this about?” and this has not been addressed. Who, what, why, where, when and if should Richard Sachs’ name ever, ever, ever be mentioned in the same sentence as Sean Kelly? Christ. Sean Kelly? I mean all of us watched Neil Armstrong land on the moon, but that along with all the tea in China should never associate our names with NASA, even if we work for Spacely Space Sprockets as engineers; Mr. Sachs, I served with Sean Kelly, knew Sean Kelly, Sean Kelly was a friend of mine and you sir are no Sean Kelly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI
But carry on. It’s what you do. It’s who you are. It’s not about the bike. It’s not even about your bike atmo. It’s about the ego, arrogance attempting to fill-in the missing spokes on one man’s wheel.
To the ‘interviewer’ and Mr. Sachs, let’s all agree on this…Ms. Dombroski’s cycling career shows more promise than Sachs’ ever did. I tip my Giro Atmos off to Ms. Dombrowski, a young lady whose watts and promising future in the sport of cycling will have many no-chain days, great output and strong results, whereas Mr. Sachs will be tied, chained to his computer and small crony-loving circle. Congrats to Ms. Dombrowski and to Sachs, who would make a fine Ebenezer Scrooge, we know this Golden Rule to be true…at Christmas (and Hanukkah) we get what we deserve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfIWCiX21qg
Merry Christmas,
Viper
For the record: This “Viper” is not the Viper known on the bike forums. He is, to use the parlance, an imposter.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pro-bike-dan-timmermans-richard-sachs-rgm-watches-richard-sachs-cyclo-cross
a 55cm TT bike weighing 19.22 lbs. how much lighter do you think a 50cm TT weighs? certainly, it’s not 20+ lbs as one poster wold like to suggest…
I’d bet that a 50cm TT bike would be almost a half pound lighter.
Let’s just put it this way.
If Dan weighs 140lbs and his Team Sachs is 19.22lbs = 13.37% of his body weight
If Amy’s Team Sachs is the estimated 18.72lbs (pedraigs estimate) and she weighs 107lbs = 17.50% of her body weight
Amy’s Team Schlamm p/b Clement and Primus Mootry is 15.17lbs which is 14.18% of her body weight….putting her in the same range as Dan is on his Team Sachs.
Amy’s Team Sachs = 17.50% of her body weight
Amy’s Team Schlamm p/b Clement and Primus Mootry = 14.18% of her body weight
Dan’s Team Sachs = 13.73% of his body weight
These are the numbers.
Dan’s Team Sachs = 13.73% of his body weight
Everyone: Let’s try to keep our eye on the ball. Even if Dombroski gained a 3.32% advantage over her previous bike, that gain has zero bearing on the controversy. She told the media—after she was fired for using non-sponsor equipment—that she had an issue with her Sachs’ weight and attempted to portray the separation as a choice on her part. This was a fabrication.
Using a sponsor’s equipment is a pretty cut-and-dried issue. All the numbers I’ve seen (including some independent testing) say Zipp wheels are faster than the competing Bontrager model, and yet Armstrong—a rider not much liked among commenters here—ran Bontrager wheels the whole season. If Armstrong can get it right when the dollars at stake are much, much larger, a cyclocross racer ought to be able to get it right.
I’ve been accused of bias in regard to the above post. It’s true that Richard is an advertiser. It is also true that Richard is an old friend. That said, my first allegiance is to accuracy and truth. RKP is not a mouthpiece for any commercial entity, except RKP.
I was just giving the numbers that count if your gonna talk weight….and I believe you brought it up. I agree in most cases weight is not a big issue though exceptions come along and in Dombroski’s case this seeming nuance is relevant.
Remember this is her livelihood and she was willing to go sponsorless. I have argued it’s in the tone and a lack of listening comprehension. You and everyone can keep comparing her to male athletes, until you turn blue in the face…and I will tell you that is the very problem. I’m guessing she tried to plead her case in all the ways Sachs did his…..and in the end didn’t have time to enlighten someone who wasn’t getting it, only to have her season gone. She’s not going to be under 23 forever….. Exceptions are sometimes made to be inclusive. Frustration from lack of being heard causes stress, and stress is the number one enemy of a riders fitness. Did she handle this situation perfectly and the ‘right’ way probably not……Correct thing for her mind and legs – yes I think so.
As I said before: they were both right and they were both wrong.
If it’s so important to say she was fired – well ok whatever.
I really don’t care about this issue, but she didn’t have a ride for the year and she contacted him. He gave her a leg up and his bikes were good enough when the alternative was not having a ride at all.
on the weight issue, i only brought it up because a previous poster went on and on about how her sachs cx bike, in size 50, weighed over 20 lbs. i’m sure that she feels those 3 lbs when she has to carry her bike. there’s no disputing that.
“Really don’t care” is what I’m betting was the reaction = she did the correct thing for her mind and legs – hell career and livelihood.
Adam – do you expect Dan could be competitive at the national level or the world class level with a bike that weights 24.79lbs? Maybe, but why do that…it’s like running a marathon with the wrong size shoes.
Also…she was willing to go sponsorless AFTER riding Team Sachs and being in it’s program. This speaks volumes more to me than her approaching the team before she 100% knew the deal.
I think it’s great that Team Sachs sponsors and provides a home for many racers. But in this case it looks like a bad fit for more reasons than just one.
Lastly, I don’t believe that you really don’t care and if you really don’t then you are no competitor.
my local paper ran an article a few years ago on lance and his bike and training, etc. a note on his wheelset claimed they were ZIPPs but he had bontrager decals on them. i don’t know if this is actually true or not but i can’t imagine many local journalists really caring what this could mean to many cyclists so i choose to believe it’s true. incidentally it was the first i had heard of zipps. i was still under the impression that mavics were the holy grail.