AJ Baucco pulled a pro card in 2011 and as expected it has not been easy, but he is in for the long haul and now has diversified and found a new love for dirt.
Slowtwitch: Thank you for your time AJ.
AJ Baucco: I’m happy for the opportunity! Last time I graced the pages of Slowtwitch, it was almost five years ago when I was first turning professional.
ST: Well, how is cyclocross racing going for you?
AJ: I have the utmost respect for the guys (and gals) that race cyclocross. It couldn’t be more different than racing Ironman and I am having an absolute blast. It is some of the hardest racing I have ever done. It’s the only style of racing I have ever done where I can push myself to the brink of puking… with the exception of the beer mile.
ST: Why single speed?
AJ: This fall, I set out on a mission to become a better cyclist. In order to become a better cyclist, I needed to fully adopt cycling culture. In doing so, I was lucky enough to link up with a bunch of mountain bikers and roadies from Boulder. They were starting a single speed Cyclocross team in conjunction with Boulder Bicycle Works and Endurance Conspiracy. That seemed like the perfect opportunity to jump in head first! Single Speed racing is great because you can focus solely on putting down power whenever possible, and you learn to maintain momentum while riding in all conditions. I think it is safe to say that my bike handling skills are on another level as well.
ST: I think you realized that your cycling needed some work while racing in Europe this summer.
AJ: Racing in Europe for 3 weeks at the end of this summer was an eye opener. The racing made me realize that my pacing was completely dictated by the group, and if I wanted to be competitive, I needed to go well out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately, going so far out of my comfort zone in these long course races led to some of the slowest running I have ever done in my career. That trip didn’t go as planned, but it exposed some of my weaknesses, and I am very grateful for that. Now that I know where I stack up against some of the best, I can really focus my attention on the areas I need improvement. I’m now riding the fastest bike in triathlon, the Ventum One, but I need to continue to work on my aero position. I’m building up the new rig right now and I’m planning to secure a little time in the Faster AZ wind tunnel this winter. When I set out to change a weakness into a strength, I go all in.
ST: Why Faster?
AJ: Well, they are definitely the most affordable wind tunnel in the States. The Ventum team has spent countless hours there already, so the guys at Faster are very familiar with that bike. I also won’t mind a short trip to some slightly warmer weather when January comes around.
ST: How did you decide on that heavy 2 week racing block in Europe?
AJ: The original plan was Ironman Vichy and then Ironman Wales 2 weeks later. I had really great fitness going into those races, and I thought that I could maximize the opportunity to get Kona points leading into 2016. I had a great swim in Vichy and I found myself in the front group around mile 70 with only Bertrand Billard a minute up the road. Shortly after a rough section of road, I suffered a rear flat. I attempted to fix it a few times, but it wouldn’t hold air. Admittedly, I never considered that Vichy wouldn’t go well. I was in the best fitness of my career and I had that race playing out much differently in my head. I was a bit mentally lost after that DNF. I hadn’t prepared myself to overcome that type of adversity. After Vichy, I panicked a little bit and decided that I really needed more opportunities to recoup some of the funds I had lost traveling to Europe. I made the last minute decision to jump into the Carglass Cologne Triathlon in Germany. After talking to the race director, I thought I could possibly win it and take home the $1000 check. I couldn’t have been more wrong! European races are much different than in the States. High quality professionals came out for even the smallest prize purse. I raced my ass off, finished 5th and took home 100 euros, which I was never even paid. After that race, I couldn’t even afford to get to Ironman Wales. Instead, I decided to start at Challenge Almere – Amsterdam 6 days later. I had never attempted to race so much in a 13 day period, and it finally showed in Almere. I pushed myself so hard all day and wasn’t going anywhere. I got passed a quarter mile from the finish line and ended up right outside the money. Needless to say, I came back from Europe with a new perspective on professional triathlon.
ST: Were you traveling alone?
AJ: I had a fantastic home base outside of Amsterdam with infamous Dutch brothers, Diederik and Evert Scheltinga. Those guys showed me some amazing hospitality, and I can now consider myself an honorary brother. I still had to travel down to France and Germany by myself, but having a home base made the trip much more tolerable.
ST: How did you make the connection with the Scheltinga guys? Also where did you stay while in France and Germany?
AJ: When I raced in New Orleans this year, I received a random Facebook message from those guys. They were staying in the same hotel as me and they went to the front desk and asked for the name of anyone staying there that was also doing the race. Turns out that the Scheltinga brothers thought New Orleans was like Holland and they could just ride their bikes for transportation. I later found out that they had been trying to ride their bikes on the freeway to get to the race site. Since I wanted to see these guys survive their first race trip in the States, I drove them around for the weekend. We quickly became good friends, especially after the race when we hit the town hard with Lesley Smith and Matt Charbot. While traveling in France and Germany, I was lucky to secure homestays. The families were very hospitable but neither spoke any English at all. It definitely made for a few awkward interactions.
ST: Over the last winter you worked on your swim and I believe at 70.3 St. Croix that showed.
AJ: I have been slowly climbing the ranks for a while now, but every year I race professionally, I find a weakness that I need to address. Leading into 2015, I knew I needed to get my swimming up another level. I basically swam every day for the entire fall and winter with a squad here in Boulder. By the time the race season came around, I had definitely improved. In St. Croix, I took the best line off the start and found myself leading the race at 400 meters. At that point, I started wondering if I had swam off course. Around 800 meters, Matt Charbot and Drew Scott finally caught up to me. Matt dropped us by the turn around, but I was able to come out of the water with Drew Scott and Richie Cunningham.
ST: Were you happy with your race overall?
AJ: I was happiest with my swim that day. St. Croix was definitely one of the coolest races I had ever done, but it was insanely difficult. I crumbled in the heat of the island and slogged to that 6th place finish. In hindsight, I would have done much more heat acclimation in preparation for that race.
ST: But there is no money for 6th place.
AJ: Actually, that race paid 8 places. I took home a decent check but still lost a fair bit of money on the weekend. I wasn’t upset at all though. It was the first time that my lovely girlfriend got to see me race, we had an amazing homestay, and we got to party in paradise for a couple days.
ST: Do you still party much?
AJ: Life is a party Herbert!!! I’m still incredibly outgoing, social, and love an excuse to get together with friends and have some fun. I’m not interested in late nights anymore, but I am still interested in the occasional happy hour or Sunday BBQ. We actually have a lot of BBQs at my house in Boulder. I have become the self-appointed social coordinator of Boulder professional triathletes. I can’t say our parties are too wild though… We did have a pretty good 4th of July blow out. My neighbors still talk about the crazy Aussies that were running around in their underwear. I won’t name names though.
ST: Has your swimming held steady since last winter?
AJ: My swimming has been solid since the beginning of 2015. That definitely won’t change. I feel like I finally ticked that box and can focus more of my energy developing my bike. Once my bike is on par with the best, then I can finally focus on my running. I’ve always been a decent runner, but rarely get to show that off in a triathlon. I am typically pretty smashed up from the way the pro field rides.
ST: What were some of your other summer highlights? Racing and otherwise?
AJ: In my lead up to Ironman Vichy, I went home and raced the Cleveland Triathlon for the first time in 6 years. It was such a pleasure to go home and race in front of family and friends. Also while home, I was able to host an open water swim clinic for the Cleveland Triathlon Club. I have been a long time member of that club and it is truly one of the best triathlon clubs in the country. Once I returned from Europe, I had the pleasure of going back to Cleveland again to stand next to my brother during his wedding as his best man. My connections in Cleveland are still very strong, and I am happy every time I can visit home.
ST: With your current focus on cycling, how much time do you spend swimming and running?
AJ: I’m definitely not running or swimming much right now. I’m riding every day, swimming hard 3 times a week, and running aerobically 3 times a week. Oddly though, my swimming and running is far better than it was at this time last year. Although, I am much leaner right now from all the bike racing. That definitely translates into faster running.
ST: You started Zwifting recently. Has that found you well?
AJ: I’m not going to lie, Zwift is pretty awesome. It has given me a tremendous amount of motivation for indoor riding. We have barely gotten any bad weather in Boulder, but I’ve been opting for the trainer way more than usual. I’m looking forward to seeing more familiar faces on there. I have already been able to ride virtually with a few out of town buddies.
ST: How did you do your setup?
AJ: I picked up a Wahoo Kickr for cheap at Velo Bike Swap in Denver a few weeks ago. I pair that, along with my Stages power meter, and then connect my laptop to the TV in my training room. I’ll blast some Iron Maiden and go to work for a few hours.
ST: How does the Stages power meter compare to the built in Kickr one for you?
AJ: I notice about a 10 watt difference between the two power meters. The Wahoo Kickr definitely reads a little bit high. I always follow my Stages numbers since that is what I use outside and in racing. It is always best to commit to one power meter that you can use in all environments.
ST: Are you calibrating that Kickr?
AJ: Yep! I calibrate it before every ride...
ST: Talk about your coaching and the new age group team.
AJ: Shortly after I started racing professionally, I started coaching as a favor to a couple friends. That grew into a part time hobby, but has recently turned into a full time job. Over the past few years, I have trained several coaches to work alongside me, and we have developed AJ Baucco Coaching LLC. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with how that has been going. In 2015, we qualified 2 athletes for Kona and several athletes for 70.3 Worlds. All of our athletes are incredibly passionate and they have seriously renewed my own passion for triathlon. I find myself training and racing harder than ever and it’s because I feed off of my athletes' hard work and persistence. I invite everyone to check out our group of amazing athletes at ajbcoaching.com
We started our age group race team, called the “Baucco Squad”, a couple years ago. Originally, we developed it as a way to promote camaraderie within our group of coached athletes. Our athletes enjoyed seeing each other at races in the same kit all over the country. New for 2016, we are opening our team to the public (application is at the bottom of this interview). We want to grow the team bigger and create an even better community of amazing athletes. This year we are lucky to have several companies standing behind us. Tony DeBoom and Endurance Conspiracy will be designing our one-of-a-kind triathlon kits. For those people who don’t know Endurance Conspiracy, they are currently putting out some of the coolest t-shirts and hats in endurance sports. We also have partnerships with Blueseventy, XX2i, Infinit Nutrition, ENVE, Stages Cycling, Rudy Project, Swiftwick and more. We want to welcome athletes of all ability levels. We’re looking for athletes that love the sport of triathlon, race hard and race often, have a positive attitude, and are looking to make triathlon as fun as possible. We will also be doing a big training camp in Florida this winter. We’ve done that camp a few years now and this year we are opening that to the public! Information can be found on ajbcoaching.com as well.
ST: Isn’t running an age group team a very crowded field? Possibly more crowded and competitive than actually racing?
AJ: Very true. Age group triathlon teams are commonplace, but we are still seeing a ton of demand for our style of team. We aren’t an elite team or a team that bases membership on number of Twitter followers. Frankly, we aren’t really like the other ‘sponsored’ triathlon teams. We are more of a social club that attract athletes that love to race, and possibly love to celebrate their race even more. We built a team around athletes that embody the true roots of triathlon. Before triathlon became a social media contest, friends would smash each other every week for pride and glory. In an effort to save our dear sport of triathlon, we try to foster that mindset in our team. We build our team camaraderie through team events, training camps, and our forum. We had our team at over 200 different triathlons in 2015. In 2016, it’s safe to say that you’ll see our unique “Baucco Squad” kits popping up everywhere!
ST: How much does this extracurricular activity take away from your day job as a pro triathlete?
AJ: Running a small business, an age group team, and several training camps definitely can take away from professional triathlon. Long gone are afternoon naps, Netflix marathons, and nights at the bar. I work all day, every day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. All of the efforts that I used to dump into my extravagant social life have been reinvested in these other avenues. As a result, I have found myself being able to focus even more on my career as a professional triathlete. There are many good professional triathletes that run small businesses and work full time jobs. Those aren’t valid excuses for slacking off in the training. There are thousands of age groupers out there working full time, taking care of families, and training their asses off every morning and night. I know because I interact with those athletes on a daily basis.
ST: So what is next on your schedule for 2016?
AJ: 2016 is still a bit up in the air. I am committed to racing Cyclocross until the end of the year. At that point, I will start transitioning into more triathlon specific training. After an entire off season of 40 minute races, I would really like the opportunity to race with Major League Triathlon. They are still finalizing their race series, but if I get the chance, I will definitely race with them. I should be fit pretty early, so I may also find myself at the start line in San Juan or Monterey. Maybe head back to Wildflower as well. I’ll definitely be going back to Challenge San Gil in Mexico. That race is organized by a fantastic group of individuals and is really a quality event.
ST: Anything else we should know?
AJ: In my last Slowtwitch interview, I encouraged people to connect with me on social networks and I definitely want to do that again! I love connecting with other triathletes so I encourage people to tweet at me, shoot me a Facebook message, or come ride with me on Zwift. I’d also like to invite everyone to fill out an application for our race team, the “Baucco Squad”. No doubt, we will be rocking some of the coolest custom gear in all of triathlon!
You can follow AJ on Twitter via @irunshirtless
And here is a link to the Baucco team application.
