ProCycleNews caught up with Toyota-United's Burke Swindlehurst to find out more...

By Brian C. Grenier

This past evening I had a chance to talk with Burke Swindlehurst, one of Toyota-United's new riders. While new to the team, Burke is not new to Pro Racing. He has just finished up a stint with the Navigators Insurance cycling team where his impressive record speaks for itself. 

Burke is a climber, he excels on the toughest climbs and in mountainous stage races. Always a competitive threat when the road goes up, he has claimed victories in many of America's most notorious and difficult races. His dry wit and calm demeanor hide an aggressive adversary always ready to throw down the gauntlet. Burke now adds balance and depth to the team's road and stage-race assault.

A multi-faceted and reflective individual, Burke's many interests include fly-fishing and hiking. Burke lives in UT with his wife Tiffany.  I caught up with Burke right after his return from the wind tunnel in San Diego.

Burke how did things go in the tunnel today?

Brian, things went real well it was just awesome to get to go there. I wasn't scheduled to go to the tunnel in the beginning - the team only had 2 hrs of wind time however I was invited to go and wow what a privilege it was. The Wind Tunnel in SD is one of the very few in the world that is set up to handle cyclists. The set up is intimidating from the tunnel to the complexity of the software. I wasn't on my bike but even with that we set the seat and worked on positioning and we found some time - amazing!

The biggest thing is that at the complex they have a wall of champions and everyone from the past 10 years of cycling greatness is up on that wall and there I was doing the same thing as greats like Dave Milliar and Lance - it will give you a perspective for sure.

  Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you are got started in Cycling?

I came from a cycling family in a sense. My uncle was a Masters Cyclist. I think when I was about 15 he came out to Utah to get ready for the Nationals that year. So I got to see him train and get ready. You know, at that time I was into what ever 15 year olds are into, skate boarding and the like - cycling was the furthest thing from my mind. I went to watch the road race portion of the race in Park City and I was hooked! I went home with the idea 'hey how do I get into this'. I think my uncle saw that I had an interest and he started sending me old copies of Winning Magazine. I started flipping through those and come Christmas I asked for a bike instead of a skate board. My mom thought it was a passing phase but I got hold of that bike and never looked back!

For where my career is going, I am going to be 34 this year and to a lot of people that is a time when some ones career is winding down, but I don’t see myself that way. In reality I see things in the opposite way. My career is just taking off and I am getting better all the time. There is a lot to be said for maturity, you have a lot more time in your legs and a back log of pain. Not only those things but the maturity helps with the difficulty both physically and mentally - that is just part of being a professional cyclist. Look at guys like Scott Moniger, he had the best year of his life last year and I think he is near 40!

What brought you to Toyota-United?

There are a variety of factors that went into that. First off there are a lot of my friends on this team, guys that I have been riding with for years either on the Navigators or just in general. Great guys like Chris Wherry - we have been friends since we were 15, we were hanging out telling jokes 18 years ago and we are still doing it today, so that is some depth. For me it is the right atmosphere at the right time for me. Toyota-United doesn’t have a European program this year and with the Navigators they had a heavy overseas program and I wasn't comfortable with it. Plus the time of year we were overseas - it was spring and it was spring weather and being a climber and very light I suffered in that raining cold climate.  Toyota has their sights set on the US domestic scene and I am happy to focus on that and am comfortable with it. I am thrilled with every aspect of this team, I mean I have been here for what 9 days now and I already feel like we have been together for a long time. They go out of their way to make you comfortable - a lot of teams are not like that it takes sometime to find your place and where you fit in. It is a Team atmosphere for sure. Look what we did at Ivans house with that party, that was just to cool - we are still talking about it! Ivan and his wife, they put on a spread you know! We are all wondering just how much we are going to have to alter our nutrition after that feast!

Can you tell us your thoughts on what it is like on a Pro Team and what the training is like?

That is a hard question for me to answer. This has been my life now for such a long time. I can’t reference it to anything else really - for me this is life! Training, that is another thing that is just part of me. Not to go out and ride is the exception. I take 6-8 weeks off the bike each year and I have to tell you Brian, I drive my wife Tiffany crazy, it is just what I do! SO for me part of being a pro is that training is something that you look forward to and get going.  You look forward to the whole event really, riding in the rain for 5 hrs and coming home and taking a hot shower and having a good meal. Then when I relax I can feel my legs and I know I put in a good days work - that’s the feeling I get and I relish it!

You raced a bit in Europe what do you see as different?

When I first started out I was on Team Saturn and we did a lot of European racing and that was an experience let me say! My first race ever over there was the 'Peace Race' which is one of the hardest races in the world. So that was my introduction to European racing, a baptism by fire so to speak. But the main difference is just the depth of talent over in Europe. Here there are maybe 20-30 guys that do all the winning on the domestic circuit but in Europe you can have 140 at one race all capable of winning and the next weekend be in a new place with a different crowd of racers and again there will be 140 guys that are capable of winning - the depth of the talent there is huge. In America it is growing by leaps and bounds and every year it gets better for sure!

This looks like another banner year for you guys, how does it look like it is shaking out?

We are looking real good. We have done a couple of tests to see where everyone is sitting and we are looking good. Without giving it all away yesterday we did a team time trial and everyone was firing on all cylinders - that was a killer and everyone went hard I mean hard! We are jamming!