Public Service Announcement:

Due to external factors outside of my control my computer has recently gone to the wayside necessitating it to be sent away to the Apple specialists. Unfortunately, those of you who enjoy your weekly dose of the Finkelstein Ramblings may have to wait for the next 7-10 business days while I assume Steve Jobs personally fixes it for me. This couldn’t of come at a more inopportune time as we are sitting on the commencement of the 2008 season and my mind is racing with ideas, thoughts, and commentary.

However, once I am up and running again you can look forward to debut of The Dybo Memiors, Race Reports, all things Kickball, My personal season goals and objectives outlined, and some reviews of some Cycling Novels I have recently read…stay tuned.

Six Gaps of Pain 2008 Vr 2.0

The weather looks right for tomorrow, the time is right; tonight is the eve of the notorious six gap ride. This year we will be enhancing the climbing and mileage by adding diabolical Brasstown Bald Summit in as well, so it is really going to be about 6.5 gaps. 11,000 feet of pain and suffering...to be continued.

S.B.T.C. Day 4/5: Yet another conjunctivitis scare!

I am usually not one to suffer from allergies too much but it seems GA is taking a toll on mine. The past two days have been spent sneezing, sniffling, snot rocketing, and fighting headaches. Danny suggested that perhaps it was due to spending to much time with him and proposed that I may be allergic to Judaism. Not sure this is the case but to air on the cautionary side, I am going to check with my family practitioner promptly upon return home.

However, I did not allow these symptoms to hold me back from taking full advantage of riding in the beauty here. Yesterday we got about 62 miles in and paid homage to Unicoi State Park which was beautiful.

This morning I woke up and was barely able to open my left eye. It seems something down here has made it very agitated. However, after a quick visit to the local apothecary for some homeopathic remedies I was able to get out for a 52-mile easy ride.

S.B.T.C. Day 3: Popping the rookie’s cherries

As a quick side note, the town of Helen is a Bavarian tourist trap that would make the Dolpinator feel as if he was right at home in the sweet motherland and blend in like camouflage; lederhosen, hofbrau haus, sausage, the whole bit.



After an hour of monkeying around with the ill-prepared mountain bike gang, consisting of Scott Hes and Mike Campbell, and trying to make their poorly maintained dilapidated rigs road-worthy we were finally off and rolling at 1:00pm. We rolled a respectable 75 miles and 8600 feet of climbing but took it pretty easy for the most part, mainly focusing on familiarizing the rookies with the routes.

The weather hit a high of about sixty and was pleasantly comfortable on the climbs.

As the sun set we headed out to the nearest steakhouse and cheered to a successful day of riding.

I am starting to feel like I am coming down with a severe cold and fear that it could interfere with my riding…we’ll hope for the best.

S.B.T.C. Day 2: Only in Kentucky Exclusives

Day 2 was not too eventful. The big debate was whether to ride in Kentucky that morning or get in the car and drive to Georgia to try and squeeze in an evening ride. In an effort to make our extremely hospitable host Scott happy we opted to roll around for a few hours in Kentucky with him and then hit the road.

Throughout the course of the day we ran into a few “only in Kentucky exclusives” that were worth noting. The first was this sign on our ride route.


The second was interacting with a family at Starbuck’s making a pit stop to recaffeinate, stretch the legs, and of course allow time for their potbelly pig named Todd to meander around a meadow and poop.

The drive to Helen, GA seemed to stretch on and on. If anyone was wondering what a speeding ticket for 14 over in Kentucky costs, the answer is $156…we had to find that out the hard way. We will be taking donations to cover the cost if anyone is interested, just simply contact me at your convenience, we accept cash or check.

We finally made it to our destination at around 9:30 that night. Scott Hes was the man responsible for arranging our accommodations. Needless to say, I had a bit of justified anxiety about what we may be walking into based on Scott’s track record in the area of hotel/cabin selecting (i.e. the –2 star dump he arranged for the Lumberjack this past season). Needless to say, the place ended up being quite nice with ample room for sleeping and a respectably diverse selection of loud mouth soup.

Spring Break Training Camp Day One: Homage to our Michigan Native

Today was another one of those days that served as a clear affirmation that I am not content with living in the metro Detroit area of Michigan. 73 degrees and sunny was the catalyst for a beautiful 73 mile loop in which we never saw one traffic light.


Danny suggested a few days back that we roll through Scott McLarty’s homestead on the way down to Georgia. The rationale was to get a few days of rolling hills before we punish our legs with lactic acid in the mountains of Northern GA.





Scott, former Essex Brass Teammate and Berkley resident, recently relocated himself and family to Louisville, Kentucky. I must say, he was a great tour guide and pitched a pretty convincing sales pitch that Louisville is one of the Nations best kept secret as far as cool cities with a powerful cycling presence goes. Louisville hosts some of the reputable teams such as the Texas Roadhouse boys, Barbasol Cycling Team, and the Papa John’s Cycling Team. He informed us that the Master’s Nationals race will also be hosted in a nearby park by his house. Upon hearing this news I quickly made reservations at the McLarty household for next years race, as I will be celebrating my first season that I will be eligible for a masters race. We were very grateful for our decision to pay pilgrimage to Scott and this town when, upon completion of our day of riding, we returned to an extremely tasty home cooked meal.

Prior to our ride we stopped by a small shop named the Cycler's Café. The shop was unique because it was also a burrito/beer/coffee shop. We strolled around the shop for about an hour kicked some tires, and treated ourselves to a pre-ride burrito. The shop proved to be magnificent marriage of all things cyclist love.

Whew! Just scoped out the current weather status back home. I am definitely not regretful that I left the Motor City behind this spring break.

We are going to get one more Louisville ride in tomorrow before setting sail for Helen, GA where it will literally all be uphill from there. Details to follow…

Georgia on my mind

Tomorrow I will be leaving for my third annual training camp in Georgia with none other than Mr. Danny Klein. We plan to meet up with the likes of Scotty Hes, Soupy Campell, perhaps Ben Renkema, Greg Christian, and some other unknowns. It should be a great week of training, resting, and eating. Details to follow as they develop.