Ted Horwitz

Ted Horwitz

Ted Horwitz currently races for Heart House, an elite team based in south Jersey. His love for bikes began in middle school as an after-school sport. In 1999, while a sophomore at Proctor Academy in Andover NH, he participated in a fall triathlon and completed the mountain-bike leg of for their three-man team. This was his first competitive cycling event.

After the race, the school’s cycling coach approached Ted and told him to be ready for the spring cycling team. Mr. Horwitz has hardly looked at another sport since…

Nickname: “Mechanical.”

Height: 5’7”

December Weight: 165 lbs.

Race Weight: 153 lbs.

Birthdate: July 28, 1983

Childhood Heroes: “Inspector Gadget, Tin Tin, My Dad.”

Hobbies and Interests: “Cycling, skiing – both backcountry and Nordic.”

Favorite Movies: “The Game, Chinatown, Clue, 12 Angry Men, Breaking Away [where I learned how to draft trucks].”

Musical Tastes: “When I’m riding I listen to just about everything. It’s all about the beat and emotion in the song. I’ll go from a metal song straight to hip-hop.”

Favorite TV Shows:Tosh.O, Married with Children, Saved by the Bell, Master Chef, Restaurant Impossible, and Bar Rescue.”

Favorite Meal: “Rarely eaten anymore, but a meatball sub with grated parmesan cheese added after the sub has left the oven.”

Favorite Breakfast Cereal: “Lucky Charms.”

Favorite Pre-Race Meal: “Cereal and water.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Rum Raisin.”

Childhood Dream: “To be a professional downhill mountain biker and race the Kamikaze in Mammoth, CA.”

My first Car: “’87 Saab 900s. Sadly, the year was 1999 when I owned it.”

First Job: “I worked the main register of a Walgreens in Framingham, MA. All of my friends from summer camp worked there too.”

Favorite Vacation Spots: “Burlington VT. Slidebrook, right next to the small waterfall at Sugarbush VT. Dominican Republic. Los Angeles CA. Park City UT.”

Pre-Race Feeling: “These are trade secrets I never reveal.”

Early Racing Memory: “My first race was a time trial in my sophomore year of high school. The race was in New Hampshire from the Tilton School to the North Hampton School. I remember borrowing a Rolf Vector front wheel and being mesmerized by the Rolf logo going around the hub as I pedaled hard with my head down. I think I took 2nd. It was a category “C” race, but I remember being excited because I beat some of the “B” riders. This was the hardest physical event and effort I had ever done up to that point.”

Funny Racing Memory: “The 2011 Tour de Fair Haven. With one full lap to go [about 3.5 miles], someone sprinted for the win with his leadout man leading the charge. They won the second-to-last-lap with arms in the air. They did not finish the race.”

Greatest Racing Moment: “Winning the 2011 Giro del Cielo [Tour of the Sky] in Sussex County NJ. I had never participated in, let alone, won a stage race before, and to do it in an area that I had been living for the last two-and-a-half years was special. The best part was that the win was really a collective team effort. Mike Zak and Bryan Carbone of Knapps Racing really made it possible.”

Most Painful Moment In Life: “My parent’s divorce. Graduating from college and then waiting two years to find a job.” Worst Injury from Racing: “I’ve had some bad wrecks, but the worst injury has merely been a sprained wrist.”

Closest Racing Friends: “All of Team Cosmic and all those I raced with at Proctor Academy.”

Funniest Racer: “Mike Zak, because he just is, and Mario Cipollini for his charisma on and off the bike.”

Favorite Race: “Wilkes-Barre Pro-Am, Gretna Bikes Race Ave Crit, Giro Del Cielo, The Jamestown Classic, Mayor’s Cup Boston and the list goes on.”

Embarrassing Racing Memory: “Arriving at a Prospect Park race ready to destroy the field. I sat in my car naked as I realized I brought everything but my shorts. In retrospect, I should have just raced in my jeans with pant legs rolled up. That probably would have hurt though.”

Toughest Competitors: “I don’t want to give any of them the satisfaction of being mentioned here. All jokes aside, I had two races when Antonio Munoz beat me by one or two places. I admire the way he rode this season, despite his injury. I think we are pretty evenly matched and race in much the same style.”

Favorite Athletes to Watch: “Anyone featured in a professionally made mountain bike or skiing movie. I also like to watch old Cipollini clips. That guy changed the game of sprinting at the pro level.”

Qualities You Most Admire in People: “Those who always are willing to lend a hand and those who understand that being a teammate is more than just wearing the same jersey.”

What You Love Most About Riding Your Bicycle: “The places and adventures that riding takes me. I have always felt that cycling is a fantastic sport that brings together communities and new friends all the time. The language of cycling spans the world and takes the cyclist on journeys to places that most people have never seen beyond the window of a car. Add that sort of adventure to the adrenaline and the fun of racing and you get Ted. My favorite moment on a bike, not race-related, was riding at night on a dark road which was lit like a runway by fireflies in the bushes. I will never forget the feeling of those bugs lighting the way home after 40 miles in the dark.”