Rapid rise for Luther alum

Luther alumnus Matthew Busche (‘07), now a professional cyclist, has soared to the top of the sport, becoming the newest hire on Lance Armstrong’s team RadioShack, one of the world’s most closely watched teams.

Busche was introduced to the sport of cycling during his first year at Luther after a knee injury during the cross-country season. He was conference champion and All-American in cross-country and track in the 10,000-meter, as well as ranked top-10 nationally in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He was introduced to English Professer and Cat. 1 racer, Novian Whitsitt, one of the few bike racers in Decorah.

According to Whitsitt, Busche had a natural talent for cycling even in his first ride.

“It was uncanny,” Whitsitt said. in an article from VeloNews, the journal for comptetitive cycling. “This kid just rode right next to me in the wind, with no miles in his legs. I said, ‘OK, this is not normal.’”

The two trained together throughout Busche’s career at Luther, and it didn’t come as a surprise to Whitsitt that his protégé had joined RadioShack, but he was shocked that it happened within two short years.

“I wasn’t surprised; I knew his potential,” Whitsitt said. “But to see it happen so quickly, it was as if Peter Pan had come to me and said let’s go to Neverland.”

Busche only got serious about biking prior to the 2008 season, which he started as a Cat 2. The two-time Wisconsin state road race champion quickly moved from the regional IS Cor squad to the Nova Cycle Sport team and then to the powerhouse National Racing Calendar (NRC) team, Kelly Benefit Strategies (KBS), joining mid-season this year, and now recently joining the RadioShack roster according to the VeloNews Web site.

“I really haven’t done anything with [RadioShack] yet,” Busche told VeloNews. “I’ll be playing a supporting role; I wouldn’t imagine I would be on the Tour roster, but at this point as far as races, I have no idea.”

KBS director Jonas Carney had been talking to Busche since late 2008, but is still impressed with his rapid rise.

“I don’t think most people realize how fast he has come up,” Carney told VeloNews. “In August he was on a regional, Wisconsin team, and then he made a pretty big jump up to our team, and then by the time of Tour of Missouri, he had already accepted an offer from RadioShack. That’s remarkable.”

Busche’s rapid rise might be throwing him into a whirlwind in the cycling pool early in his career, but his Iowan mentor, for one, has no doubts he’ll fight his way to the top.

“Regardless of where he is, he’ll find a way to improve,” Whitsitt said. “He’s truly gifted athletically and he has a good comptetitive head on him, too. He has a tremendous motor combined with a real sick capacity for suffering.”