Can Timmy come out and play today?

The route was simple, dart out the back door, run through my neighbors backyard, squeeze through a set of pine trees trying not to get scraped, cruise along the west side of the house, and hop onto the porch from the side. As I would stand at my childhood best friend’s front door, heart rate elevated from the trip over and in elated anticipation to begin whatever adventure lay before us for that day, I would ring the door bell only to wait as his Yorkshire terrier yelped and piddled at the door while his mother answered the door, as I exclaimed, “Can Ryan come out and play”? This was an everyday ritual for me for a good ten years or so.

This past weekend I stopped by Alan Smith’s house while I was riding by and caught a glimpse of him in the window while he was riding the trainer. I stopped in to chat for awhile and catch up as he has been drowning in higher education responsibilities lately.

He shared with me about a recent project he did for school in which he promoted healthy active lifestyles to a 4th grade class in Flint. He posed the question to the class, “Do you regularly play outside?” to which the class answered “yes”. He went on to ask, “Do you plan on playing outside for the rest of your life”? The consensus response of the class was sadly that most of them will quit playing outside around the age of 17. To this Alan replied, “Really? I’m 33 years old and I still play outside everyday with all of my friends after school”.

The class was filled with undivided intrigue and with the help of two stationary trainers equipped with power output and some Gary Fisher Precaliber 24 inch mountain bikes donated by American Cycle and Fitness Alan hosted a trainer race for the rest of their time while pitching the idea of cycling for life.

A few days later, Alan received some thank you letters in the mail from the class.

“When I was riding that bike, I felt like I was making history”

“As I stepped off the bike, my legs felt like they weighed a million pounds”

After I left Alan’s house to ride into the cold night and meet up with the Hermit-man, Alan’s story resonated in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I’ve always loved the camaraderie training and racing has to offer but I guess I’ve never really broken it down into the simple and innocent idea of playing outside with my friends. I guess when I step back and look at my life, not much has changed from when I was ten years old to now. I still go to school for nine months out of the year, I still play outside with my friends everyday, and although the price tags have increased, I still play with toys.


In an age when it almost appears as if kids don’t even get to choose what activities they’re into anymore, (i.e. Media saturated in Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Wii generated experiences, MySpace, Facebook, MTV, etc.) I think the simple idea of “playing outside” could be the best gift you can give a kid this holiday season. As the products we use in our everyday lives become more and more disposable, we should make sure our experiences do not as well.

When recently interviewing my nephew over Thanksgiving I asked him if he remembers what I bought him for his birthday this year to which he replied no. However, when asked, “do you remember when we went mountain biking together?” he replied, “How can I forget”.

Are you going to go outside and play today? You should…it’s fun!

Beard Update #1

Three more months to go and I can already barely stand it. How burly will it get? Stay tuned...

Light, Cheap, Strong…who says you only get to pick two?

If any of you have ever met Brent Delrosario you will know that he is best categorized as a mover and shaker. He is always conjuring up some new idea whether it is making fashionable handbags out of recycled bib numbers or pioneering, creating, and building his own cutting edge wheel company, Flit Wheels.

With the dawn of more readily available space age materials, racers are no longer just racing each other but rather in a race of innovation. For years, a good set of race wheels could set you back virtually the price of your complete bike or maybe even your first car.

Flit Wheels, created by our very own Michigander Brent and fellow WSC member, has proven to be a savior of sort to deliver the racing market from the banes of over-priced race wheels. Brent has clearly displayed that quality does not have to be sacrificed with reduced cost.

Recently, I had the privilege to sit down with Brent and ask him a few questions about the brains behind Flit Wheels.

First off, why Flit Wheels?
Honestly, I have no clue.

What inspired you to start your own wheel building company?
It’s a true fairytale. Last winter we were looking for some high end track racing wheels for Maia. Nothing could be found in our budget, so we sat around that night talking how they need to make high-end wheels for the budget racer. But they still gotta be Billy bad ass fast. Then we realized, "why not us?"

What do you hope to accomplish with Flit Wheels?
We starting this to get young racers a chance to compete with high-end equipment -without the high-end price tag

Is there any discipline you see Flit focusing on (mtb, road, track TT?)
Right now its road and track with some cx and TT flavor. But we don’t want to be tunnel visioned.

There are a lot of carbon MTB wheels hitting the market these days...any future plans to delve into this market?
We are actually looking into it. What we would like to do would is offer wheels for all mtb wheel sizes. Right now we are working on a crazy light (1050g/set) climbing tubular wheel set, and a deep carbon clincher wheel set. Our aluminum clinchers will be ready by x-mas. I think tubeless road wheels/tires are going to start growing. Corima just jumped on the band-wagon. We always got something cooking in the oven.


Is there any future sponsorship plans for any teams in the future?
Crossing fingers on working with the Wolverine Elite team. Negotiations are on the table as I type this. We have also been talking to some continental and USAC protour teams as well. Nothing is a sure go yet.

Are there any racers on your product currently?
Nothing structured. Luke got on the podium at elite nats on some Flit wheels. Cruise will be going to collegiate cx nats on FLIT Wheels. Been trying to get the world renowned Tim Finkel to ride them, but he wants a signed contract first.



If you could have any cyclist in the world ride and represent Flit, who would it be and why?
Many riders run thru my mind. lance, mario chippo, hoy, the cricket, jens v, local hero F. Andreau, renkema, luke, cruise, dybo, sammut, maia, bruce carlson, kroske, DZ, mcEwen, cody brown, boonen, elias, M.Ball, benson brothers, and nick c -id be honered if anyone on that list would rep Flit. (yes i know, i missed a ton of you guys-you know i would be honered if you rep'd Flit)

Your wheels seem to be reasonably inexpensive, good quality, and Light weight...Tom Ritchey used to say Light, Cheap, Strong: You only get to pick two. However, it seems that Flit has been able to accomplish all three...how have you managed to achieve this?
It’s hard to say. Right now we are not concerned about making money. The orginal model we made for flit started out as a project, not business. We are never going to be rich from this, so we don’t make that our goals. Oh, it helps to know some key manufacturers that the industry tries to hide. It’s true; we don't CNC hubs and lay carbon in my basement.



There you have it folks…for more information and to order a set of your very own Flit wheels check out: flitwheels.com

Why the beard?

What started out as conformity to an honored Iceman tradition seems to be transforming into a symbolic icon for monkhood. What is monkhood you may ask? Monkhood is the nirvana embodiment of the “Who Cares I’m Flying” mentality, or the highest level of W.C.I.F. status achievable.

Based on a snap decision judgment by Angela presented just two weeks prior to Iceman, I had decided to quit shaving with the intentions of cleaning myself up promptly post race. However, as my face grew more scraggily, itchy, and somewhat of an annoyance to people I found that it started to serve as a motivational reminder of what is to come next season, The World 24 hour Elite Solo Championships.

In Rocky II, Mickey states that it takes 45,000 minutes of devote training just for 45 minutes of fighting. This quote resonated in my mind after hearing it. As my facial fur grew and I looked in the mirror I started to recollect what is quite possibly the greatest training montages ever, Rocky in IV training deep in the snow-scaped mountains of Russia in preparation for his match with Ivan Drago. It quickly became apparent that Rocky was clearly exhibiting to me what it takes to go into complete and total monkhood in preparation for such a life-defining event.

As you watch this rich and compelling sequence, simply substitute Rocky for myself, Adriane for Angela, Pauli with Kroske, the black trainer with Big Dybo and Alan Smith, and Ivan Drago with the four Australians that sweeped 1st-4th in the 2007 World event.


So alas…this is why my face continues to grow on, even after Iceman. In recent discussion with family and friends, I decided that I am going to attempt to refrain from shaving/trimming (with the exception of the neck and moustache) until March 3rd of 2009; the day of commemoration of 30 years of the Finkelstein.

I realize that this most likely will lead to me looking like a scraggily wooly bushman mess, but who cares, I’ll be flying!

W.C.I.F. Award: Iceman Edition

Somehow amidst my rambling of the happenings of my own race I failed to acknowledge the W.C.I.F.A. justifications of the Wolverine racer whom we refer to as Flab. I’m talking about Scotty Fabijanski my friends. Don’t let his boyish appearance fool you, this guy was able to snag a well-deserved podium spot this past weekend claiming 3rd place in the Sport Men 40-44 category in the impressive sub 2 hour fashion of 1:54:11. So there you have it, Scotty Fab my friends…quite possibly my favorite WSC member to see having success in his craft.

So let’s all raise our mild-mannered, quiet/non-offensive demeanors, and downright genuine hearts to Scotty Fab…you are 2008’s Iceman W.C.I.F.A. recipient.

“I managed to get the hole shot, roll off the front, and get out of sight while 100 spirited sport racers gave chase. Once out of sight I put the Wolverine hammer down riding solo until mile 25 where I was caught by a couple of riders to finish 3rd. My Trek Fuel EX never let me down."

Iceman Cometh: Thoughts…deductions…future aspirations.

A few weeks back I told the Hermitman that I can’t wait until we can just roll around for an entire Saturday, in sub-freezing temps, making multiple coffee stops every 2-3 hours, and simply traveling at a modest 14mph social pace. Taking 45 minutes just to weather proof yourself before you can roll out the door to brave the elements, stocking up on chemical toe warmers, the hum of the studded tires on the pavement, building up a winter single speed beater from old parts, tasting salt for the tire spray off the rider in front of you, rolling home at 10:00pm on a work night with your toes and fingers so numb that they feel like their being squeezed in vice grips when they finally begin to thaw out, and rolling triple digit rides back to back each weekend…some may say this sounds miserable and dreadful…but for me, it is poetic.

The Iceman Cometh marked the denouement of my season. It was my last effort for the year to try and put myself together and take a stab at a respectable time and finish. I felt particularly good going into the race this year. My top end speed, acceleration, and leg speed had all seem to come together in the week’s prior and I was feeling good and optimistic.

There have been several instances in my racing tenure in which I have put myself in situations and scenarios that are downright terrifying and from a general safety standpoint, quite high stakes. The hole shot at the Iceman proved to be one of these situations that had my anxiety running high and my mind racing with the dreaded thought of crashing and injuring myself. As a result, my positioning off the gun was about the least optimal as possible. I spent most of the race trying to “connect the dots” and pick up spots. Ultimately I ended up rolling a time of 1:36, which would of put me well into the top ten in previous years. However, due to what was quite possibly the fasted course the Iceman has ever saw, coupled with the deepest, most talented field this race has ever hosted, I was merely mid pack in the pro field. Overall, although I wish I could of made contact with a faster train early on and felt I was not quite on the rivets the entire race but rather in a comfort zone, I am happy with my performance and can truthfully proclaim that I had fun…after all that is what its all about, isn’t it?

Alas, this brings me to my annual self-assessment and gut check. What will be my goals for next year? What goals did I achieve this season? How can I achieve the goals that I did not achieve this season next season? What were my strengths and weaknesses this season? Usually, I spend the majority of December, January, and February formulating answers to these questions and use March to plot out my season. However, this year I already have a clear goal and burning passion for next season.

If I learned anything from this season that I hadn’t managed to in the past, it is that success in racing is product of mental stamina and confidence, unwavering dedication, and finally performance. If any of these variables are compromised than success is drastically reduced. This season I had a pipe dream that came true and it enabled me to take something more away from this sport than I ever had before. Although my goal for next year is lofty and some may perceive it as unattainable, it is the fuel to which I will elevate myself and persevere on.

From now until January 1st, while I will continue to ride avidly, I am going to focus on simply having fun on the bike, not worrying too much about extremely structured training, loosening up the diet a bit, staying away from the mentally tormenting bathroom scale, and recharging my battery. However, come January I plan to be committed to a level of Monkhood too which I have never been before.

Occupational Reinforcement

I like my job…I do. However, just like any job, you have your struggles, frustrations, and mental battles. Every so often I question, was teaching the best path for me? I’m a smart guy…should I of pursued another occupational avenue that perhaps was more financially rewarding? Does my occupation fully implement the best of my abilities? On occasion, although I never thought of this even being an option, I even entertain the notion of a career switch in my lifetime.

However, every so often something happens that makes me realize that teaching is quite possibly the best fit for me, the most rewarding on several levels, and without a doubt, a great career choice. This past Friday, presented one of these moments.

One of my homeroom students who is a participant in our Voc. Ed. Program surprised me with this semester project that he had been working on in the body shop of his jobsite.

I don’t have many words or thoughts to describe how this made me feel. I was beside myself.

I plan to hang this trophy in my classroom for a constant reinforcement reminder that although there are many lows in my line of work, the highs far out weigh them in the long run.