The last Symmetrics rider retires
From 2005 to 2008, the riders of the Symmetrics team took wins throughout North America. The squad helped to build the careers of Svein Tuft and Christian Meier, as well as strengthen this country’s road cycling scene. A rider who was on the team in its final year, Ryan Anderson, announced his retirement from competition this past fall. He’s the last member of the iconic Symmetrics to hang up his bike. (Technically, Geoff Kabush, also a member of Symmetrics, is still racing mountain bikes. The influence of Symmetrics, however, is on the road.)
Anderson, from Spruce Grove, Alta., got his start racing mountain bikes in his home province. Then, he moved to the road. Following the dissolution of Symmetrics, he raced with U.S. team Kelly Benefit Strategies. He was part of Steve Bauer’s Spidertech squad from 2011 to 2012. Through that outfit, he experienced racing in Europe. Anderson was determined to get back to that continent after Spidertech collapsed so he could continue to race against the world’s best in the sport’s biggest races. From 2016 to 2017, he was the only anglophone on France’s Direct Energie. During those years, he lined up at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-roubaix, and completed the Vuelta a España. Anderson has spent the past three seasons with Rally Cycling.
In November, Anderson thought about Symmetrics and the idea that its influence might come to an end with his retirement. “I don’t think its influence has petered out so much,” he said. “It’s just changed.” He pointed to his other Canadian team, Spidertech. It had Symmetrics riders on it and helped to develop current pros, such as Hugo Houle and Antoine Duchesne. Still, there hasn’t been anything quite like his first pro team. “The group of guys that was at Symmetrics was special, very special,” he said.—