Mohican 100

"There is no such thing as bad weather only soft people"
-Bill Bowerman

In the case of the 2010 Mohican 100, this quote may be debatable. Perhaps the soft people may have been the smarter ones on a day like this. A mere 10 miles into this race I knew that simply finishing would be my win.

I need a little time to digest this one before a full report. In the meantime, check this out.

This is not a race report.

Typically most of my travels wind me up at a bike race of some sort. However, this past weekend Angela and I went up to Boyne Mountain to begin the planning process of our wedding on July 30th, 2011 at Boyne. Coincidentally this trip was the same weekend as the 12/24 hours of Boyne. However, in an effort to save myself for the Mohican 100 and of course to dedicate my energy to Angela, I refrained from racing. I still managed to squeeze out quite a bit of trail riding but at “vacation” pace. I’ll save the race pace for this upcoming weekend.


I ended the weekend with the content feeling that sometimes the best experiences can actually be while out of the saddle.

It's the Middle that Counts

“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”
-Author Unknown

There are two dates that are associated with an individual after they pass.
1. The day they were born.
2. The day they died.

However, I was once told by a teacher that, “it’s everything in the middle that counts”. Today would have been my brother’s 40th birthday. Although he is no longer physically with us, he remains in the hearts of so many people. The evidence of his influence being continually felt by so many today reminds me just how much he was able to make everything in the middle count the most he possibly could. It also reminds me daily to make sure I am making the most of the middle parts.

He continues to be a role model to me.

Happy Birthday Don! I miss and love you.

12 hrs of Stony Creek

A good friend of mine and Ironman athlete once told me, “you race your first Ironman to conquer it and embrace the feeling, you race every race after that to chase that feeling you once had your first time”. I mention this quote because I feel it is applicable to 12/24 hour solo mountain bike racing as well. The first time you muster the gumption to set your sights high and roll to the line of a 24hr race you don’t know what’s in store for you. Your anxiety and anticipation of the unknown lead to your excitement. You are seeking to discover just how far you are able to push yourself, to meet your limits face to face, and to push beyond those limits. When you finally achieve this accomplishment you are initially consumed by newly discovered elation and emotion you have never felt before. However, much like any addictions, this high leads you begging to answer the question, “what’s next”? You’ve surprised yourself, proved you can overcome what was once thought of as insurmountable adversity, and now you want to do it again…only BETTER!

WARNING: This mentality/realization/vision quest can lead to one of two things:
1. Debilitating disappointment
2. Success that leads to the perpetuation of the same question, “what’s next”?

Last season I raced two 12-hour races and won them both without contest. However, despite my second place podium spot at the 2010 12hrs of Stony Creek, I am personally more proud and satisfied with this result than any of my previous 12hr wins. Why?...because I was able to discover that I could go further than what I previously thought was possible.

Healthy competition amongst teammates can be a great thing when there is a mutual respect. Robert Herrimen and Mike Simonson are both Gary Fisher 29er Crew teammates of mine that have lengthy career resumes with several solid finishes and wins. The result of all of us showing up to the same line was a symbiotic success.


My previous 12-hour race distance record was 140 miles. Thanks to the motivation of my fellow 29er Crew comrades we were all able to achieve 161 miles of trail mayhem that boasted 1000 feet of climbing per lap. In addition were we able to not only claim a 1st and 2nd place victory in the 30-39 solo category and a 1st in the 40+ category, but we managed to all complete 14 laps and also claim the 1st, 2nd and 3rd spots in the overall results, including the teams.


Yes, it’s true this race was a quest to strive for that aforementioned feeling of my first endurance event. Much to my surprise, I managed to create a new feeling of elation as I discovered I could push beyond my previous limitations. However, due to my healthy dosage of lactic acid in my legs currently, I plan on simply savoring this one for a while and waiting a bit before I eventually ask that inevitable question, “What’s Next”?


I’d like to give a special thanks to my family and friends that showed up to support me for this event. Your love and words of encouragement during the race served as great mental race fuel. I love you all!



Check out race footage here

Peaks and Valleys

The past four days have been a bit busy in terms of racing. I’ve always said that racing can bring you from your highest of highs to lowest of lows…well…I wasn’t quite at my highest this past weekend and I wasn’t quite at my lowest either. However, there were many peaks and valleys.

Race 1: May 7th Waterford Hills Thursday Night Worlds

Ok, so the WSC may have had the dominant numbers in this field. However, success is success and a win is a win. Being my first win of the 2010 season, I was stoked to take it.

There was a bit of a reversal of team roles in the air as we saw a solo flyer from our Cat. 3 sprinter Ricardo Cotto and myself, being deemed more of a breakaway horse head ended up taking the field sprint for the win (thanks to a stellar lead-out from junior Brett Beddow)in addition to the ever so coveted Beer Growler Prime. I guess if your team is going to have the numbers tipped in your favor, you better finish well. Indeed we did claiming 1st, 2nd (Luke Cavender), 4th (K-Man), and 5th (Jay Moncel) along with all four primes up for grabs.

Nonetheless, this race was nothing more than a prequel for the havoc that was sure to ensue with TOKV and Cone Azalia falling on the same weekend this year.



Race 2: May 9th Tour of Kensington Valley

This year, TOKV boasted winds that I have never raced in before in my life coupled with some low temps and a dash of intermittent precipitation. All of these variables added together equaled a minimally motivated Finkelstein. I equated the experience to riding behind a fan boat for 3.5 hours. However, despite missing the winning break I still hung strong to the finish only to flub up the sprint. I managed to squeak out an 11th place, which was still good for a slice of the prize purse albeit a small one.



Race 3: May 10th Cone Azalia

Going into this race as a 2009 podium finisher I was very motivated to try and have a repeat good showing. Sometimes all the motivation in the world can be reduced to a pile of ruble due to mechanical difficulties. It seems my choice to try out tubulars this year was a bad one as I flatted a mere 6 min into the 75-mile race. Cone Azalia is several parts luck and a few parts skill. While my skill may have been present, my luck was not.

Other than sound tire choice, I did learn something about myself. After the wheel car took several minutes to reach me I realized that the loss of time I had on the field was an insurmountable amount and that my race was over. I screamed a few words that should never come out of my mouth on Mother’s Day as I rolled through the gravel in solitude. My intentions were to finish the lap and simply call it a day while I watched the race transpire from the sidelines. However, after I finished lap 1 I found myself rolling out for another one without giving it too much thought. I wasn’t racing for anything at this point; I was simply riding my bike. While I rolled lap 2 I decided that upon finishing this lap I was going to throw in the towel and quit. Once again, for some reason, I rolled out for a 3rd lap. This trend continued until I finally finished the 75 miles and 7 laps in solitude and out of the money.

It wasn't pride that kept me from stopping, it wasn’t my ego, it wasn’t the hope that something unforeseeable like a train might slow the field down and I could catch back on, and it wasn’t the hope that perhaps I may still crack the top 15 and get paid. My persistence came from somewhere deeper. I was searching for something but I’m not sure what. Perhaps it was fear that kept me going, or grief. Although I love racing and “playing the game of bike racing” it is all simply a bi-product of my love to ride a bicycle. If I were to be told tomorrow that I could never race another bike race again I would probably go out and ride more than I do now.

George Sheehan once said in an essay titled Why Do I Run, “I run everyday to not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might become tomorrow”. I suppose this is true for me, I ride to preserve the person I was yesterday and to secure the person I want to be tomorrow.

I may of been DFL but I refused to DNF.

The Lessons of Cohutta

“But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.”

-Paulo Coelho

My most sincere appeal to endurance mountain biking are the lessons in humility that come about from it. No matter how on top of your game you are, you can always be knocked down to size. Endurance cycling promotes the stripping of self-indulgent ego feeding and calls you to look inward. As a result, this introspective glimpse allows for an outpouring of everyday life applications in other facets. I cannot speak for all endurance junkies, but for me, this is what it’s all about.


The 2010 Cohutta 100 was a healthy dosage of humility for all its participants. With everyday rain drop, lightning bolt, thunder crack, elevation change, and position battle, it proved to be well worth the price of admission. Every race has its variables, be it stronger riders, challenging terrain, ominous weather. Cohutta this year seems to have all of the above.

Amongst the 133 elite open finishers of this race I managed to squeeze out a 16th place. Initially I was a bit discontent with the result but all in all I am satisfied and content that the venture was worth while.

Sometime around mile 80 or so when I was descending at 40 mph in loose gravel with lighting and thunder surrounding me and squinting my eyes to try and keep the mud and rain from severely distorting my vision I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “In this moment, I am alive”.

Photos soon to some…

Props to fellow Michigan riders Mike Simonson, Christian Tanguy, Greg Kuhn, and Robert Herrimen for representing that despite optimal resources, physical and intestinal fortitude is strong in the Motor City!!!

6WC: Losing to Win

Ray Dybowski once gave me the following advice. It has single handedly been some of the most sound advice anyone could ever give me when it comes to racing a bicycle. These are words that are easily said than done when amidst a race moment of frustration and self-doubt. However, equipped with my lessons of the past I was able to heed these words on April 3rd, 2010 in Wilkesboro, NC at the second annual 6 hours of Warrior Creek.

Don't quit: I've had a number of good finishes in races that seemed to be completely out of my control. They go down in my journal as epic. You keep picking up the cards that are dealt to you, play them, sometimes they turn into the winning hand. Sometimes you have to hang in long enough for the race to come to your level, if you don't quit you will be happy when it does, maybe even epic!

I must say that the BMCC is officially off to something great with this race. In only its second year, the 6 hours of Warrior Creek has sold out, even necessitating the promoters to open 75 extra spots this year. The elite open category alone this year boasted 104 participants!

Wilkesboro is a beautiful community in the foothills of North Carolina located amongst a network of several solid trail systems. Warrior Creek’s trails are fast and furious filled with high burms and a few challenging rock gardens. After pre-riding the course the Friday prior to the race I categorized it as “Helltrack on crack”.

The morning of the race was a beautiful 65 degrees which was a pleasant treat after the cold winter in Michigan. As I sat at the line I looked back and marveled at the sea of 375 riders extending back behind me. The start of the race was ballistic to say the least. In an effort to string the field out, the promoters designed the first lap to have a few miles of hilly road terrain which catered to my road skills. I was pleased to enter the holeshot into the trail sitting second wheel behind Eddie Odea of the Ergon Team. I held his wheel for that entire lap until we finally whittled the 375 rider field down to 4 riders.

During the first few miles of the second lap our group turned to three riders, one of which was Aaron Oakes who was the returning race champion of 2009. I knew I was with the group to be in but we were all attacking each other just a bit more than I desired at that time. Remembering the lessons of the tortoise and the hare I started to think about dropping back and settling into my own rhythm. Just as that thought passed, I found myself hitting the ground hard. The two remaining riders took off before I had time to pick myself back up. Fortunately, I was able to settle into a rhythm after this and maintain my third place position.

On lap four I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had reeled Aaron Oakes back in. As I passed him he did not put up much of a fight to stay on my wheel. I later found out that he had pulled out of the race on that lap. I was now sitting in second and was comfortable and happy with my positioning.



I knew the race was going to be won with six laps and that most likely they would be completed in sub-6 hour fashion. As I rolled out on my sixth lap, I was right on schedule to finish in sub-6 hours. Angela had informed me that starting the lap I was a mere minute off the first place rider Nathan Wyatt. As I rolled that lap I begin to hit a wall in the first few miles. However, after taking in a GU, I was able to regain composure and I could feel my speed pick up. I was gaining hope that there was still a good chance I could win the race in epic form.

There are few things worse than the dreaded sound of a bike tire instantly fizzing to flat during a bike race. The tool that was once ripping you around the course in synergistic harmony is quickly reduced to nothing more than a 23lb weight. Unfortunately with a mere 5 miles to go in the race I had to experience this sound. I was devastated; everything was going according to plan. As I unsuccessfully struggled to get my tire to reseal, I watched the dreaded third placed rider, Andy Applegate ride by me.

There are points in a race in which your confidence can go to self doubt within a virtual instant, this was one of them. I thought for sure I had lost my podium spot. I knew there was a road crossing up ahead and I pondered simply throwing in the towel and DNFing. However, from past experience I knew that the result of knowing I quit a race when I could have finished would not be worth the mental torment that would ensue afterward. After much mental dispute, I pulled out my extra tube and CO2 and got to work. It’s amazing how the simple act of changing a tire during a stressful race situation can make you struggle and wrestle with it so much more than usual. I finally managed to get the new tube in after spilling Stan’s No Tubes all over me. As I went to fill up the tire I noticed that my tube didn’t have a valve core in it. At this point I reevaluated once again quitting.

Sometimes you just have to beg, borrow, or steal to get what you want…in this instance I choose the first. I sat on the side of the trail and begged each passing rider atop a 29er if they had a tube I could borrow. Eventually, a very gracious single speed rider passed me a tube. I quickly changed and was on my way. However, I only had enough CO2 left to fill about 10 PSI in my tire which resulted in a slow last five miles whenever the trail turned or came upon some rock gardens.

Eventually I passed the line, 13 minutes off of first, but somehow managed to hold onto my third place position. Andy Applegate who had overtaken me during my mechanical was a mere 3 minutes off of first. I couldn’t help but fixate on the “what ifs”. As I rolled through; I had tears of frustration in my eyes.


After I deescalated and had some time to ponder my achievement I became increasingly satisfied with my result. I could have easily quit when things didn’t go my way and lost a podium spot. I remembered Ray’s quote and ended the day with the feeling that I had done something epic.


If putting on a well-organized, well attended great race with a great course was not enough for the BMCC, they hosted a great after party in which I was able to meet many 29er Crew members I had only previously read about. Two of which were Brent Lester and Tommy Rodgers who Angela and I had ended up staying with that evening in a beautiful mountain top cabin, with a view that as Brent described it “didn’t suck” courtesy of the generosity of one of Brent’s clients. The evening consisted of many celebratory Oat Sodas as well as some great conversations circling around the two-wheeled passion we all shared. The next day we arose and went for a 2 hour hike to top off the weekend. I really look forward to having the chance to hang out with these guys in the future…Perhaps ICEMAN guys?...That is an invite to all.

Check out the race footage HERE