Captain Eric Skalski, USN (Ret.) — retired Navy SEAL after nearly 41 years of active duty — takes on 28 iconic cycling events across three continents and roughly twenty-two months — riding for the USA Cycling Foundation as American athletes prepare for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
All five Monuments. From 135 sub-zero miles in northern Minnesota to Cape Epic, Leadville and the Andorran Pyrenees — funding the American cyclists competing on home soil in 2028.
Each event chosen for its prestige, its place in the discipline's history, and its place on the route.
As the philanthropic partner to USA Cycling, USA Cycling Foundation is the engine that makes excellence in American bike racing possible. The Foundation maximizes the impact of donor support across three core practices.
America doesn't fund Olympians. Americans do.
Paris 2024 delivered six Olympic medals and eight Paralympic medals. Women earned 100% of US Olympic cycling medals; Paralympic women earned 75%. The model works. These athletes know why.
"There's no way I would have made the Olympic team without USA Cycling funding the camps that got me up to speed and helped our team gel."
"Financial support doesn't just buy equipment; it reduces stress, and that directly affects performance. The reality is your body can't distinguish between work stress, financial stress, and training stress."
"Being a part of USA Cycling is pivotal because preparation creates confidence and confidence changes race-day performance."
"Winning medals doesn't happen under the lights or in front of cameras, it happens at home when no one is watching. USA Cycling's support allows me to focus on long-term preparation."
Twenty-eight finish lines lead to one destination: the American cyclists competing on home soil at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. USA Cycling maintains the official hub for the road to those Games — every discipline, every venue, the staff and coaching lineage that carried the team through Paris 2024 and is now building toward Los Angeles.
Visit USA Cycling’s Los Angeles 2028 hub →Opens at usacycling.org · USA Cycling’s official portal for the 2028 Games
USA Cycling Foundation invests across five priority areas — the systems that identify, develop, and prepare American Olympic and Paralympic athletes for the Los Angeles 2028 Games and beyond.
An event earns its number when it is finished — nothing is numbered before it is ridden. Twenty-eight is the promise.
Twenty-eight start lines over twenty-two months, and there is room on every one of them. If you are riding one of these events — or thinking about it — say so. Riding alongside someone new is the best part of any of this. eric@skalski-group.org
Event days are the visible part. Every finish above rests on training nobody watches — counted separately, so the event totals stay exactly what the courses say.
Hover any marker for event details · Filter by year or discipline · Scroll to zoom · Drag to pan
Across the scheduled route, the ride covers roughly 3,987 miles and 376,814 feet of climbing — about 13.0 times the height of Everest.
Stories from every chapter of the campaign. How the mission evolves at each stage, what the challenge teaches, and why the effort matters.
Dispatch 02 · Leadville Trail 100 MTB
Dispatch 01 · Leadville Stage Race
Michael and I have been friends since high school. He's spent twenty-five years in emergency medicine. He's also my racing partner.
That is not a coincidence given my historical consequences with two-wheeled activities. Twenty-eight events over two years is a lot of time to stay upright, and I did not choose him for his climbing — that's just a bonus.
The joke holds up, but the real reason is simpler. Cape Epic and the other stage races are ridden in pairs — you can't finish them alone. You don't spend two years and three continents tied to someone you don't trust completely. I've known who that was for most of my life.
Then · mid-1990s
Now · 2026Captain Eric J. Skalski, USN (Ret.) spent nearly 41 years on active duty. The races he could never travel for, the demands he could never put on his body in service of something personal — those waited. 28 FOR '28 is what comes next: the most demanding cycling events on three continents, ridden in service of a new mission — building support for the USA Cycling Foundation.
It's a sustained commitment — roughly twenty-two months, three continents, building the belief and funding that turn into athlete opportunity for the Americans preparing for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The Los Angeles 2028 Games are a generational moment that won't repeat. The first home Summer Games in 32 years. Home crowds. Home advantage. The forces aligning to make American cycling history — and the funding gap that could close it — won't wait.
501(c)(3) · Charity Navigator ★★★★ · 100% privately supported
To direct your gift to a specific program area or discipline, contact the Foundation: USA Cycling Foundation · usacfoundation@usacycling.org · (719) 434-4222 · usacycling.org/foundation
210 USA Cycling Point, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
100% of gifts go to the USA Cycling Foundation, where they support the Foundation's priority investment areas — the systems that identify, develop, and prepare American Olympic and Paralympic athletes for the Los Angeles 2028 Games and beyond. Most online gifts are unrestricted, allowing USACF to allocate strategically across the greatest need.
The "'28" honors 2028 — the home Games this campaign is built to support. The 28 events provide the platform; roughly twenty-two months and three continents provide the canvas.
Yes. To learn more about directing your gift to a specific program area or cycling/paracycling discipline, contact the Foundation directly: USA Cycling Foundation · usacfoundation@usacycling.org · (719) 434-4222 · usacycling.org/foundation
210 USA Cycling Point, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Yes. Gifts are receipted by USA Cycling, a 501(c)(3) organization, Federal Tax ID 84-1529751, and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law. The USA Cycling Foundation is the fund your gift supports. Keep the emailed receipt for your records.
Through this site — event tracker, journey map, and dispatch updates after major chapters.
September 2026 (Rebecca's Private Idaho) through July 2028 (Andorra Epic) — roughly twenty-two months. The campaign opens with a US gravel and mountain-bike block through late 2026, turns to winter in January 2027 with Fat Pursuit in Idaho and the Arrowhead 135 in northern Minnesota, builds through Cape Epic in South Africa and a European spring from Liège to Girona to Scotland, returns to Sun Valley for The Big Lost, crosses the Pyrenees and climbs Mont Ventoux three times in June, and finishes in 2028 with the remaining Monuments and a closing stage race in the Andorran Pyrenees, days before the Games begin.
American cycling is building toward 2028. This campaign funds the athletes and pathways that will make that moment extraordinary. Every event. Every finish. Every dollar creates the conditions for the next generation to win.