'I’m a very analytical person.' - Alex Wild Interview

Introduce yourself 

I am 27 now. I started riding when I was 17. I really started mountain biking in the way we know it as racing and training around 19 or 20. I work as a data analyst for Specialized. 

How long have you been racing pro? 

I’ve been racing pro since 2011 when I first raced u23, or first figured out that u23 existed. When I went from cat 1 17-89, I thought the next progression was cat 1 19-29, and then I showed up to the first race and all the guys I was racing with before in the Norcal League were now in the pro race, and I was all confused. So I raced 19-29 for a year, and then I think I upgraded right before the nationals and raced u23 at nationals. 


How did you get your start in the bike industry? 

Through my local shop was my first sponsorship for riding, and I had taken a break in the year of 2014 from work to explore racing full time. Unfortunately, at the same time I incurred a back injury that kind of sidelined me for a couple years and didn't go super well and was looking to kind of rejoin the workforce. I chatted with one of the guys that had given me a frame as a part of our sponsorship and was like is there anything at Specialized. I got in at the ground level as a product coordinator on the equipment team and kind of just grew my skill set and experience from there. Did that for a couple years, then moved into supply planning, and from there I went to analytics. 

How do you balance training and work? 

It’s an interesting one, but I always tell people that I’m quite lucky to work where I work. I feel like the traditional 9-to-5 story is you either wake up super early and you’re on the trainer or getting out there break of dawn, or it’s like right as you finish work you’re going for a ride or using your commute to train. I definitely have my fair share of that but it’s kind of the exception not the rule. We have a set lunch ride every day at work, so the culture at Specialized is very geared towards riding. I mean on double days when I have gym in the morning, I definitely wake up and get that done early before work, but I’m very lucky in the aspect that if you’re still at your desk at 12:15 at Specialized they look at you funny.  

I’m a very analytical person, so I think having a schedule helps. I think I almost race better with a full time job than without. And I think the personal life—I’m getting married this year in October—I think that really helps balance the racing. We train so hard for a result, and it’s very hard to not tie your self worth to that result. I got a sneak peak at that at XC worlds. Some athletes didn’t have a great race, and it’s like that’s right before they have to renegotiate their contract, their living for the next couple years. It’s a pressure cooker. I think having a full time job makes racing more of a passion than it would be if it was a job. I think the analytical part just helps with especially these times. In the back of my head I’ve said alright we’re not racing in 2020, so any races that do happen are just positives. I value my analytical mindset in these times, so I'm just as excited to go out and stare at my power meter and hit numbers as I am to race. Like I just enjoy the process. 

How do you manage all the travel associated with racing? 

I do a mix of working remotely, as well as taking days off for racing. I think the biggest change it does for my training is I don’t have time for those 20 hour weeks that a lot of pros do, like those big base builds or aerobic builds. My biggest week tends to be about 14 hours. This year, I took a week off work and actually went to Hawaii for a set training camp/vacation, and I hit 20 hours there but it’s very rare that I go over 14 hours of riding in a week. So, a lot of our stuff is very focused and structured and it’s go out, do this power, rest for this much. Everything’s very prescribed and pointed in what we’re trying to get out of it. 

Explain your job as a supply chain analyst

I pretty much work with our KPIs which are key performance indicators—so how much inventory we have on hand. Also working with forecast accuracy and aged inventory and new product launches. For example, we launched the new Diverge today, and for the last 12 months we were looking at how much inventory of the new bike we’ll have at launch and how much of the old inventory previous generation diverge will we have at launch, as well. So, trying to have enough to sell through to the launch and also to fuel the launch. So, making sure we have the right inventory at the right place at the right time. 

How has the pandemic impacted your job? 

It’s definitely put more importance on the inventory management side of things. I’m lucky in the aspect that working from home was already part of my routine, as well as being in analytics—I need a computer, and that’s about it to do my job. My team, before the pandemic, was already in Salt Lake City, at one of our warehouses working out of there, so we’re already set up Zoom and slack and email and text and all the other ways to keep in touch. That was kind of like our workflow to start with, so we kind of saw not a lot of disruption from it. It just had put a lot more emphasis on having the right inventory. Everybody’s seeing low dollar bikes and fitness bikes doing well so making sure we have those. I was proud that we’re sharing the profit off specialized.com. If you order a bike, you can select your local bike shop, and then they’ll get part of that sale even though you didn’t go through that shop. And if you don’t select a shop, we don’t take the money, we take the zip code it was shipped to and find the closest specialized retailer, and we actually give them credit for that sale. We’re doing the best we can to support the retailers through this. 

Have there been problems with the supply chain, like sourcing parts from factories? 

Everybody is seeing delays. Whether or not the bike comes from China, some piece of it will, so if we’re sourcing Sram components or Shimano—any part of that bike could come through China. Definitely seeing delays but our team that works with the vendors have done a great job to minimize that. 

What was your race schedule for 2020? 

The plan for 2020 for me was to start the year with the Pro XCT. I was actually down in LA when the pandemic kicked off. I made the call not to race short track even though that race went on. I just kind of did some research beforehand and started to understand what flattening the curve meant and kind of tried to do my part there. I was going to start off with the Pro XCTs, Sea Otter and then it would be on to Epic Rides Whiskey 50, I had Belgian Waffle Ride on the schedule and then take a little break.I had a big star next to XC National champs. Leadville was back on my calendar, and I was going to do a local gravel race out here called the lost and found 100 that got cancelled, and then marathon nationals at the end of the year. 

No World Cups? 

With the U.S. securing only one spot, I probably would have needed 2 or 3 spots to have a shot at going to the Olympics, so I am taking a step away from that and doing the races that fuel the personal fire in me. I had always wanted to go back to Leadville after racing in 2018 as that race didn’t go according to plan, and I feel like it’s a good set up for me. So, it’s doing those races that are less points focused and more endurance and fun focused. 

What do you think about the state of XC racing in the USA? 

We don’t have the level of athlete that Switzerland does or the level of spectator, I guess. But if you look on the women's side like Kate Courtney and Erin Huck and Lea Davison and all those gals who secured 3 spots for the Olympics, they’re killin it at XC. It’s not necessarily like XC is dead, I just think that we have a very diverse set of races around here. Marathon isn’t anything new. I just think there is more grassroots style stuff coming up that people can relate to. People like to watch XC so maybe fans would be more into it if we had more people at the front of the race at the World Cups. I think there’s probably more US fans watching the women’s race because they're seeing the US women win those races so it excites them. Whereas something like an Epic Rides or a gravel race is like the running marathon of the mountain bike world. People go to races to complete the 200 miles. I think it’s more of a participation thing. I don’t think anybody aspires to, necessarily, to do those 7 laps on a short circuit. It’s fun, but I think people are more goal oriented in terms of I want to ride this 100 mile gravel race or I want to take a 50 mile challenging day at Epic Rides. The vibe is more geared toward them with amateur races and then there’s a pro field that can show you what the pinnacle of human can do. 

Did I see that you’re sponsored by Orange Seal this year? 

Yes, I have gone back to a privateer program. Specialized is still onboard for bikes, but Orange Seal is my title sponsor. I’m working with DNA Cycling again as well as Sram, rockshox and Quarq for components. 

The draw to Orange Seal for me is we’re very similar in values. Jon Vargas, The owner— he loves racing. And he doesn’t push you to say anything or to support anything that you don’t believe in. He’s like I don’t need you to go fake a puncture. If you get a puncture on the ride, yeah sure take a story of it. It’s a family vibe and they know they make great products, and it’s just a matter of making it cool I guess. They support athletes who are kind to people and represent their brand in a good way, and they know that's what makes people try their product, and they have the product to back it up. So it’s not a pushy sales pitch kind of thing.