Recently Sterling Magnell of Rock Racing took the time to discuss his pro cycling career and his life in general. I think you will find that Magnell isn’t cut from the same cloth as most cyclists which makes his discussion with Chaos Cycling Club all the interesting.

CCC: Live to cycle or cycle to live?
SM: Cycle to live
CCC: Obviously you have great passion for cycling as a professional, considering the commitment it takes to maintain the fitness and mental edge to have the successful season you’ve had but if you “cycle to live” is it safe to say that being a professional cyclist is your career rather than the focal point of who you are as a person?
SM: I think of racing as a blank canvas that I can do anything with. My focus is on how I can make an impact and racing has been my outlet for over half my life.
CCC: I want to complement you on your web site sterlingmagnell.com. How much input did you have in the overall design?
SM: I design everything.
CCC: What is so intriguing about it is that you put yourself out their in a real raw manner. I think few professional athletes present themselves to the public in such a revealing way. It’s obvious you have a lot more to say than you ride a bike for a living.
SM: I like to provoke and inspire. It’s an organic process, I write whatever is on my mind and I say it how I see it. I want my site to be a true reflection of who I am so when people go read it they get the right idea about me.
CCC: You’ve been riding professionally for 8 years yet you found the time to go to school for fashion design at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco. How much does your interest play a part in your life currently?
SM: 6 years. I’m keeping one eye on the fashion world. I still draw and come up with ideas.
CCC: Any specific goals you have in the pursuit of fashion in the future?
SM: I’d like to start a brand in collaboration with my father one day for fashion and furniture. We share the same passion for design but in different areas and I think we could create good product in a very different quality way that would be inspiring to people.
CCC: What area of design does your father focus on? Your father is also a cyclist? It sounds like you have a tight relationship? A guiding force in the direction your life took during your youth?
SM: My Fathers love for design manifest itself in objects, like furniture, cars and houses. He actually built and designed the hillside house I was born in, which to this day remains largely untouched by new owners in Laguna Beach. He’s been riding for a long time and did some racing of his own the first few years I was getting into it. We’re very close… I can’t say enough about him, he’s the shit.

CCC: I can’t resist. Do you watch Project Runway?
SM: No. I’ve seen the show before though and I got enough of that kind of shit in school. Plus I don’t own a television.
CCC: You don’t own a television. Is that a conscious choice or just a matter of circumstance?
SM: Choice. There’s never anything good on.
CCC: besides fashion design do you have any other artistic endeavors you are currently pursuing? I assume much of your photography not only on your web site but myspace page is yours and you write poetry as well?
SM: Yes. I have a huge desire to make music. Taking pictures, drawing and writing I do out of instinct. They’re just different forums, different languages but each one is somewhat limited. They touch on different parts but never the whole picture. Music to me feels limitless, much like riding where there’s actually the capacity to throw your whole self into it. So that’s the next frontier that I see.
CCC: What kind of music? What Instrument do you play?
SM: Stuff I can make by mixing and using a drum machine, then record vocals over. I hear stuff in my head but I can’t accurately give it a genre. I play the piano but for different reasons, I’ve been playing since I was 10.
CCC: It’s a Cliché but for many, popular music can be seen as a soundtrack to their own lives. What would be the soundtrack to your life this past year?
SM: “On Every Street” by Dire Straits
CCC: Favorite Poet, Writer?
SM: Bob Dylan and Spank Rock
CCC: Bob Dylan and Spank Rock. Those are pretty eclectic tastes. If you where to introduce the two at a party what would you say?
SM: I have no idea. I think I’d have to shoot from the hip in that situation.
CCC: You box?
SM: Yes, not competitively.
CCC: What got you into boxing?
SM: I got left off the roster for a race at the last minute two years ago. I happened across a boxing gym and needed an outlet. I like it because it pushes me past my limits and I have to give 100% to get through it.
CCC: So if someone doesn’t like your fashion design, poetry or art you are ready to kick ass.
SM: No I welcome criticism.
CCC: Lover or Fighter?
SM: I don’t see much daylight between the two.
CCC: If I said you are a modern day Renaissance man how do you respond?
SM: I’d ask you what that looks like.
CCC: Someone who finds inspiration in many things and has a thirst for knowledge and experience in all that life can afford. Perhaps you are a Nihilist?
SM: God no. The opposite.
CCC: Man’s Man or Ladies Man or both?
SM: Neither. I just find myself drawn to certain individuals.
CCC: But as a professional athlete and thus a “celebrity” would you say that you are one to be admired by men or desired by women in the way you present yourself?
SM: You’re being optimistic.

CCC: The archetype of style, intelligence, honor and integrity of men changes each generation but in some regards is timeless. What famous icons people do you admire that represent these qualities, male or female?
SM: no one
CCC: You have some ink on your right chest that says “incorrigible.” Should a person take that at face value or is there a deeper story?
SM: Both. In some sense it’s a confession. In another sense it’s about resolve. Anyway you take it you’d be right.
CCC: You are an Aries. How much do you personally subscribe to astrology and if you do are you a dead on Aries or not?
SM: I’m told I fit the bill 100%. My rising sign is Virgo
Though which is supposedly how you are on the surface, so I think I throw people off initially before they get to know me. I believe when and where you’ve been born absolutely would reflect some things about who you are. But I don’t have any thoughts on astrology beyond that.
CCC: When you aren’t on your training schedule or actually racing what do you do in you’re down time and do you hang with other cyclists, specifically teammates or with friends from your hood in Los Angeles and hometown of Laguna Beach.
SM: No stopping anytime. I’m almost always on. I’m always thinking or dreaming of something so in my minds eye there’s really no such thing as down time there’s just time. I go out with a few of my teammates and close friends when I’m home. I love shows and hitting up my favorite bar downtown called 7-Grand. I never pass up a chance to go to the ocean but I haven’t been to Laguna since I was a child. I know most of the bike messengers in LA and I hang with them when I can, there’s always an alley cat race to do and an after party to go to.
CCC: What was the last show you caught?
SM: the “Brazilian Girls” they’re a very eclectic band out of NYC. There aren’t any “Brazilian Girls” in the band. It’s three guys and with a female vocalist that speaks 7 languages always wears costumes with a statement when she performs.
CC: Next time you go to the 7-Grand what are you drinking?
SM: Knob Creek strait up
CCC: You go to Alley Cats. Do you reveal that you are a professional cyclist?
SM: No I just chill and enjoy the whole thing like everyone else.
CCC: How do you like living in Los Angeles and are you intending to keep you home base as it is next year.
SM: I love Los Angeles. It’s chaotic, diverse and a sort of beautiful wasteland. There are many other places I could consider living but I feel that this is where I belong at least for a while.
CCC: The first question I asked was simply. “Live to cycle or cycle to live.” Do you see this shifting if you professional cycling career continues to show success or will you always be looking to maintain a balance of all the things that makes you Sterling Magnell?
SM: Well there are absolutely sacrifices one has to make to be successful in the sport and I’m more than willing to make them. But there’s no reason why that balance can’t still exist. There’s always a way to be creative no matter where you are you just have to be willing. My focus now is on getting the tools and resources I need in place so that I never have to choose between being an artist or an athlete. It takes work to integrate everything into one lifestyle but that’s my goal.
CCC: To reference my first question, Live to cycle, or cycle to live and your answer, Cycle to live. You have been a Professional cyclist for 6 years. Was this what you wanted to be when you were a kid.
SM: Since I was 12. My Father was friends with Tom Ritchey and when I learned about the Ritchey pro MTB team, that’s been my goal. I started training on my Dad’s bike right away doing laps around the 4 acres I grew up on. The idea never occurred to me before that for some reason even though I watched the Tour growing up and rode with my Father on weekends. When I was real little I wanted to be a pilot like my Uncle. A little later I wanted to breed falcons own a zoo and have a pool with dolphins. I always dreamt big but the bike was the first thing that took me anywhere.
CCC: You have a picture on your myspace page where you talk about riding with your Dad in the Dolomites. Has he been a big influence on your professional cycling career?
SM: The biggest. I wasn’t actually there; he and Tom took that trip together. They deserve full credit for getting me into the sport. Sometimes my Dad and I drove all night and slept in the suburban to do some little junior race. Looking back it’s hard to believe how much he’s done for me.
CCC: Have you had many mentors in cycling or have you done things your own way?
SM: Those two for sure. Then there’s a long list, I’ve learned some really important lessons from a bunch of people.
CCC: You have been with Rock Racing for 2 years, is that correct? What has it been like riding for a team that has gotten so much attention?
SM: Ridiculously hectic and fun. Cycling and Fashion are two totally different worlds but I think they deserve each other.
CCC: I hear a lot of talk about Rock Racing from outside the peloton. What is the attitude inside the peloton from riders of other teams?
SM: My experience has been that you’re respected as an individual within the peloton.

CCC: Before you rode for Rock Racing you where with Toyota-United. A team that has had a lot of success but is losing it’s sponsor and is disbanding. First, why did you leave TU and second what are your thoughts in regards to one of the strongest US based teams having to shut things down because of a lack of a title sponsor?
SM: I had a blast with them in 06’. They decided not to resign me so I moved to Rock. I can’t speak to what has happened since then with the team but I remain friends with all my old teammates.
CCC: Do you like where Cycling in the United States is heading?
SM: Hell yeah. It’s gotten so fast. And the level of awareness and popularity in the public eye is rising all the time, I feel lucky being in the sport at such a time.
CCC: Among your Palmares in 2008, including 4 first places you won the Pro-Am Challenge, US Criterium Championships. Was that the pinnacle of your season or was there another highlight for you.
SM: 5 first places. That was definitely one of them but the highlight of my season was winning Downers Ave. Everyone was trying to beat me but I had the support of my whole team and my Father was there watching. I can’t describe how much effort emotional and physical I put into that night. Afterwards I lay on the ground for 5 minutes, and then I cried.
CCC: You rode a lot of Crits this year yet you also were on the Tour of Missouri squad. Do you have any influence on your schedule? What are your favorite types of races?
SM: No. Every race I did this year was on last minute notice and I just did my best when I had the opportunity to race. I love anything fast and technical. Hopefully I’ll have some input on what races I get in the future…
CCC: You were the US Junior Road Race Champion in 1998 and US Junior Time Trial Champion in 1999. That is a pretty high benchmark to start a career. Looking back is there anything different you would have done in channeling your career?
SM: No not at all. I’ve always done it exactly how I felt at the time and gotten direct results, good and bad. If I’d approached it with some kind of formula I don’t think I’d have learned as much and I’d have less to offer today.
CCC: You seem like a guy who is always pushing the envelope. Is that your riding style as well?
SM: No I think I just see the “envelope” differently than most people.
CCC: Outside of actually racing what has been the most surprising thing that you have experienced this year riding for Rock Racing?
SM: How much camaraderie has grown within the organization. I’ve enjoyed the people I work with a great deal.
CCC: What is in store for Sterling Magnell next season as a professional cyclist?
SM: More of the same, but on another level.
For more information about Sterling Magnell visit sterlingmagnell.com
By: Andrew Hershberger Chaos Cycling Club