“The Damned Loop”-What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

Today I awoke to my cell phone ringing at 7:40am. I was supposed to meet another rider from Bicycle Sport Shop this morning at 7:30am. Unfortunately my alarm clock did not function properly. However, after a quick phone call to Brandt…he rolled back over to pick me up for the “Fast Group ATC Ride”. The loop was named “the Dam loop” because it meandered out to a Dam about 2 hours away, around a lake and back (about 60 miles round trip). We started the day with the lofty intentions of doing two loops. I quickly shoveled in some oatmeal, threw back some coffee like it was a shot Jaeger and we were on our way.

As we rode to the meeting point of the ride, a few things were on my mind:
1. I did not have a pre-ride BM- a sure recipe for disaster!
2. I did not know any of the roads or routes, which always causes a bit of cautionary apprehension.
3. It was only 40 degrees and rainy and I was way underdressed.

As we arrived at the start of the ride, Brandt quickly informed me that there were comparatively very few riders out today due to the inclement weather (only about 10 or so). He also instructed me to be very careful on the turns because due to the extreme lack of rain in this region the roads become treacherously slippery with oil…he was right, it was like ice.

I am usually never one to throw in the towel due to conditions but as we got 2 hours into the ride the temperature dropped about 6 degrees, the rain became torrential, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I could no longer feel my fingers, toes, and had the shivers so bad that I would shake the top tube of my bike causing my handlebars to flutter. Most of the guys had ditched the ride already, stating that today was only for the hardest of core.

Just after a long arduous climb, I turned to Brandt and said uncle. He seemed to be suffering too so we headed to the nearest coffee shop and planned out a strategy to get home in one piece. After a failed attempt to plea for someone to come pick us up, our saving factor was found in the local newspaper. We shoved as many newspapers as we could under our jerseys for added warmth, tried to mentally go to a happy place, and headed back on our 1.5 hour trek to downtown Austin. The sites were amazing but were dampened by the downpour and pour visibility due to fog.


After much mental digging, we finally made it back to the shop in one piece and chalked the day up to one that will go in the storybooks. Just before we took our last turn, Brandt looked at me and asked sarcastically asked if I was sure I didn’t want to do another loop. We ended the ride by both agreeing that every rider has to feel pain to experience pleasure. Bike racing is all about learning how to suffer, today we got a lot of practice in and probably built a little more character as well.

The miserable post-ride/pre-shower Finkelstein










The post-shower/pre-nap Finkelstein








Tomorrow is the Austin Marathon. I will be cheering on some of our Michigan native talent, The Hansen’s Team. Lets hope for better weather and longer miles…if not, oh well…a horrible day in the saddle always trumps a day at work.

Land of the Longhorn

This past Christmas Angela gave me the very thoughtful and selfless gift of a plane ticket to Austin, TX for some early season warm weather miles and to reunite with my great friend Brandon Richter. Brandon is no stranger to bicycle retail, his resume includes shops such as Village Bike Shop, Antoons Bike Shop, Continental Bike Shop, Chain Wheel Drive (Fl), and now Bicycle Sport Shop (Austin, TX), he was also the top sales associate in the Midwest for Independent Fabrication.

I met Brandon during a very pivotal time of my life; I was just starting to ride more seriously. In addition, I had just graduated from college, finished a post-graduation season long binge of snowboarding, and was finally conceding that I was going to have to move back home with my parents and search for a more career oriented job. Brandon just happened to call me on me on my final trek home from Kalamazoo. I had all of my belongings loaded up in may car, was heading in a direction I didn’t really want to go, and had no job lined up whatsoever. Bob Dylan was playing and I was trying to wrap my head around the thought that the “best years of my life” were now behind me…now what? That is when I got the call offering me an exciting job at Antoons. At the time, it gave me hope. I had never met Brandon before, but during my interview we instantly connected and have been very close friends since. My first recollection of Brandon was asking him when I could employee purchase a new cross bike. His response was, “Well, technically our policy is that you have to work here for three months before you can do that, but you seem pretty passionate…if I let you fill the paperwork out today, you promise me you won’t screw me and quit after you get it?” We ordered the bike the day of my interview and Brandon has been pressuring me to buy bikes and more parts ever since. His famous move was to put new parts on my bikes while I unknowingly built up my employee layaway account. In 2002, just after 10spd Dura-Ace was released, he swapped my entire 9spd group to 10spd the night before the State Road Race without my consent. His justification was always that he knew I would love it…he was right.

Fast forward to the present. My flight to Austin was pretty nice, I shared the plane with 30 girls from the U of M softball team and some Hansen’s runners getting ready to race the Austin Marathon on Sunday. Needless to say we had some good conversation and exchanged the pleasures and pains of being addicted to our sports.

Brandon greeted me at the airport with two ice cold Sierra Nevadas, perfect tranquility fuel after a long flight and an even longer day at work. We went immediately to John Korioth and Lance Armstrong’s bar Six. I forgot what it feels like to be in a town where the economy is not only stable but thriving and people are happy, healthy, and seem to have their priorities straight…I don’t think I’ve seen one “pimped out” H2 since I’ve been here! We celebrated our reunion the rest of the evening with many cowboy pops!


This morning we woke up, ate, and headed over to Bicycle Sport Shop. The shop is owned and operated by Hill Abell, the IMBA President, huge cycling advocate, and all around great guy.



Bicycle Sport Shop is a Mecca of all things to two-wheeled!



The shop was gracious enough to allow me to ride a rental 2008 Madone 5.1 free of charge. It also happened to match the Wolverine Kits just perfectly.



After I got the fit of the bike dialed in we headed out for a nice leisurely loop to get to know the town and the roads.


Despite some bad luck, we had a great ride. I hit a razor blade in the middle of nowhere and slashed my tire from bead to bead. As a testament to how great the employees at BSS are…one call, and minutes later a car pulled up with a new wheel and we were back on our way for more miles.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with “the fast group” ride out of the shop in the morning. I have aspirations of an epic ride day but fear that they may become unfulfilled due to projected inclement weather. If so, oh well…I’m still having a good time.

A Tale of two Gentlemen: Young Buck and Old Dog

This is Robert. Robert likes to ride bikes in the dirt. Robert is also roughly as old as dirt.








This is Tim. Tim likes to ride bikes on the smooth pavement. He is a young lively energetic lad. Tim looks up to Robert for the ungodly miles he rides each year and for his stylish look.



One beautiful day, Robert and Tim met on a park bench and shared a few laughs about their differences in riding preferences. Robert told Tim, “Anything you can do, I can do better”. Tim replied, “Well, I haven’t seen you riding your bike too much lately”.

Robert retorted, “that is because my back hurts now when I ride a bike, but in my day…not only could I throw a football a quarter mile while wearing painted on silver pants and playing a rocking Queen guitar solo…but I could also ride farther and faster away from any peloton I encountered”. Tim instructed the old man to prove it. The two then shared a sheepish laugh and went on their merry ways.




The very next day, Tim received this photo in his email inbox.

Same rig…revamped design…new look.

Once again, thanks to our good friends at American Cycle and Fitness, Bontrager Components, and Lemond Racing Cycles, the WSC Elite team will be swinging their freshly shaven legs over these gratuitously carbon fiber adorned steeds in 2008.


Lemond upped the ante this season by offering the lightest frameset available on their Dura-Ace equipped Victiore, the triumphe ultimate carbon. I just built mine up last week and am proud to announce that it has joined the ranks of one of the lightest bikes I have ever had in my stable, weighing in at a lean 15 lbs…a weight that would make any anorexic supermodel jealous. In addition to the frame upgrade, Lemond redesigned the rear seat stays to maximize any unnecessary material to reduce weight. The bikes design integrity follows the min/max philosophy: maximum amount of material where necessary (high torque/load bearing and flex areas) and the minimum where unnecessary.




Complete with a beautiful candy metal flake red, the new Victiore is sure to catch an eye or two in the 2008 peloton.

Learning to Fly

No matter how long you’ve been obsessively riding, everyone has a story of how they got to where they are now. Earlier this week I was riding with the WRCS gang in pouring 36 degree rain and I started pondering the question, “How did I get here…what am I doing…how did it all get to this?” Scotty Fab and myself started chatting about our early origins to the sport. I quickly realized that I have never really heard a story about a rider’s development that I didn’t like.

For me, cycling is my passion, it is my defining catalyst, it has become who I am and it has become something I am married to. I feel that the focus and discipline I have attained through my devotion to the sport has enabled me to become a better person in several different facets of life. However, I did not always have this focus.



The Fat Finkelstein!



Believe it or not, this 180lb 6’4” body was at one time (during the demise of my college years) 260lbs of gelatinous funk! I was 19 years old, attending college at Western Michigan University, and had a complete lack of focus. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life or what I wanted to focus my studies on. I was wandering and floating through life. Truthfully, it was very difficult for me to conceptualize anything further than a few months in advance. Fortunately, after much wasted time and money, I was able to come to a peaceful conclusion that I wanted to become an educator. However, although I thought I knew what this concept meant at the time, I really didn’t. I always knew I had the capacity to teach, but reluctantly fought it as I felt I was supposed to follow in the engineering footsteps already laid by the other Finkel males. I can honestly say, the change started to take place in me when I decided to become a teacher.



The Long-Haired Fat Finkelstein



Around this pivotal time for me, I met an individual who became a major source of inspiration and motivation. I was getting to the age where I was starting to reevaluate relationships and phase out the negative ones, and simply invite in only the positives. This person helped shape who I have become today and the way I think. I started to reconsider certain priorities and consider how I can change my lifestyle for the better. I turned to my dusty 1996 Gary Fisher Joshua sitting in the closet of my apartment which had served for sometime as more of a Seinfeld-like prop than a tool for recreation.

I had mountain biked before, but was always a weekend warrior at best. I started riding at Fort Custer a few times a week. As time passed, I purchased a newer mountain bike (a KHS Alite 4000 Team Issue). The new equipment served as great motivation to get out there and ride farther and faster. At first, my goal was to simply finish a loop at Fort Custer without stopping and without falling over on any climbs. When I achieved this, my goal was to finish in under an hour…it quickly turned to under 50 minutes, then under 40 minutes. As cliché as it sounds, when Lance Armstrong’s first book came out I read it and was blown away. I was following the 2001 tour during my read and was inspired to progress as a rider. I remember riding the Kal-Haven Trail in its entirety one day. It was by far the longest ride I had ever attempted (about 67 miles round trip). I remember finishing this ride exhausted but reveling in the assumed thought that this must be the farthest anyone had ever ridden a mountain bike! As I got more fit I started to notice something other than my pants fitting much bigger on me, I started to realize I was attaining more focus in all aspects of life. My grade point average was rising, my waistline was shrinking, and for the first time in my life, I was beginning to think about long-term goals.

I eventually graduated college with a degree in Elementary Education. However, the passionate obsessive side of me took over; as my involvement in cycling flourished, I started working in various bike shops and reading and researching as much as I could get my hands on about the topic. I should have been making it my full time job to be looking for employment in the teaching field, but I didn’t care…I was flying. There were some frustrations and difficulties I was going through at this time but the bike seemed to alleviate any stress, anxiety, anger, or depression I underwent. The faster and longer I rode, the better I felt. I discovered cycletherapy; I was addicted!

Racing was a natural bi-product of all this riding. But this is not a story about racing.

Me after taking second in my first cyclocross race.



After working two years straight at the same shop, I realized I couldn’t live the romanticized dream forever. I needed to either find a teaching job or start furthering my education. I decided to do both at once. So I went back to school for my masters and began substitute teaching. After a year or so of subbing, I got a position with the school district I am currently employed. After working the entire school year, they told me I didn’t have to come back to work for three months. I thought to myself, “So I have three months of no work, they are still going to pay me, and I can ride my bike everyday uninterrupted?” It was at this time that I came to the distinct realization that I had made the right career choice and I have never looked back since.


During my first win in the expert MTB category



My Dad and I at the start of the first ever Tour De Leelenau. My parents have become big cycling fans and are proud of who I've become.



I’ve shared the cliff notes of my story because I am so thankful for my involvement in this sport that I am so passionate about. I have met so many great people that I consider my closest friends through it and have even got to travel a bit to ride my bike. Whether you are a musician, runner, cyclist, snowboarder, kickball champion, etc., passion and focus can drive people to reach for new heights and betterment of themselves. It is a form of meditation, it is a way to become personally centered and understand your place.

I WOULD LOVE IT IF ANYONE WHO READS THIS WOULD COMMENT ABOUT HIS OR HER STORY OF HOW YOU HAVE GOT TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW. You can leave as long of a comment as you want, feel free to be long-winded. I want to hear your stories!!!

Decisions, Decisions...

I'm torn...I can't decide if I should race this, this, or this.

Help me out.

The Dybo Memoirs

If you roll up to virtually any cycling venue in the United States and mention the name Ray Dybowski, there is almost always a good chance that someone will comment, “Yeah, I know that guy, man have I got some stories about him”. After 25+ years of Wolverine racing, Ray has justifiably earned the name “The Godfather of Michigan Cycling”. It is pretty difficult to find another individual with as much credentials, sincerity, knowledge, loyalty, and passion for the sport than Raymond. He is one of those guys that not only bring out the best in racers, but also in people’s everyday traits. As a teammate of mine he has been a teacher to me as well as a great friend and source of motivation.

After several years of road tripping to races and training camps with Ray I have developed quite a mental Rolodex of stories he has told. I guess when you have as many notches in your experience belt as Ray, you have a lot to say and share. The greatest component of Ray’s stories in their similarity to fine wine, they get better with time and the more exposure to them the better you feel. Recently, I was riding with Ray and I proposed the idea to compile his stories together in book format titled “The Dybo Memoirs: Tales from one of Michigan’s finest” as retold by the Finkelstein. In an effort to take the first step in this endeavor I have decided to dedicate a post a week to retelling the rich and compelling stories of The Godfather.

These memoirs will be broken down into themes. The first edition of these inspirational tales will focus on the theme of food. As a warning, all stories are true and based on actual events. However, as time passes and the frequency of the retellings increase so does the exaggeration and grandeur of them.

Stay tuned for the first Vol. 1 Ed.1 of the Dybo Memoirs…guaranteed to warm and inspire the hearts of those who share a passion for cycling and racing.