Latest / Spokes & Strategy: Marketing the Bicycle / EP 23: What Makes an Athlete Right for Sponsorship with Yuri Hauswald

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EP 23: What Makes an Athlete Right for Sponsorship with Yuri Hauswald · Spokes & Strategy: Marketing the Bicycle

• Yuri Hauswald: the power of the mind, the power of positive thinking of Embracing when it sucks and realizing that it's gonna pass and that you need to figure out a way forward is what allowed me to have the shot at winning that year because I wasn't the fastest guy or the strongest that towed the line that year. I just happened to be like the most persistent and not willing to give up when things got really, really bad and muddy and just kept chipping away at it. Brandon Morphew: Welcome to Spokes and Strategy, Marketing the Bicycle with Brandon Morphew and Chris Melman of Miso Partners. Hi, this is Brandon Morphew, and you're listening to Spokes and Strategy. Today's guest is Yuri Hoswald. Former teacher, endurance cyclist, 2023 Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Inductee, longtime GU Energy Labs athlete and athlete manager, and co-owner of Merchant Cycles in Emporia, Kansas. He won the 2015 race, now known as Unbound Gravel. This year he returned with a very different objective. He started last and took his turn passing riders to support youth cycling. we're talking about ambition, people, the people a brand chooses to back and what it means to give something back to a place that's changed your life. Yuri, thank you so much for being here. It's great to get a chance to meet you. Yuri Hauswald: Yeah, thanks for handing having me, Brandon. Brandon Morphew: And one of the things we like to do is is sort of talk about the joy of riding. to hear where you're finding joy. You know, do you have a a favorite ride or is there a favorite steed in the in the stable that you gravitate towards? Yuri Hauswald: god, there's so many favorite rides. and my steeds as of the last three years have all been giant steeds. I ride for giant. and it's sort of ironic because people consider me like a gravel guy, but where I live in Northern California, there really isn't any gravel. So I'm actually a roadie. I spend like ninety-nine percent of my time on my DeFi giant road bike. And I live in a spot in Petaluma, California that is near to country farm roads. And you go west, you head out towards Point Reys, Tamales, places like that, Highway One. So I'm biased, but I think I have some of the best road riding at my disposal in the world, and I've I've ridden all over the world. so like just any of my backyard loops that I do on the weekly bring a lot of joy to me. They're you know, they change through throughout the seasons depending upon if it's harvest or what's going on with the cattle or all the different things the shades of green that happen right now everything's all browned out right as we're getting ready for winter but yeah that's kind of currently what I do is I'm on my road bike these days. Brandon Morphew: I wouldn't argue with you about that being one of the best one of the best places in the world to ride. you've got some incredible roads there and and it is epic, truly is. so Yuri Hauswald: Yeah, I mean there's a reason there's a reason why like world tour teams have had training camps there over the decades. Levi's Grand Fondo is based out of Santa Rosa, you know, because of the access to just world class stunning roads. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: Fantastic. So you've won unbound. That's pretty cool. this year you you deliberately Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: started last. I watched the videos, pretty cool. what were you trying to accomplish you know beyond a good race result? Yuri Hauswald: I'm gonna So my first unbound Formally under a different name. Back in 2013, I went out to Emporia, Kansas, having absolutely zero idea what gravel was. Gravel really wasn't a thing at that point. I went out there because GU. I work for GU Energy. I manage our elite athletes and have been a GU athlete for about 22 years now myself. because it seemed like a new challenge. Something fun. I was doing 24 hours solo, like long endurance racing at that point, hundred-mile like single speed match. Bike racing, and this just seemed to sort of fall in that wheelhouse of like new endurance challenges, 200 miles in a place I've never ridden before. Well, unbeknownst to me, I went out there and fell in love with the landscape. The Flint Hills, the tall grass prairie out there is truly stunning. It is not flat, you know, according to what most people think. Kansas is beautiful, rolling hills. And like Midwestern hospitality is a thing, you know. Being from Northern California, I wasn't. Really, that well versed in the Midwest, and I fell in love with the community too. And I have been back every year since then and have developed relationships with locals and helped spark the start of their high school team because of my wife. ran the NorCal high school lead team for 15 years. I saw a growing group of young kids starting to ride in that town. One of the early promoters of Unbound was helping sh you know sort of usher that team along and they eventually became a Nika team. So they have a high school team there that's actually just blown up. and every time I go back I try to connect with that team. So this is a long-winded way of getting around To 2026, where I felt like I didn't need to prove anything more like on the podium side of things, because I've done the 200, I think, seven times and the XL the first year and the 100 and the 50. And the last few years I've been riding with friends in the shorter distances, like sharing my joy with them of the Flint Hills and kind of ushering them through this transformative experience that I have had in my years of going there. And at the end of 2025, Christy Moan and Sarah Mola of the Lifetime Foundation reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to try something different in my approach. and mind you, I had sworn I was never gonna do the 200 again because the last time I did it in 2021, I nearly ended up in the hospital with heat stroke. But endurance amnesia is real. And when I was presented with the opportunity to, you know, turn my pedal strokes into something like really impactful and real that was gonna like affect the kids that I've known in that town now, I was like, yeah, I'm in 100%. I'm in, I will do this. And so the challenge was to start dead last. and fundraise and much of the fundraising was predicated on the number of riders I caught in 200 miles. And we were raising funds to build a bike skills park in town. They have a site picked out already. It's located on a side of town that has lower income folks, so it'll provide a place for kids to play. There's also talk of creating bike infrastructure to help kids get out of town to some of the trails that do exist. But there's also you know hundreds and hundreds of miles of dirt roads, gravel roads there. That's what makes it sort of, you know, the epicenter of gravel. And yeah, it just it seemed like a really like positive thing to do, a new twist on like racing for me. But I wanted to take it really seriously. I haven't worked with a coach in six years, so I decided to work with a coach so I could be my best physical self when I towed the line. So I worked really hard with a coach for the first six months of this year. and When I showed up on race day, I had a good I had a good day. I had caught almost like 1200 riders, and we raised over fifty thousand dollars. And Mother Nature threw everything at us in terms of conditions, and I've seen all the conditions in my 13 years. This year was particularly difficult. but I had an amazing team around me supporting me. My wife was there, which was really powerful. My mechanic from home had come out too. There were kids from the height local high school team, the folks from the Lifetime Foundation were there. So it's just this amazing like group effort to turn my pedal strokes into something that's gonna be permanent, that's gonna leave a lasting impact on this town and affect future generations, much like this race has affected my life in really positive ways. way back. Brandon Morphew: let's go back to Pennsylvania and you're teaching. College lacrosse is behind you. Yuri Hauswald: Mm. Brandon Morphew: and someone lends you a mountain bike. Is tell me about those first rides. What did you what did you discover and what did you get out of those first few rides? Yuri Hauswald: Yeah, so we have to thank Mark and Ellen Nelson of the Hill School. so right after I graduated from Cal Berkeley, where I played collegiate lacrosse, I drove my Volkswagen van across the state to teach at Pennsylvania. Chopped off my hippie locks. I'd grown my hair out because I was teaching now teaching at a prep school where it was coat and tie every day. I was no longer playing lacrosse. I wasn't good enough to play like pro. but those two folks, Mark and Ellen, were really into mountain biking. And I knew how to ride a bike, but I didn't own a bike, wasn't into it. And they shared their passion with me. And what I remember most from those first rides with them in French Creek Park. was just the pure like childlike joy you get from doing something for the first time. and, you know, I wanna let your audience know that I sucked at riding a bike. Like it should not have been fun. I was not that good. You know, I was still pretty heavy for a cyclist, you know, two hundred ish pounds coming from college where I played defense where being bigger was better. Not the case in cycling. but just the pure joy of riding my bike with friends, experiencing something new was so inspiring and lit my fire and you know, we would ride Every weekend we could without fail. and I credit them with truly like empowering me to chase that thread. You know, they had no idea that sharing their passion with me would light my fire. Much like you know, in our respective worlds, we don't know what our words are our deeds, how they're gonna affect others. But it was one of those moments where I can look back and I can pinpoint like Mark and Ellen Nelson going out in their blue van, let me borrow. their GT Zascar, which was like the bike at the time. And I was in, you know, literally cut off shorts and Chuck Taylor's, not kidding. And fell in love with it. and then never looked back. I just kept turning the throttle from there on. so yeah, my advice to folks share your passion with others. You never know where it's gonna where it's gonna take them. Brandon Morphew: When you when you meet a young athlete or someone that's new to the sport now, is there anything about Yuri back in Pennsylvania that you bring with you? Do you remember being that person? Yuri Hauswald: I'm a big kid still, even though I'm fifty-six. my wife and I, we don't have kids. I've been allowed to kind of continue to play as an adult in this world. And so I would like to think that when I meet new riders or I go coach at camps, that I bring that joy, that excitement to these kids. But I have to tell you, most all of them have already tapped into that. That's why that's why they're doing it, you know, because they love it. and it lights their fire and it's a an amazing community to be a part of. and so I would just like to think that, you know, I bring a lot of stoke to new encounters with folks and hopefully remind them that whether you're at the pointy end of the spear racing, or you're just out there like I was when I first picked up the bike, that there's something for all of us in that spectrum. And, you know, human movement is a way to move our moods, make us feel better, make us healthier, make us happier. and the bike has done that for me for like 33 years. So it's pretty incredible machine. Brandon Morphew: Yeah. I I I couldn't agree with you more. I don't it's so simple, right? It's so it's so pure, it's just yeah, it's such a and and then when you get bit, you really get bit. Yuri Hauswald: I did. I'm a pretty competitive person, at least back then. And so like it helped fill that gap that I was missing after playing the Collegiate Lacrosse. and I was really motivated to like be my best racer, you know. Brandon Morphew: Hmm. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: and that has left me a bit in the last, I don't know, five to seven years, but I still love riding, but racing is less important to me these days. So yeah. Brandon Morphew: When you when you think about racing and then, you know, and and winning, and I and I think competition is such a great analogy for business, let's look at Unbound twenty fifteen, right? You win. what do you think made that happen that maybe someone won watching What w i someone that's on the outside looking in, what what would you say the decision was that made made the difference for you in in winning? Yuri Hauswald: there's not just one thing, Brandon. it's a couple of factors that came together in 15. one was a coach. I'd never worked with a coach and in my career until that point. So having a coach get me prepared for the rigors of 200 miles, super important. And then, you know, having a supportive team around me of of sponsors and coworkers. You know, I work for a brand, Goo Energy Labs, that has many athletes that work within its organization. I mean, we were a brand founded on the need to move and feed that need. and so they're super supportive of workers like chasing their athletic dreams. So I had that too. you know I also had some pretty serious motivation that year with my wife, who's a cancer survivor, being there to support me too. So quitting wasn't really an option. And then, you know, and maybe this is the more tangible one for folks, but like the power of the mind, the power of positive thinking of Embracing when it sucks and realizing that it's gonna pass and that you need to figure out a way forward is what allowed me to have the shot at winning that year because I wasn't the fastest guy or the strongest that towed the line that year. I just happened to be like the most persistent and not willing to give up when things got really, really bad and muddy and just kept chipping away at it. And I attribute that to just sort of having a pretty strong work eth ethic. I grew up on a farm and like having chores and doing those kind of things like wasn't an option. Like you were working at a young age. So like putting my nose down and doing the work is kind of just part of who I am. so it was a challenge that day for sure. but you know I had all these other factors, the coaching, my wife, realizing that I was had a shot at getting on the podium, you know, with like a hundred miles to go. all those things were pushing me forward towards towards the finish line. Brandon Morphew: I think it's a it's a really interesting thing and I think a lot of people avoid it, especially as they get older. when you're younger you know everything, so it's easy to Not not need a the support of a coach. So I'm just curious Yuri Hauswald: Mm. Brandon Morphew: wh wh where that insight came from and why'd you decide? Yuri Hauswald: I yeah, I think the insight came from a couple things. So I, you know, slowly worked my way up the ranks while having a day job as an elementary school teacher in Petaluma. I taught first, second, and third grades for 12 years. And, you know, I while not a coach, I wrote a lot. subscribe to the quantity over quality miles. So not the best to make you like really, really fast, but always had a decent amount of fitness. You know, I was gifted with relatively good jeans from my folks. But I hit a point where I was like, if if I'm gonna take it to the next level and and it was racing unbound in thirteen, where I was like, this is a race I would like to be my very best at. And I got close in 13, 14, I had a rough year, a lot of flats. And that was the year I was like, you know what? I'm gonna eliminate that part of like not knowing about coaching. Like, I'm gonna get a coach. I had many pro friends, obviously, that worked with coaches to great success. and so I was like, I'm I'm gonna check that box so I know that when I toe the line in 15. I know that I've done everything I can to throw at this event and it worked out. But again, there was a bit of luck. and you know, Mother Nature threw some serious curveballs at us that day, and I was just able to persevere. But definitely the coaching helped. so then I stopped working with a coach in eighteen and hadn't worked with a coach until this year. So almost an eight year gap. But riding a ton, you know, between eight to ten thousand miles a year, but zero structure. just for fun. but I was like, again, if I'm gonna be my best self and I wanna be and I'm taking this really seriously, I need to have a coach because I'm not smart enough to create my own plan. and so I tapped into one of my dear friends, an athlete I work with, and she created a plan for me because we've written a lot together that really leaned into my strengths, forced me to work on my weaknesses. and made me my best for this year. You know, I I actually because I knew it was only going to be for six months, I actually gamified it and it made chasing power numbers because we didn't do heart rate, we just did power because I'm more of a power writer. And I'm not very tech savvy either, but I figured out that my Garmin, synced up with training peaks, showed me each workout on a screen, and I would just I called it chasing the power band. And you know, when it was time for me to do something that coach told me to do, it's like, you need to be within this window for this amount of time. And so I was staring at my screen, trying to get the, you know, check that one off the list. And so it was kind of fun. some might say it took a little bit of the the joy out of it, but I actually enjoyed it for six months. I knew it was just gonna be for a short period of time and then I was gonna go back to the regular programming. But the ultimate goal was so worth it for me. That experience that I had this year far exceeds me winning, to be honest, really. Like the joy, the fulfillment I had when I crossed the line this year was really, really heavy in a good way. And having my wife there, and some of the kids from the local team and some of my coworkers was just like the most. powerful finish line I've ever crossed and I was nowhere near winning it, but I had a decent enough time to pass a lot of people. So Brandon Morphew: That's fantastic. it makes me think about like, you know, that perspective, you know, working with a coach, working with all the athletes you work with, I'm thinking about business and kind of how Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: like people are such an important part of the business. Like when you're thinking about an athlete and working with, but you know, what are you looking for? Like what makes an athlete right for goo? What are the is it results? Is it, you know, follower count? Is there a combination? Is it Is there something about the ethos and and sort of like the the character? what what are the things that y that you're measuring against? Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. So I appreciate you asking this question because it's the million dollar question and it's the question I get asked a lot as an athlete manager. I have been doing this for like almost a decade now. It's worked out pretty well. You mentioned a word earlier, character. I could care less about people's. results, their social media metrics, how fast they are. I look for athletes with good character. Now that's really hard to measure, right? Objectively. sometimes there's like no like score or number or something, right? So it's all based on like my gut or other interactions that I've heard about a lot of times I get athletes via other athletes or coaches recommend somebody. And so it's like this trust tree. You're like, if that person recommended this person and they know that person, there's gotta be something to that person, mainly something in their character. Yeah, they may also have a lot of social media followers, they may be fast, but to me, I emphasize character and their. If they're able, not all athletes are able, they're give back to their community. Many of the athletes I work with are coaches or host camps or host events. I'm on my way down to Mammoth this weekend with one of my trail runners, Tim Tolofson, storied United States ultra runner who's transitioning now into becoming a race promoter. And I think this is the third or fourth year of this thing called the Mammoth Trail Fest. So now he has taken his drive and his years as an athlete and manifested them into this amazing event that brings the community together. And I will continue working with Tim because of his event, because I see what it does for his community. So I may be outside the box when it comes to what a lot of other sponsors look for in terms of athletes. That's not to say I don't have some really, really fast, you know, folks with a lot of followers. they also happen to be of you know sound character and they communicate and they do good things and they give back. They you know many of my athletes also have podcasts, or maybe they're an author, or they do a blog. so I look for other touch points that come off of that athlete that make them more valuable to to me and to our brand. Brandon Morphew: I think the referral piece is really interesting because when I think about business, you know, and I'm gonna probably continue to use this analogy, but it just feels like a good fit. referrals are probably the most reliable source of new business people we work with, they have a good experience, they talk to somebody who's looking for Our services and they say, you should talk to these guys. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I I'm my goal is to, you know, be a good fit. I don't want to work with someone that's not a good fit. And I think that's it sounds not that dissimilar. And I think that referral, like the social trust, like having the ability to like refer someone and borrow that trust from an existing trusted relationship is yeah, it's interesting. It's it's very similar. Yuri Hauswald: Many many of my athletes have come via other athletes I work with, or the president of our company, Magda Boulay, two thousand eight, marathon Olympian winner of Western States in twenty fifteen. She still has her finger on the pulse of ultra running. Up and comers, she's seen as a bit of a a mentor to to many up-and-coming athletes. And so I go to her often with, Hey, have you heard this person or do you know this? So she's somebody I always vet runners with because it's likely she knows them or knows somebody who does. and it's super helpful in the vetting process. Brandon Morphew: it's probably good for people, whether they're in business and they're thinking about how to get new business. This referral idea is really solid. And then also it's good for athletes to know like that this this part of it, the social component is super important, like building trust, building character, having these relationships that are genuine and and Yuri Hauswald: genuine, Brandon Morphew: Authentic. Yuri Hauswald: and also communicating. The ability to respond to emails is is a is a dying art. I'll tell you. I don't ask a lot of my athletes, you know, but I do expect, you know, like a quarterly update and I send mine out to them hoping to get one in return. And so I look for two-way communications because sponsorship at the end of the day is a partnership. It's not me just giving you the athlete cash or product. I'm seeking something in return. and so it's gotta be that. yeah. So it's an interesting dance and I'm in the thick of it right now. This is the time of year where I'm getting hit right, right and left by Brandon Morphew: Yeah, twenty twenty seven. Yeah. It's coming. Yuri Hauswald: everybody who thinks they're the next influencer or whatever. And so yeah, I have to get really good at saying no in a nice way, unfortunately. It's part of the job. Brandon Morphew: What how do you measure success? So if it how do you know that a partnership is working Yuri Hauswald: I think I already admitted to you when we weren't live that I'm not much of a data or numbers guy. so you know, when it comes to measuring success with athlete relations, it truly comes down to communication. Do they follow through on what they say they're gonna do? Do they deliver on my social media content asks? if they have a podcast or a camp or things like that, utilizing us where we could give them prizes for that. Are they tagging us? not necessarily like hard metrics that I can like measure. You know, it's not a number of likes or like I don't use an affiliate program where I could measure them, you know, selling our products via their channel. You know, it's something I'm exploring. I just don't have the bandwidth right now to think about an affiliate to give to all my athletes, but that's one way Right, that sponsors can try to monetize a relationship with an athlete a bit more. it puts it in the athletes' hands to then go out and hustle and try to sell our products and they get a commission. Haven't done that. but it really comes back to like communication. And, you know, I going into each year, like to know what their plans are, what events that we're gonna sync up at. Many of the I like to work with. There's a vent overlap because then we can help them, they can help us with activations, and it gets more out of the relationship. it might be a little limiting because, like, I don't work with European athletes really because distribution, we don't have a huge presence in Europe. So it's not a huge benefit to us as a as mainly a stateside brand. so those are just some of my thoughts on the whole athlete. metrics, measuring how a relationship works. Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: And a lot of it is just gut, Brandon, is just based on my gut of like, and I think some of this comes from being an elementary school teacher for so long. I'm a bit of a kid whisperer or a human whisperer. I say that with all humility. I feel like I Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: can understand somebody pretty quickly just after a quick conversation because I had to do that with like seven, eight, and nine year olds for so many so many years. You can figure out how to get inside someone's head or what makes them tick. and so I tend to to lean on that, you know, when I'm deciding whether or not a relationship is has got life or not. So it can be tricky. I I'm sure I've been wrong. Brandon Morphew: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: I'm sure I've been wrong many times, you know. Brandon Morphew: Yeah. being wrong is the that's how you learn, right? That's how you get better. it's an interesting It's it's an interesting 'cause this is such an interesting game, right? Like we you know, like there's a there's money involved, there's attention, there's media, there's storytelling, like there's all these really interesting things that go into this soup, right? we talked to some brands outside of outside of cycling, outside of running, and they have very complex algorithms that they're using for understanding. intuition is very real. Like, you know, like you said, you trust your gut. It is there's no question. Like there's a lot of science behind the the reliability of intuition, especially when it's tuned. And and so if you have it, you have it. I don't knock it. part of this. You're you're you're you've been there for what what how many years do you say? Twenty Yuri Hauswald: Twenty two as an athlete, and then Brandon Morphew: Twenty two is an athlete. Yuri Hauswald: almost fourteen now in the office, having worn a bunch of different marketing hats. And I've been managing our elite athletes for at least eight or nine years now. And for the last four years I spearhead like our PR and help with storytelling. So I d Brandon Morphew: Yeah, yeah. I love it. Yuri Hauswald: and that doesn't even I go to camps and all other things, Brandon Morphew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yuri Hauswald: but yeah, I I kinda have a unicorn job. Most people don't think I work, Brandon. Brandon Morphew: It's Yuri Hauswald: 'Cause I ride my bike a lot. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: it it does sound it does sound wonderful. I'm I'm not gonna lie. you're a a bike shop owner as well. where did that come from? I is it is it location? you got bit by the the the the bike bug like we all did and and you you you know made this bet on on a shop. Wha w where did Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: this come from and and why did you want to be interested in in owning a business and and why there? Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. I'm gonna go back to to one word, people, community. there's something really unique and special about Emporia, Kansas and the community that's there. and it's one of the things, as I already mentioned, that's drawn me back for the last thir thirteen years. before I was even a school teacher, I worked briefly in a bike shop. in between a job after being a school teacher before I landed at Goo, I worked at a bike shop. So I have a little bit of knowledge around bike shops, but I was not somebody you wanted, you know, holding tools or wrenching. I was more of like the face, the front, chatting with people. I've always loved the community hub aspect of bike shops, how they bring together like-minded people. it's always been fun for me. And The bike shop in Emporia, Kansas was sort of the epicenter of everything for that week. and so I've seen that shop just over the years just be the hub of amazing activations and athlete interviews and things like that. And about four years ago, there were two owners, one of them wanted out. He was a friend of mine. And the opportunity was presented to Bobby Wintle, who's the who also owns a bike shop in Stillwater, Oklahoma, District Bicycles. He run he started mid-south. so he's a race promoter, deeply involved in the gravel scene. I actually rolled to my first Unbound in 2013 with him and his wife. So Bobby and I have been friends for a long time. we had the opportunity to to buy in. And This was when, you know, the bike scene, it was like the gold rush post-COVID, right? Couldn't keep stuff in stock, everything was blown up, like it was bikes, bikes, bikes, and everything was gravel, and it it seemed like a really good idea. And it was for a moment. and so we bought in and I mainly did it because I wanted to stay connect connected to this community in some way because as I age out of racing and become not relevant on that side of things, I still wanted to have this community touch point where I could return once a year, twice a year, work in the shop, see people, lead group rides, do my thing, help sponsors, still still be involved with this invent incredible event that has left an indelible mark on my career. and so I decided to jump in. I obviously trust Bobby deeply, and Tim and Christy Moan are the other two partners. Tim Moan is our main manager. He lives, he's an Emporia native, he's the one who runs the shop day to day. so he has helped steer the ship. And I'll circle back to that word week, because Emporia is the kind of place where people only Come there once or twice a year, unfortunately, to ride their bikes. And, you know, for Unbound Week, we make probably almost three quarters of our year's revenue, maybe just under that. I Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: mean, it's a significant, significant part of our yearly revenue. Is that like two weeks? It's It's actually gotten bigger now, you know, as more and more pros are coming. People are coming out earlier and earlier to scout, to shoot, all the things. So now it's become like a two-week window. And then there's Unbound Camp, which is something I've been a part of since its inception. So there's another week in April where we'll have more folks from out of town and and the shop does well and we do all sorts of things to help, you know, build people's bikes and ship them and all the things. So there's like two times of year where our shop really gets to make hay. After that, it's kind of quiet. and so, you know, I didn't not being a businessman, I was an English major, elementary school teacher. Numbers not my thing. It just seemed like a fun thing to do is to be part of this this scene. I have deep respect for the other owners. I love that community. I had a little bit of extra money sitting around, and I decided to put it there. I knew going into it that it was a bit of a crapshoot and that I might not see that money again, and I'm okay with it. Like I'm having fun. I love being a part of that shop, as small of a part as I am. And it's only a couple times a year that I'm there. But for that week around Unbound, it's like it's it's magic. The shop is just bursting at the seams, bustling with people. You're seeing old, new friends. It's rad. I love it. So it makes my investment, I guess, worth it. My wife wouldn't agree with that, but it's all good. Brandon Morphew: I well I think there is something interesting about, you know, having joy in investments. I think that's it. You know, you want the investments to also return yields. I think, you know, this is the businessman me putting my businessman hat on. Yuri Hauswald: Yes. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: it's interesting though, I think so there there are like a lot of shops experience sort of like ebbs and flows. In another in another life I used to travel with professional cycling and and professional triathlon. And I remember Iron Man, that what that meant. Then that that's a busy shop, you know. But what that meant to the shops over that month, you know, when everyone came in to to Kona and and and so I think this is not a unique just Emporia challenge, Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: but maybe it's much heightened. What what are some of the mitigations for the So for the twenty five percent of the rest of the year, what what are some of the things that the shop's doing in the community and and what are some of the things that have worked? Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. So one of the main things that Tim has done, I mean, Bobby and I get zero credit for any of this because he has a shop he's managing in Stillwater. I have a job in Northern California. So Tim has been able to forge relationships with brands that we carry in the shop, many of whom let us carry stuff on consignment. So we don't have to buy all the way in and hope that we sell through. And that's helped us out tremendously. And that's all relationship based. not every brand does that, but particularly around that two week window when brands know that like our shop is gonna be slammed, they're super keen to to do these consignment type relationships where we don't have to come up with a ton of money up front to bring in you know inventory that we might not sell through and we can send it all back that we don't sell. So that's helped us out big time. we're down to one employee. That was the other thing, unfortunately. It's Tim. So the whole shop revolves around Tim right now. We were for a couple years probably overemployed with with some folks and that was our fault as owners not catching that soon enough. and that dug us a bit of a hole. community rides. Tim and his wife Christy do a Saturday pancake ride out of the shop to develop community. they open up the shop to the local team if they need it. beyond that, I think those are the main sort of community things that they do. and then just being really smart, I think, about how we inventory our shop and Looking at past trends, seeing what's done well, seeing what hasn't, looking at the weather, like a month out, a couple months out, that often really predicates like what you're gonna need or what people think they're gonna need for race day and having those items. So again, this is all Tim like looking in the looking at the tea leaves of past years and figuring out what SKUs are selling well, where we could cut back. But I want to say like the main one I think is having really like friendly vendor, industry vendor relationships where they're not making us pay up front for some of the stuff, and we can send it back at the end. That's helpful for us. I think it's good for them. We're getting their brand in front of, you know, a keen audience for this really crucial week during Unbound. And then they're okay with us sending it back and it works well for us. It's helped us sort of get back to. Where we need to be. It mainly the the main thrust of my comments is that we have some really amazing industry vendor relationships that allow us to bring product in on consignment. so we don't have to to put up a bunch of money up front and hope that we sell through it or then have to heavily discount it on the back end. We can send it back to them. So that's all Tim who's developed these relationships and brands who see value in working with us in those that sort of two week window round unbound. Brandon Morphew: And you may and so I think about the business relationship. I I look at them almost like marriages to a certain extent. Like this there's a lot there's a lot Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: of trust here. you you you there's a financial component which is complicated. it can be hard when people come together and you have different opinions on what what you should do or what you shouldn't do, and what what's the smart money on and you know, do we need more money? And some of these things, these are just hard. Hard questions, you how do we make it work? And I'm I'm just I'm wondering if you have had some challenges in that, what are some of the challenges? Because I there's also a ton of great things that come out of a partnership, right? Like it amplifies. Yuri Hauswald: Mm-hmm. Brandon Morphew: So I I think I could probably extol all the great things, but there's a lot you can learn from the things that are the friction, things that are that are prickly. Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. I think and I and I mentioned this earlier, but the main the main thing for us was we had too many employees during the quiet times of our shops life in Emporia. And as remote owners, me and Bobby particularly, and and Tim wasn't as heavily involved with the management. We had a manager at that time. He's he lives in town, is we let things slide a little bit on that front where we were paying too much in wages and not getting enough in terms of like bike repairs and selling stuff, and we let that slide a little bit too long. And that really came back to bite us and is what precipitated Tim stepping back in, full time manager. So since Unbound, it's just been Tim in the shop managing it. but it is really quiet. I mean, I was just out there this last weekend helping a friend ride the final hundred miles of Unbound and I spent some time in the shop and it's pretty quiet there. on a Saturday afternoon. in the fall. so anyway, then the main thing was just staff salary came back to bite us. and possibly not being smart about what we were or weren't ordering ahead of Unbound. We've gotten really tight with that in the last two years. Tim's done a tremendous job in tightening that up and developing those relationships where we can take stuff and and then send it back. So prior to that, we weren't so good with those. We just figured we would sell through it or discount it. but then you end up sitting on a lot of inventory that you can't move. So that would be the main Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: that'd be the main one. Brandon Morphew: Yeah, that's a and that's a big one, right? you know, Yuri Hauswald: Yep. Brandon Morphew: managing managing inventory. Th those are like yeah, major challenges. It's a good solve too, especially if you have something that swells that big. Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. I I will add too that because it's just Tim now, he is doing a lot more online sales via merchant cycles and it's going tremendously well. which is good. So the offshoot of being maybe being overemployed with folks is we've contracted possibly too much, so it's all just on Tim now, but he's finding a way to sell via our website and to people all over the country who maybe experienced our shop during that week during Unbound and had a good good vibe, good rapport with us and want to give us business because they know it's not easy in the bike shop business. So they come to us online, which is really cool. And that's all that's Brandon Morphew: Really cool. Yuri Hauswald: all Tim Moan who's developed that. he's in charge of getting the you know the items online and selling them and following through on all that. Bobby and I really just We just parachute in like camp week, unbound week, and we're the hype men and try to help, you know, at the registers or stocking or leading group rides or helping cook burgers or whatever it is. I don't want anybody to get the perception that I'm like actively helping in the shop. cause I'm not, unfortunately. But yeah, it's all Tim Moan. Brandon Morphew: no it's well it's good. I I think it's it's important to give credit where credit is too. So kudos Yuri Hauswald: Yes. Brandon Morphew: to you for you know not not hogging the the spotlight. it's that's fantastic. Yuri Hauswald: No, no way. Brandon Morphew: you have you know done some great stuff for kids in in Emporia. how does that continue. you worked at the event, you unbound passing lots of unsuspecting athletes that yeah Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: you probably have a few words for you when they see you next time. But but absolutely absolutely no Yuri Hauswald: they might. Hopefully they give me a high five because they know I was like doing it for a good cause. There was no like, you know, malice or like competition. It was like, hey, the more people I pass, the more money I raise. It's all good. Help me. Let's let's work it work together here. Yeah. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Maybe they were sandbagging. Yeah, maybe they were sandbagging. what does that look like? How does that continue? sort of day to day growth of young riders in Emporia? Yuri Hauswald: S Yeah, so that all falls on the coaches of the coyotes. That's the name of their team, the Emporia Coyotes. And one of the coaches, Ryan Beckenall, I've known since I started coming there in twenty thirteen. That coach is actually really active in helping spearhead the bike skills park. But Ryan was one of the first, because he had two young boys who are into riding, who really helped start to build that team in that town. And he lives out on the edge of town and is actually built. I think five to seven miles of trail on his town so the kids can practice on his property. So here's an example of a dad who's like like wanting to like do something fun with his sons, but it's also like expanding horizons for all the kids in the town who want to ride bikes. and it's truly such a cool thing to see. and in terms of the bike park, they haven't broken ground yet. I don't know the timeline on that. I'm hoping next year they will have begun something. So when I return for the event, maybe we can do something there, like a groundbreaking or ribbon cutting or whatever it is, to to to signal that it's construction has begun. I do know they have the site picked out and all that, the cities behind it. but it really comes down to like dedicated parents that are supporting their kids chasing, cycling and You know, in my 13 years of going to Emporia, I think the first ride I ever did with the high school team, there were maybe like four kids on the team. Now, when I went back, I went back in April of this year to visit the team. There were well over 20 kids on the team. and it's just it's really just heartwarming to see kids find that joy. I ask kids questions when I go and and and I ask them all like, why why do you enjoy being on this team? There was only one kid out of the twenty that said, I enjoy the racing. It was all the community and the camaraderie of riding with other kids. And I was like, That's it right there. That's it. Brandon Morphew: Yeah, yeah. Yuri Hauswald: Racing is okay, but it's this it's this experience with your teammates that is going to leave an impact on you for the rest of your life, whether you realize it or not. Whether you just decide to continue racing or not, you're always gonna be a cyclist now because you had this experience as a kid. so in terms of me and what I helped, I hope to keep being able to do things where I can help push that forward. whether it's with future fundraising with lifetime, if they need more money to to be raised with the development of the park, I don't know. I haven't decided how I'm gonna go back to Unbound next year. You know, I'll probably do some sort of fundraising thing. But I don't know if it'll be focused around the bike park, or maybe it'll be focused around getting like kids of diverse backgrounds into riding gravel. so there's just so many ways that I feel like I can try now to help you know, like expand her horizons and make things a little bit more diverse in the gravel scene through connections in the bike industry that will just help sort of broaden the scope of who who this touches and hopefully empowers and inspires as they move forward. Brandon Morphew: Nice. I love it. what advice would you give to a a shop or or maybe you know, folks on a another business owner. what advice would you give to sort of making the community stronger? What are some things you think an owner a business owner could do? Yuri Hauswald: well, I mean, group rides, group runs are a great place to start if that makes sense for your business. you know, hosting them with you know, like snacks beforehand or a meal like pancakes like we have at the shop afterwards, like you know, brings people together of diverse ranges of skills and backgrounds. You know, I know that we also do some things to try to encourage the local team to come in through like shop discounts and things like that. Not everybody's able to do that, but I think it's really important to invest in the community as a business, no matter what your business is, and develop like you we talked about this earlier, a genuine, authentic relationship, not one that's like, you know. predatory where you're hoping just to like squeeze more money or dollars out of them, but like something that's mutually beneficial, right? The more that we merchant cycles nurture like the young cycling culture in that town and with the adults too. There's a couple lively group rides in that town, the better it is for our business. Whether they shop at our shop or not, it's just better for business. oftentimes Groups come to businesses for like sponsorship to put their logo on a t-shirt or this or that. Like, if you have the ability to do that, that $500 or whatever may go a long way to forging a relationship with that group and make them, you know, like we were saying about referrals. When somebody says, what business or sh like bike shop should I go to? They're like, merchant, they helped me with this. You should go check those guys out. They're cool. it's all about personal relationships Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: and character. doing what you say you're gonna do, responding to those emails, Brandon Morphew: I can't thank you enough, Yuri. Thank you for your time, sharing your your insights and and it's been great to get a chance to to to meet you and know you a little bit better. I'm gonna share the link to your video, your YouTube video that you shared. I I think it's a really fantastic Yuri Hauswald: Please, thank you. Brandon Morphew: video. Yeah, and we'll also include your Instagram which is why how Yuri Hauswald: Why Housewold? Brandon Morphew: Housewald. Yep. So H Yuri Hauswald: Yep. Brandon Morphew: A U S W A L D Yuri Hauswald: Yep. Brandon Morphew: on Instagram. we'll make sure people you know fuel up with with some goo. we'll recommend that. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: That's okay. There's lots of brands out there. You could use whatever works for you. But yeah, there's Brandon Morphew: Yeah, it it's really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: my goodness. on my involvement with goo and R D and nutrition, Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: because that's actually how I got my foot in the door. It wasn't because I was a good athlete, it was because I liked testing products and could communicate with the head of R and D at that time. my thoughts. And that's sort of what opened the door for me to come in as Brandon Morphew: Yeah. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: an athlete was like, this guy likes the stuff we're testing and he like responds to emails. So like, let's bring him in. Brandon Morphew: Yeah. What do you Yuri Hauswald: All right, I'm gonna let your listeners in on a little bit of a secret. but we are revamping our roctane line, particularly our drink and gel. our roctane line has elevated branch chain amino acids in it, three times that of our regular gel. we were one of the first to have a high carb drink, Roctane Ultra Endurance Drink has two hundred and fifty calories. It's been around for over a decade. it's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle of all the other high carb because everybody's been throwing high carb around. we actually work on things for a long time before they see the light of day. We have a lab in office. I'm often getting samples that have just come off the bench, take them out on a ride. One of my favorite parts of my job. is testing new stuff. but we are currently revamping our Rocktain line and looking to do a big launch in 27. Had some athletes that were using it this year at big events. one in particular, Ryan Montgomery, Ultrarunner got third at Western States, broke 14 hours, which was the old course record, but two other folks also broke 14 hours, which is mind-bending that somebody can Brandon Morphew: Crazy. Yeah. Yuri Hauswald: run a hundred miles that fast. But Ryan's an amazing athlete. And he had some of this new stuff on him while racing. also has worked in our performance lab with our head of like research and education. So anyway, Rock Tane 3.0, keep your eyes peeled. Probably won't be Brandon Morphew: Cool. I will. Yuri Hauswald: till like the second quarter of next year, but like We've been playing around with it for a while and now it's into the, you know, final stretch of like packaging and regulatory stuff and and all those things, the final hurdles before it hits retail. But it's really exciting. And I think it will give people a new perspective of goo, because I'll admit this right now. Most folks think of us as like the grandma grandpa gel because we've been around for so long, which is fair. A lot of new players out there. But this this relaunch, it's gonna it's gonna blow people's minds. It's really good. Yeah. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: Nice. Well I'm I appreciate you sharing and thanks for a little peek under the tent. We're grateful for that. And your time. Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Yeah. Brandon Morphew: Yuri. Thank thanks so much. And and and thanks everyone for listening. Have a wonderful, Yuri Hauswald: Yeah. Brandon Morphew: wonderful rest of your day. Take care. Thanks. Yuri Hauswald: Appreciate it, Brandon. Brandon Morphew: Bye, Yuri.