Whether football, tennis or cycling, professional athletes impress with their performances and thrill the masses. However, professional sport is not a job that you do until retirement age. Sooner or later, an active sports career will come to an end. As soon as former professionals no longer take part in renowned competitions, the press quickly loses interest and most sportsmen and women no longer read or hear much about them. A few remain with the professional circus as coaches, become sports reporters or get involved in other ways. But what about the rest? Those who have turned their passion into a profession and have had to fight hard to achieve this, do not simply give up their love for cycling. What does a professional cyclist do after his sports career?
Sebastian Baldauf was a professional cyclist for 10 years and ended his professional career in 2018. He remained true to his passion and founded the Baldiso Cycling brand in 2020. In this interview he will talk a little bit about his life. A warm welcome: Sebastian Baldauf.
Lisa: Little boys often know what they want to be when they grow up: fireman or policeman. You probably knew as a child that professional cycling is your dream job wink. When did you start cycling and when did it become clear where you were going?
Sebastian: Actually, I wanted to become a professional footballer as a child at the age of about 11 – in any case, it wouldn’t have been worse in some respects ;-). At the age of 13 I rode my first student race and in the course of time you see bigger races on TV and then you think that it would be cool to be there. It was actually a continuous process…you train more, you race more races or bigger races – e.g. the Junior Bundesliga, the German Championships, international races/roundtrips – and as a result you get better and better.
Lisa: You will never be a professional sportsman for the rest of your life. Before or during your career did you think about your career after a professional career or did you even have concrete goals?
Sebastian: Yes, I have, but only in the last 3-4 years (from 26 years on). Before that I had started studying (business administration), but then put it on hold again. Fortunately, I continued to do so, and now I’m even writing my Bachelor’s thesis on the “BALDISO” bicycle brand. As I have been working on my professional career for the last few years, I also had a degree in mental coaching. To sum up, I can say that I would recommend studying or training to anyone. Not the less I am glad how it went: I am now doing something directly related to – my passion – cycling, I will soon finish my studies and include mental content in my racing bike camps (lectures, workshops and during training).
Lisa: Then you are now on your way to realise your “dream of cycling” even without a professional career! That would be the dream of many amateur athletes. So you have your own bike brand! Wow. And besides that, you also do racing bike camps and give lectures? Tell us a little bit about it?
Sebastian: Yes exactly, you could say so! I just always wanted to have something to do with bikes or cycling, because that’s simply my great passion/love 😉 The bike brand BALDISO offers carbon road bikes and gravel bikes. We want to offer our high-quality products at affordable prices, so that more people can have the pleasure of riding a good bike. The special thing about BALDISO is that we want to give the bike buyer (but also people who already have a bike) a “cycling all around carefree package”, so that everything that belongs to cycling can be learned quickly and sustainably (effective training, cycling technique training, “sports-oriented” nutrition, performance improvement through mental training and all tips and tricks for cycling). In addition, we want to set a sign for clean cycling together (with you cyclists) with the statement “fast and clean”. Therefore our products are also available with this slogan. So we are (as far as I know) the first bike brand which actively stands for clean cycling and sport!
Lisa: BALDISO has its headquarters in the Allgäu! Is there also something to see there? Or does the company only have a letterbox there?
Sebastian: That’s right, BALDISO is based in the Allgäu. Our camps take place in the Allgäu and the BALDISO bikes and wheels are also “born and raised” in the Allgäu. There is a BALDISO showroom or bike shop in the Allgäu where you can view, test and buy BALDISO products. We are looking forward to a visit.
Lisa: If someone buys a Baldiso bicycle, what can they get right away? What can a customer expect?
Sebastian: We want to offer our customers a “cycling all around carefree package”, which is why, in addition to providing perfect purchasing advice, we also care about the individual wishes of our customers (individual position adjustment / bike fitting). However, since the power of the bikes must also be brought to the road, we also have an extensive programme for physical fitness. The contents are available in our bike camps or individually on request: the right cycling training, the optimal sports nutrition, sports mental training, cycling technique training. In addition to the already mentioned “cycling around carefree package” in the form of a racing bike camp, we offer the customer a suitable cycling outfit for the bike. Each collection also has a slogan or statement. Our “fast and clean” stands for a clean sport/cycling. We show that you can be fast even without trickery. New in our programme is the “PUSH HARDER” collection. The collection knows the Wetterfee best 😉 The mindset “always give your best” is fully in line with our philosophy.
Lisa: I am very pleased that PUSH HARDER is a part of BALDISO. A mega concept! Thanks for letting us have a few insights. I think I’ll stop by a training camp. Good luck for the future!
Sebastian: Thank you. You are of course always welcome!
You could find BALDISO in the internet at the homepage: https://www.baldiso.com/
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