Stephen Hyde Retires
We missed this news coming through to our inbox because it got buried under a pile of bizarre offers to review carbon wheelsets for a $300 discount. Which is a shame, because Stephen Hyde is a rider we’ve long admired.
He began racing cyclocross in 2012, winning three U.S. National Titles and two Pan-American Continental Championships during his professional cycling career. Now he’s retiring. We’re sure we’ll still see him around the local cyclocross scene anyway. Stephen, we’ll buy you an $8 Notch if we ever bump into you at a beer tent.
Here’s what he says:
“I have given a lot to this wonderful sport, and in return, it has given me so much more. During my tenure in cycling, I have learned so many important lessons about life. About who I am as a person, and about who I am as an athlete.
“I am who I am in part because of this crazy world of travel and hard work, suffering and elation. Of long hours in the extremes of weather, in solitude, and in the presence of greatness. On this journey, I have seen, and felt all of the lows that one could handle in one lifetime. From injuries to depression to losses of life that have impacted my soul. I have fought like hell every step of the way to not only be the best athlete I could be, but the best person I could be. Through all of this I feel as if I have thrived and flourished.”
Beginning his professional career on the JAM Fund Development, Hyde then joined Astellas Pro Cycling for the road season and Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com for cyclocross, where he raced from 2015-2020. Coming up quickly through the cyclocross ranks, Hyde raced in the U.S. and abroad during his storied career. He stood on the starting line of 30 World Cups and six consecutive UCI Cyclocross World Championships for Team USA.
Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com Team Director Stu Thorne had nothing but kind things to say about his time spent with Hyde. “Hyde was the consummate professional. He was always exploring different ways to extract the most of his talents,” said Thorne. “His attention to detail was off the charts – dialing in his nutrition, bike fit, race day planning – he was really thorough. Top all that off with arguably some of the best bike handling skills out there and it’s no surprise he was a multi-time race winner.”
In 2020, Hyde transitioned to the Steve Tilford Foundation Racing Team, a new team created in honor of the late cyclocross legend, Steve Tilford.
“My last few years in the sport have been full of change, some of such magnitude that I can’t imagine life before. There are honestly too many people to thank for getting me into, through and out of this sport in one paragraph, far too many. I would like to give a special “Thanks” to Raylyn Nuss and everyone at the Steve Tilford Foundation Racing Team. Getting this team off the ground and into the world was no easy feat. I won’t profess to doing all that work either. I am proud and honored to have contributed to the team and I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to race in the name of the late, great Steve Tilford. A man I barely knew in his life, but got to know better through my time spent with his friends and family across the world. I can only hope to have made a fraction of the impact as he did on this community,” said Hyde.
As for what else is next, Hyde commented, “I am not sure of exactly. I think that my talents and drive can be better utilized in another area within the sport. I have so much to be thankful for, and still so much to repay. The mentorship and guidance I have received through my career has been the light leading me, now I want to repay that. I want to see the sport of cyclocross thrive in the U.S. and to produce champions at the level I know is possible. I will continue to grow my coaching and performance management business through a few different avenues. Only time will tell where that leads.”
Hyde currently resides in Easthampton, Mass. with his wife Hayley and 8-month-old daughter Georgia Grey.