W.C.I.F.A. Year in Review

Award Origin: Posted April 17th
I obtained this quote from the great Ray D. on a road trip about three years back. It refers to the attitude one takes when he/she negates all responsibility and all other priorities to go focus on nothing but riding and racing. We were in the car driving back from previewing the Tour de Leelanau course, it was about 1:30am, and I had my first day back to work from summer vacation the next day. I should have been concerned with getting proper rest for the physical shock of going back to work the next day after 2.5 months of vacation. But Ray justified everything with a few simple words…”Who cares? I’m flying”.

Award Recipients:

Kelly Paterson: Awarded April 23rd

Obtained by winning the Ann Arbor Training race in true dominative fashion.




Cone Azalia: Awarded May 7th to Greg Christenson

The “Who cares, I’m flying Award” goes to Greg Christenson of West Coast Riders, for beating three pros on his wheel and taking the win.












Gaslight Crit: Awarded May 28th to the Godfather of MI cycling

This weekend’s recipient of the “Who Cares, I’m Flying Award” goes to Raymond Dybowski. Ray completed the tri-fecta (pro 1-2, Masters 35+, Masters 45+) and won money in every race!




Ciaciaro: Awarded June 9th-Two way tie between The Flying Jew and Charlie Brown


This Weeks Recipient of the “Who Cares. I’m flying Award” is a Two-Way Tie!
1. Dan Klein for exhibiting that he is finally firing on all cylinders again.
2. Scott Kroske for realizing that he can ride a break, and make moves; not just follow wheels and sprint.
Congrats!






Who Cares? I’m Falling Award- Honorary Insult Awarded June 29th to Alan Smith for struggling to keep the rubber side down.

Allen’s cycling career thus far, has a hefty resume of not to keeping the rubber side down, yesterday was no exception.
As I arrived at Allen’s, he proceeded to inform me that he got hit by a car on his vintage 50lb Schwinn earlier this morning while on a innocent 3 block jaunt to a local bakery to score some donuts. Although he seemed to be a bit shaken up mentally, he was able to forge onto the WSC/Dybowski skills drills session in the B-Ham Cemetery, then the Beverly ride at 6:00. However, it seems that somehow (Kroske), Allen was taken out on one of the turns in the cemetery and landed ass up/shoulder down on top of mangled mountain of carbon fiber in front of a tombstone. One passerby asked, “Is he ok?”…Dybowski replied, “He’s fine, we just need a shovel and we’ll be all set”. Allen soon rose to his feet again, relatively unscathed and was able to finish the ride complete with some fresh new skid marks on his shoulder.

Robbie McEwen: Awarded July 9th for being the Pocket Rocket


Superweek Podium and 1st Place Cherry Popper: Awarded July 30th-Brent Delrosario

By far Superweek’s most notable finish goes to Brent Delrosario! After much discouragement from not even finishing any races something clicked in Green Bay and Brent discovered his “ness”. At the bell lap in the Cat. 4 race, Brent decided he was going to sneak away from everyone and win this race in true champion form. This was Brent’s first win! What a place to do it! Helmets off to Brent!




Jeff Gray: Awarded August 12th, 2007

For kicking Leukemia’s Ass!






The Dolpenator: Awarded October 10th 2007

Driven by the age-old heartbreak and devastation of the opposite sex, Alex single handedly conquered all 500+ miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway last week in an impressive 5 days.



Mike Croy: Awarded October 23rd 2007

Awarded for crushing his previous Marathon P.R. by 11 minutes and serving as my main source of coaching and motivation during my marathon de-virginizing process.




Stay tuned for the most prestigious award that can be given to any cyclist…This year’s 2007 W.C.I.F.A. of the Year!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

and to the Hermit-man.

Academic Training Rides

Ride Time: 48min.
Average Speed: 3.4mph
Total Distance: 2.7mi













Why am I so proud of the above mediocre statistics? This entire ride time was posted making tight turn loops around my classroom while simultaneously delivering a stimulating lecture on energy transformations.

Who says I’m not a pro rider?…I get paid to ride.

It’s a Festivus Miracle!

There is nothing sweeter than getting a call from a fellow co-worker muttering the melodious words, “Snow day tomorrow”.

Oh yeah, and somehow they still pay me for this. Some may argue that a teacher’s compensation is very nominal. However, I tend to disagree. If you are reading this while at work sitting at a fluorescent light adorned congested office environment, enjoy...I'll be romping in a winter wonderland.

Velo-Centerfolds

It’s not easy for an ADD kid who loves instant gratification to be patient. However, after my long-awaited final touches arrived this week (courtesy of ACF) I was able to complete two very much anticipated bike builds.

69er: Arguably my favorite bike I have ever owned.
26.5lbs out of the box.
Post Finkelstein’s “Pimp my Ride” transformation: Just a hair over 20lbs.



A mighty fine winter beater if I do say so myself. This is a titanium Kona Hei Hei that I have owned for some time. A few years ago, one of my students assisted in custom painting it. Because of the indestructible nature of Titanium, this frame seemed to be a suitable platform for this years W.R.C.S. race bike. It weighs in at a lean 18lbs. Can this set-up enable me to claw onto the podium this year? Will the German pay off Hermit-man to miscalculate points and allow him to beat me by a mere 11 points for a second year in a row? The competition will be fierce.

Tribute to J.T.

See I'm wise enough to know when a gift needs given...and I got just the one.

Caption Contest vr 2.0: Who will step up and claim the honor?

Go ahead…
Have some fun…
Write a cleaver caption or pun…
You could be a winner, when it’s all said and done.

If you want to be compensated heavily,
Just do as I say:
Make it Concise…
Make it Funny…
Make it one of a kind…
But don’t be too cruel…
When commenting on the Finkelstein.
I'm just trying to even up my tan lines.

I get paid to do this.

It all happened on a Thursday last year. I had just finished my weekly faculty fun run and I was late for a date with my neighbors to the North for a race at Ciaciaro. My intention had been to change my wheels and brake pads over during school. However, things had gotten quite busy that day and I never had the time to do it. It was then that I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could work on my bike during work hours, get paid to do it, and have student’s benefit academically from it”.

9 months later, a few thousand district dollars in start up money, and a partnership with American Cycle and Fitness and my dream I had conceived has become a reality. The class is cleverly named Mechanics in Motion. It is specifically tailored and geared (no pun intended) towards student’s who prefer hands-on learning and display some foundational mechanical aptitude. The curriculum was written to overlap with a majority of Michigan’s standards and benchmarks in the area of Physics along with a dash of Vocational Technology.


The student’s textbook is the Barnett Bike Mechanic Manual. We spend most of our time in the class building boxed bikes for ACF, repairing student/staff personal bikes, learning how the laws and principles of Physics relate to bike racing and the progression of technology within the industry, and of course cleaning and tuning my personal bikes.

Most of the student’s have become sincerely engaged in the content of the class and have demonstrated an increased interest in the sport outside of the classroom. Most recently, we have come in contact with Back Alley Bikes (a non-profit bike co-op organization out of downtown Detroit) and plan to take a field trip before the holidays to assist in building children’s bikes for their bike giveaway during Christmas.

Most would describe my student population as “at risk” students. Many of them come from very broken homes that are suffering very much from poverty as well as underlying psychological problems. I would like to think that this class serves as a therapeutic outlet for the student’s anxiety and frustrations. We have accepted many donation bikes from ACF and it is my hope that I will be able to provide each student with a used bike that they can keep.


Last week, we learned about Pascal’s Principle and how it relates to the magnified force that hydraulic disc brakes deliver through pressure exerted by a confined fluid. To reinforce this concept, we bled and adjusted the disc brakes on my new Top Fuel. I worked on my bike during work hours and got paid to do it, mission accomplished.

Caption Contest Winner

Having had the privilege to roll 80 miles with the Simonster this past weekend, I mentioned the caption contest to him. He was unaware of such a contest but was interested to hear people’s response.

When asked what it felt like to beat out an Olympian in the final turn at Iceman 08’, Mike humbly responded, “It felt pretty damn good”. Then a few miles later and several conversational subjects down the line, Mike came back to the thought of JHK’s Simonster-induced-error and blurted out, “Man I took out an Olympian…that’s pretty damn cool”. I couldn’t agree more.

And without further ado, the winner’s of caption contest are split even between two lucky individuals who go by the names of Alan and Syops.

Alan’s Submission:
Failure: When your best just isn’t good enough.

Syop’s Submission: Nominated primarily for its presentation and my affinity for cliché office posters.


Congratulations fellas! However, I do not know the identities of either of you so unless you identify yourselves, you will not be compensated heavily by the Finkelstein.

It also should not go unnoted that Simonster laughed pretty hard at the comment from TMS referring to JHK faking a fall in the last turn for fear of an inability to out sprint Mike.

Stay tuned for more caption contest down the road and remember…you could be a winner!

Season Opener

Well, I did it…I ventured out to the same ole trash heap for another year. I found the same loud mouth punk kids, the same poorly running lifts, and the same set of “winter friends” to sit and have a drink with. I’m not sure when the transition happened, but it seems Mt. Holly has really become the modern day roller rink scene for teenage kids. I keep waiting for a call over the intercom in a textbook cliché cheesy disc jockey voice to say, “This next run is going out to Bobby and Rhonda celebrating thier three week anniversary of going steady…let’s slow it down for couples and backwards skaters only”. I lasted seven runs today before I threw in the towel and rushed home for White Russian night at the Stein Theatre.


Man I missed Mt. Holly

It’s not winter until Warren says so. Keeping the dream alive.

Royal Oak Music Theatre
Friday, December 7th 6:30 and 9:30
Saturday, December 8th 6:00 and 9:00


It’s been fifteen years running since I have been making my annual pilgrimage to the screening of Warren Miller’s yearly alpine masterpieces. Through the years I have watched how his films have become more and more commercialized and less artistic. It seems that for about seven years now I have walked out of his movies saying, “Well, it’s official, that is the last time I am giving twenty hard earned bucks away for that awful crap”. However, every time November rolls around I seem compelled to have to go.

To me, Warren Miller symbolizes a dream I once had. When I graduated from college I suffered from a severe case of reluctance to want to join the “adult working world”. Most people see this time as a beginning but I regarded it as a dreaded end. As a result, I spent about a good year or two working as a full-time snowboard instructor, bike shop rat, and professional bum. Within my first year out of the confines of university life I managed to snowboard 109 days in one season…I was living the dream and I didn’t want to give it up. At one point, I seriously considered making this lifestyle my career and perhaps even looking into graduate level ski management programs (yes, they really do exist). During my travels out west, I remember encountering so many people that told great stories of how they had been living an endless winter for 20 years running; I looked at them with adoration and envy. I remember vividly the feeling I had every morning as I took the first chair up the hill, sipping my coffee and truly realizing I did not have one care or stress. I felt blessed and I felt lucky but I knew it was unrealistic to think it could last forever. I had too many dreams and aspirations that this carefree lifestyle conflicted with.


Time passed, and for many different factors and influences, the dream diminished and eventually died. I now have a reasonable mortgage, a car payment, a Master’s Degree, a mountain of student loans, and a lawnmower that starts on the first pull every time. My house is neatly kept, I maintain a good relationship with my neighbors, my yard is always neatly groomed, I am always punctual to work, I pay my taxes, I drive my SUV, and I’m sure the dog, wife and 2.5 kids will come with due time. I have accomplished so much. In the past few years my snowboarding soirée’s have been limited to teaching bulk ski club lessons at Mt. Holly and spending more time in the bar talking about “the good ole days” than on the hill. I watch young riders who effortlessly throw inverted aerials watch me with my “old school antiquated” style as they say to themselves, “Wow look at that old dude, at least he’s still doing it”.

All of the above variables add up to why I uncontrollably gravitate to Warren Miller’s premieres each year, they remind me of a dream and a life I once had.

Tomorrow I will be making my first tracks of the season at Mt. Holly on man-made granulated ice and eventually making my way to the bar to find someone to talk to and tell stories about “the good ole days”…and I can’t wait! The snowboarding season is here.

If anyone is interested in joining me this weekend I will most likely be attending a Friday showing immediately following with hydration exercises at RO Brewery.

Santa Came Early! It’s a Christmas Miracle.

I don’t even have a fireplace…I never even heard his sleigh on my roof.

This is the first full suspension bike I have ridden since the featured beast below. It’s been a whole ten years. I’m not sure but I think FS design has improved since then.

Caption Contest: You could be a winner!

Write and submit a clever caption to this simply awesome pic…the winner will be compensated heavily by none other than myself, the Finkelstein.

Wine-er, Dine-er, 69er!!!

26inch wheel in the rear, 29inch wheel up front. Who could ask for more?

Impulse buys are the best! When I saw this beautiful 21.5inch 2008 Trek 69er look me in the face last week my immediate thought was, “You complete me”. After spending two days establishing a comprehensive eBay plan to liquidate pre-existing velo equity, she was mine.

Build Modification Plans: XTR group, Rigid Bontrager Carbon Switchblade Fork, XXX-Lite Carbon Seat Stick and Steer Stick, Possible wheel swap.


Stay tuned; I’ll post pics when the build is complete.

How to apply first aid to a car door induced cut to the eye without stitches.

1. Access the area in need of attention. In this case, it is Finkelstein’s left eye (not to be mistaken with the fallen member of TLC. RIP)

2. Apply a cold compress to stop bleeding.

3. Drive to the conveniently open 24 hours land of thrifty acres. Select a paint-on skin adhesive to glue yourself back together again. Whaaalahh…good as new.

4. Pray for a scare to develop because everyone knows chicks dig em and guys will know you’re tough.

Baptism by Submersion!

In an effort to commit to making next season the best season ever, this past Saturday I embarked on a dirt road ride to undiscovered land, lead by none other than the Simonster.

The invite read: Come join me for a post-season weight management ride this Saturday.

My thoughts: I could shed a few this time of year; this will be an enjoyable stroll through some unknown northern dirt roads with my good buddy Michael.

What I learned: The Simonster is not human. He does not feel pain. As the Russian said in Rocky 4, “He is a machine”.

The hills never stopped as we got further and further away from our origination. At about mile 60 of 75 my legs just stopped and told me to knock off the non-sense.

All in all it was a good ride and a great wake-up call that I am definitely out of form right now. I have four months to get myself fit for next year. I think if I keep sucking the wheel of Mike, I have nowhere to go but up.

ICEMAN 2007

This is not an Iceman race report. I have no desire to reflect on this experience.

I’m not going to talk about my choice to downgrade to expert the night before in an effort to win some prize money to fix my broken car window.
I’m not going to go into detail about my 2-day run of bad luck.
I won’t address that my brake seized up 2 miles into the race.
There will be no fancy race photos of me.
I won’t talk about how I rode to the finish on a bike that failed me mechanically only to turn in my chip 50 feet before the finish resulting in a DNF.
And I certainly won’t discuss my disappointment in finishing out the season on a bad note.

I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes_(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes_Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes_(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me. But I can't trace time

-David Bowie

What I would like to talk about is the personal changes that these catastrophic past few days inspired me to make. The only good thing about ending the season on a bad note is that it causes you to forget about all the great achievements you made throughout the season and simply reflect on what you can do to improve for next year.

When I first got into the sport of cycling it was to become a healthier person both physically and mentally. The first few years I was able to see immediate progress. This was a reinforcing factor that had always driven me to push harder and train smarter. At one point, I went as far as to weigh out my food intake and chart every consumable item that went into my body. My mentality was that I had nowhere to go but up.

As I got faster, I began to slack on my dedication to maintaining a strict program. I even went as far as to take pride in the fact that I could party until all hours of the night, eat whatever I wanted to, wake up early the next day to ride 70 miles and make other riders suffer in the process. But whom was I making suffer? It was certainly not my competition. I thought just because I was faster than your average rider that I had achieved something.

I started to take for granted all the hard work I put into getting fit and developed a sense of entitlement that the rest should all come easy from that point on. I was selling myself short. Nothing ever came easy either. So I wondered what changes I needed to make. I considered different equipment, different teams, and different training partners.

You may be able to chalk this all up to end of the season burn out induced rambling but most recently I am discovering that the change has to come internally rather than externally. I need to get back to why I got into this sport. I need to elevate myself mentally as well as physically and dedicate next season to making the best season ever.

Mike Waldon used to say that you have to spin fast to go faster. Another person once told me that it never gets easier, just faster. Finally, Michael Jackson said I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to make that change.

R.I.P.

April 4th 2007-November 9th 2007 You will be remembered.

It is tragic to see such a beautiful 9.9 pass on at such a young age. It had so much unfulfilled potential that we will never be able to see. Next time you’re out on the trail, have a moment of silence for the old 9.9.

However, out of every loss of life comes new life. Meet my new Top Fuel 9.9. Thanks to the good folks of American Cycle and Fitness, Cullen Watkins, and Grange Insurance the stork will be delivering this breath-taking baby within the next few weeks.

Hmmmmmm…this bike may have solo 24 hour race written all over it?

Instant Karma gonna get you!

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Ev'ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're ev'rywhere
Come and get your share

-John Lennon

6:30pm 11/8/07 Just finish two laps at Stoney in a final Iceman preparation effort. I was feeling pretty good and high on life because I felt one with my bike, it was the Office/White Russian night at my household and I had found a really nice pair of Tifosi glasses on the trail.
Then the thought hit me; I should turn these glasses into the park office in case someone is looking for them. That fleeting thought was quickly abolished by my desire to have a new pair of glasses based on the finder’s keeper’s rule.

However, in the back of my mind I knew if I didn’t turn them in than I may run the risk of bad karma for the weekend.

6:30am 11/9/07 (exactly 12 hours later) I am enjoying my ride into work and feeling great because I have all my stuff packed and bike racked and am ready to jet out the door straight up north for a weekend of MTB gala.

BOOM! My thoughts: Someone has just shot at my car! Am I a victim of a drive-by? I don’t recall pissing anyone off that much.



Looking in my rear view mirror I discover that the rear quarter glass of my car is shattered and my beloved Trek 9.9 is dangling from my rack. I immediately threw on the emergency lights and pulled over on the left side of the very busy, very fast 696. Assessing the damage, I realize in the midst of my morning rush and slightly hazy White Russian induced mind, I had forgot to lock down my rear wheel causing the rear triangle of my bike to swing of the roof putting my drive side crank and pedal right through the window, cracking the top tube of my bike and rendering it un-raceable!


7:00am Arrive at work and immediately call a sub teacher for the day to fill my spot while I somehow locate a bike to race this weekend. This is a full-blown emergency!

9:00am Contact my insurance agent and make sure my bike is covered under homeowners…sure enough it is. This gave me hope that perhaps a newer, better bike may emerge from the catastrophic rubble.


10:00am Drop into to visit the friendly face of Cullen Watkins at ACF. Cullen set my soul at ease and hooked me up with his personal, identical to mine, Trek 9.9 to race this weekend. Thank you Cullen! You are my velo-hero.

Moral of the story: If you find something that is not yours, someone may be looking for it and missing it. Turn it in to the lost and found and spare your $5000 MTB and car windows!

Overly Confident…

Here a physics query for you all to chew on and savor.

Tim Finkelstein is traveling at 23mph and accelerating at a rate of 1.7m/s squared on a descent at PLRA where he encounters a tree approximately 26 inches in diameter and a mass of nearly 600 times his body weight. Using Newton’s second and third laws of motion, explain in detail how Tim’s velocity, momentum, and inertia are affected upon impact.


Regardless of today’s crash I had a stellar ride at PLRA. Forgetting about daylight savings time, I accidentally woke up at 4:30am and found myself heading out to PLRA at what I thought was 6:30 but was actually 5:30. It was still quite dark when I arrived.

Despite my prolonged hiatus from all things two-wheeled, lately, I've been feeling pretty good on my carbon fiber MTB steed. I was quite surprised to see my first lap come in at 39 minutes, a time that is personally quite impressive for my ability. Lap two left me yearning for a faster time until the tree got the best of me. I still ended up with three laps and they were all done before most people get up in the morning.

Hopefully I can keep the rubber side down this upcoming weekend.

Separated at Birth: Happy Halloween from Alan Smith

Massive Fallout=Massive Fun!

WOW! What a great ride today. 70 miles of MTB beauty. Sometimes I forget how beautiful the trails in our own backyard really are. It felt really good to be back in the saddle again.
Thanks to all of those MMBA members who worked to put together this ride.