Newly retired Giant-Shimano rider Tom Peterson during this year’s Santos Tour Down Under

Newly retired World Tour Pro and Seattle local Tom Peterson will be joining Tête de la Course Cycling as an Associate Coach starting in 2015.

Tom got his start in cycling mountain biking as a kid in North Bend, WA just east of Seattle. He made the switch to the road as a junior and became the US Junior National Road Champion in 2004. He was signed by TIAA-CREF in 2006 and stayed with Jonathan Vaughters as the team evolved into Slipstream then into Garmin – [ ]. In 2013 Tom made the switch to Giant-Shimano racing with them through the end of 2014.

Highlights of Tom’s career include winning the Young Rider Classification at the Tour of California in 2005, the King of the Mountains Competition at the Herald Sun Tour in 2009 and winning Stage 2 of the 2009 Tour of California. Tom also has finished the Giro 1 time in his career and the Vuelta 4 times, finishing 26th on GC in 2012.

Tom raced eight years professionally, six of them at the World Tour level.

Tom reached out to me while I was in Europe this past summer. Here is an excerpt of Tom’s initial email to me:

“I’m retiring from racing next year in 2015. I just can’t do it, too much time in Europe, too much time training. I guess I’m doing it for the wrong reasons, not the passion…I had a good run for a few years, but it’s really been hard the last couple years to get into it. When I left Garmin it was do or die, either I was going to start to love it again or I was going to go back to school.

Well, I didn’t / don’t love it… So I’m going back to school. Taking prerequisites to nursing school…with the plan to enter a program to earn a bachelors of science in nursing. I have been planning on getting into coaching all year, I really just haven’t figured out how to do it. I wanted to do it while I had the shop, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to provide the personal experience or value to clients that I wanted to.

Most of what I am doing now is because I enjoy it and I want to spread that passion. I know how to burn out, and I don’t want to breed that.”

“I want to spread that passion. I know how to burn out, and I don’t want to breed that.”

That was enough for me to start talking with Tom to see if we could figure out a way to work together. Our first venture together will be a team clinic that we will be putting on next month for one of Seattle’s local race teams. I am looking forward to working with Tom and seeing what the future brings.