Defining the Ineffable with Syd Shulz

She wrote a haiku.

During today’s pursuit to define the ineffable joys of cycling, we ask Syd Shulz to take a stab. The 31-year-old pro mountain biker, Youtuber and writer lives in Los Alamos, NM with her husband, Macky Franklin.

The couple races mountain bikes professionally and runs two successful YouTube channels, Syd and Macky and Syd Fixes Bikes.

Before that, the couple lived in a van. But it wasn’t the kind of souped up sprinter van you see at conventions or the kinds commonly featured in dedicated YouTube channels. (Like this one, or this one.)

For Syd and Macky, living in a rusty $1,400 AT&T van was “a means to an end — it’s the key to living the life we want to, not a Pinterest project money suck.”

The van (named Great White the Advntr Van) was a no-frills mobile home that allowed them to pay off debt and launch a fulfilling career in the cycling industry.

Safe to say they accomplished that. They even invented a mountain biking and snow sports board game.

Shulz is a native to Athens, Ohio. Her first memory of riding involved her dad. (Rock on, girl dads.)

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Describe your first memory that involves riding a bike.

When I was little I would ride on the back of a tandem with my dad. We typically spent our Saturday mornings riding to yard sales (but not buying anything) or going to the grocery store to get donuts.

How did you get into racing?

I raced mountain bikes a few times as a teenager but not too seriously. I really got into it via collegiate racing!

As a woman in a male-dominated sport, what is one piece of advice you could give to women either considering entering their first race or buying their first mountain bike?

It's okay to be a beginner. Don't worry about trying to impress or keep up with anyone else. Be yourself, and keep showing up.

How has learning to wrench with your husband via "Syd Fixes Bikes" changed your relationship with cycling?

We started the channel while I was injured and couldn't ride, and it was a good way for me to feel like I was doing something useful/productive while I couldn't train. And I am definitely now way more prepared to deal with mechanical issues during a race!

What bikes are currently in your stable?

2022 Niner RKT 9 RDO - xc bike
2022 Niner JET 9 RDO - trail bike
2020 Niner RIP 9 RDO - enduro bike
2020 Niner RLT 9 RDO - gravel bike

What is the length of your last ride in hours and miles?

Well, my last ride was kind of a boring recovery ride, but here's a link to the final day of Singletrack 6, a six-day stage race we just finished in British Columbia. It was epic and while the mileage of the stages wasn't super long there was SO much climbing.

(Side note: Syd placed 6th overall in the Women’s Open category out of 11 racers, with an overall time of 16:26:44.2. The six-day race had 23,458 feet of elevation gain over 120 miles. Dang, yo. I should also note that Syd did this pretty fresh off of recovering from a pretty serious nerve injury.)

Describe the feeling that cycling gives you.

Syd wrote a haiku to answer this prompt.

ripping through the trees
sharp rocks dance beneath my feet
and now i am free

Syd Shulz, after completing the Big Sky Biggie in August 2022.

Thanks for reading. Look out for the next installment in "Defining the Ineffable,” dropping next Sunday. Next week, we’ll talk with Dave Wiens, the executive director of the International Mountain Biking Association.

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