A Briton by birth, Paul Skilbeck has lived and raced bicycles in many nations. One of the most experienced cycling publicists in the USA, Paul’s educational background is in sports science and business management. As early as 1990 he converted from being a competitor on the mountain bike world cup circuit to a journalist, and has worked as a communicator ever since. Apart from writing hundreds of cycling features and race reports for publications across the globe, in 1995 he wrote the cornerstone book about mountain bike skills and race training “Single Track Mind.” After founding the website for the International Cycling Union in 1997, Paul came to live in San Francisco, where he set up a cycling specific public relations/sports marketing company, O2 Sports Media in 2003 after a stint running communications for the Sea Otter Classic and NORBA series. He has been the press officer at two cycling world championships, has consulted for the International Olympic Committee, and has been enthusiastically involved with the NorCal High Schools MB League since 2001. In 2008 he is running PR for the Suzuki 24 Hour National Point Series (yes, this race).

As a bicycle racer, Paul started out on the road in Canberra, Australia, during 1980, aged 17. Competing in his first race, a 10-mile time trial, on an old bike with flat handlebars and flat pedals without clips and straps, he surprised a few of the regulars, and prompted the former British universities time trial champion, Barry Longstaff, to exclaim “You’re a bloody good rider!” Longstaff finally caught Paul near the finish line after having him in his sights for five miles. From there it was pretty much downhill all the way, as Paul’s relationship with bike racing featured more divorces than Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. There was a flurry of road and track races in and around Canberra in 2008 (his training partners Steven Hodge and Neil Stephens went to Europe and pursued professional careers), then a few years and many beers later, a stint of international racing on the nascent mountain bike world cup circuit in 1990. More recently, in 2005 he began a reckless flirtation with ultra-cycling at the Furnace Creek 508, and now this. By god, what is it all leading to? One might well ask. When fit Paul is pretty quick, but the real question to ask is “Is he fit?” Chances are he’s spending too much time writing about the sport and not practicing it.