The Dybo Memoirs: Some inspirational thoughts on the eve of the Rockford Criterium

I was first told this story after DNFing for the first time ever four years ago at the Rockford Crit. Although it may not of been what I wanted to hear at the time, it essentially is something that resonates in my head permanently whenever a race requires you to dig deep mentally and physically. Sit back, kick your feet up, and enjoy this story that every bike racer needs to hear.

Long ago, when I was still a cat. 3 racer, I had a tendency to get dropped a lot. I was up at Sugarloaf Mountain and got dropped from the field, causing me to DNF. Man, I was freaking tired, defeated, and frustrated. As I was sulking in my despair, I heard a voice over my shoulder yell, “Dybowski…get in the trailer, I want to talk to you”. The voice was none other than one of Michigan’s most accomplished riders, Mr. Claire Young. I walked in the trailer and he told me to sit down. Claire proceeded to pull out the biggest freaking radish I had ever seen. He began to brag to me that he had grown it himself in his own garden. He then started slicing it up and eating it. While chomping on this big freaking radish, he offered some to me. As he reached to hand me some, he said “you know what your problem is Dybowski?...you don’t know how to suffer…you keep getting dropped because you don’t now how to suffer…learn to suffer.”

Ray has told me this numerous times. “You don’t know how to suffer Finkel”= its tough love but it is important to hear. As I roll to the start line tomorrow of what is arguably the toughest Crit Michigan has to offer, I intend to suffer.