About the Organizers

Tom Schuler & Team Sports Inc.

The Event will be produced by Team Sports Inc. Team Sports Inc, is owned and operated by Tom Schuler. Before Team Sports was formed Tom was a 10-year member of the 7-Eleven Pro Cycling team and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Cycling Team. Tom is a tremendous supporter of the cycling community and his past event experience has a history of providing quality events to athletes of all levels. Team Sports Inc has a proven track record of producing Mountain and Road bike races, triathlons, and cross country ski races.

Jack Hirt

This event will be under the direct management of Team Sports Events Director, Jack Hirt. Jack has been involved in all aspects of cycling in the State of Wisconsin. Jack worked for five years with the Bicycle Federation of WI, a state wide bicycle advocacy group, before leaving to become the Executive/Race director of the Tour of America’s Dairyland. The Tour of America’s Dairyland is an 11 day bicycle race visiting 10 different cities in southern Wisconsin with 2,700 participants. Jack has raced nearly every mountain bike, road bike, and cyclo-cross race in the state as an amateur.

Phil Van Valkenberg

Course design and volunteer coordination will be handled by Phil Van Valkenberg. Phil is a veteran on and off road cyclist. He has written eight privately published road and mountain biking books on Wisconsin and the Midwest along with writing and researching seven editions of the Wisconsin Biking Guide for the Department of Tourism. Most importantly from the standpoint of the race is his involvement with the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in the Cable/Hayward area of northwest Wisconsin since its inception in 1983, perennially one of the nation's largest off-road events. He designed the popular Chequamegon 40 race course, a sustainable forty-mile route consisting of forest trails and roads and some open fields on public and private lands. Phil expects the Unnamed Epic course to match up on every level.