The professional cycling team sponsored by SmartStop Self Storage, the retail brand for Strategic Storage Trust Inc., finished first and second at the USA Pro Road Race National Championships on May 26 in Chattanooga, Tenn., winning the national championship. Eric Marcotte of Team SmartStop placed first, while teammates Travis McCabe and Julian Kyar took second and fifth, respectively.
“This is a huge accomplishment for our sponsored cycling team,” said H. Michael Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Strategic Storage Trust Inc., a publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment trust. “We believe we’re going to see even bigger and better things happen for this team and everyone involved in it.”
Marcotte and Kyar started their attack on the first lap and stayed in a 10-man break for the majority of the race. “All of a sudden, there were 10 of us, and we were rolling,” Kyar said. “When I went with the move I had a voice in my head that said ‘go,’ and I rolled up there.”
Team SmartStop’s new director, Michael Creed, a decorated U.S. amateur rider, played a crucial role in the win, according to a SmartStop press release. “I thought winning the national championship was possible, but a lot of things had to go our way,” Creed said. “By no way did I think it was a pipe dream, but I never would have thought that we would go first and second. But we came up with a plan, and it literally went exactly as we said. The only difference was that McCabe changed roles with Marcotte.”
Launched in 2008, Strategic Storage Trust operates a portfolio of 126 self-storage facilities in 17 states and Canada. Branded as SmartStop Self Storage, the properties comprise approximately 80,000 units and 10.5 million rentable square feet of storage space.
