No Races this Weekend!

What do "normal" people do on the weekends?

9/10ths of a Hundo

Last Tuesday brought about 8/10ths of the mythical century on a school night. This week I decided to go for the big 100 on a school night. With preparation of the Lumberjack 100 on my mind, I decided to stack the deck against my favor and attempt this feat on the MTB. I started out of Troy, rode some trails at Bloomer and Stoney and then headed out to the B-Ham ride. With motivation from the stylings of Roberto Harry-Man I hunkered down and was able to hang on my dirt-designed bicycle. However, my hundo attempt ultimately failed due to lack of daylight, I ended the day with 92. The legs were a bit dead today so I rode a leisurely 20 miles to recover. Next week an attempt will be made again but with a curly barred, skinny tire bike.

Weekend Catch Up: Armstrong Ties the Knot and Flying in Grand Rapids

This weekend I stood up in Matt Armstrong’s wedding. This was by far the most fun wedding I had ever been to!


The wedding started at the Rooster Tail in Detroit followed by a tasty happy hour immediately following the ceremony.

Then we were driven in a limo to the Ren Cen where we boarded the Oavation, a huge yacht.


At 10:00, we were treated to a fireworks show from the water.


As the evening went on and the drinks kept flowing, everything got a little blurry.




As we exited the vessel, we were treated by the culinary masterpieces of which is White Castle. It was my first time eating “a slider”. I must admit that after a liberal serving of whiskey and cokes, they were decadent!


The party then moved to Andiamo in the Ren Cen. We partied until 2:00 and I got down to “whoop there it is”.



On Monday, I raced the Gaslight Crit in East Grad Rapids. This race was very well run and a blast. It was crazy fast paced with an average of 27.5 mph. It ended with a sprint finish and as usual I was watching it all happen in front of me. I felt good the whole race though and was somewhat active.

And without further ado, this weekend’s recipient of the “Who Cares, I’m Flying Award” goes to Raymond Dybowski. Ray completed the tri-fecta (pro 1-2, Masters 35+, Masters 45+) and won money in every race! It was pretty cool to see him launch Danny Klein like a cannon from the back of the pack with three to go. Unfortunately, the move did not stick.



The race did include a pretty cool commemorative glass…at least I didn’t go home empty handed.

Pretty in Pink

Its a girl! Welcome to the newest edition of the Finkelstein family.



This week marked the dawn of a new era for me. Today the girlfriend world collided with the velo-world. Yes thanks to the good folks at American Cycle and Fitness, Angela has herself a brand new pretty pink Trek 6700 WSD.



When I first met Angela she said to me, “I feel like I am totally the opposite of any girl you would ever go for”. I asked her why and she replied, “Well I don’t ride bikes”. I went onto to explain to her that cycling is my world and I don’t want or need to share it with my girlfriend, it is my time and my time is very important and essential to my healthy well-being. Furthermore, I explained that I don’t want her to ride bikes with me but there would be one simple rule: You have to support my racing and my training habits. She then gave the best answer…”Well that’s simple, I can be very supportive”. That’s when I knew I had something good. Ang has put up with a lot in the supportive training/racing department since that day. I have missed family anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, etc. It has not been easy for her to explain to her family when asked where I am, that I am riding my bike. Typically the response is, “He’s riding his bike, how come? (especially in January and February) Doesn't he have a driver's License?”
After a running-induced injury over the winter season, Angela got the notion that she wanted to explore the idea of getting her own bike. She worked the angle swiftly when she explained how it would give her something to do during races and would enable her to ride to several different vantage points easier. So we started looking around. Her main criteria was that the bike was NOT pink. However, ironically when we saw the 6700 WSD, she knew she had to have it. It was like the two had met in a past life or something. So Christmas came early in May this week when we picked up the bike, shoes, shorts, two jerseys, computer, gloves and helmet. I left ACF wondering what I had got myself into.



Today was her first ride. We did a simple loop starting at the Veteran’s Park in Rochester and riding portions of the Clinton River Trail and the Paint Creek Trail. She had never used clippless pedals before, so this was a challenge! Three tip-overs later (one of which was in front of a crowd near Rochester Brewery), and I think she began to get the hang of it.



Overall, she was quite a trooper and I think she toughened herself up a bit. She is passed out on the couch next to me right now, so I think I wore her out.

We’ve made a deal that she will only ride with me on my recovery days so as not to disrupt any of the value from the intensity days. However, I think these may be the training days I look forward to most now. Her overall goal, is to ride the Monday night recovery ride out of ACF, Royal Oak by the end of the summer. Look for her on a RO neighborhood street near you hammering on her pink steed.

8/10ths of a Hundo

80 miles on a school night. Not to bad, usually this mileage is relegated only to weekends and summer vacation. Beautiful day today, couldn't resist. I think I may try to get in a full century on a school night before the year ends.

Tour of Kensington Valley Stage Race

Overall, I must say, this race was run very well. With the exception of a bit of a delay during the Criterium stage, the race went very smoothly. Hats off to Joe and South Lyon Cycles for making an already great race even greater.


Stage 1: First of all, I went into this race completely unprepared. Because I missed pre-registration a week earlier, I had not even found out I was going to be able to race until the day before. The prologue was a short 2.7 mile TT. I decided to try using Ray Dybowski’s TT bike. I had about ten minutes to warm up on it and get used to it’s position and handling. I ended up running a 5:34…not quite enough to contest even top 20. Ironically, Ray ended up with the same time as well (down to the tenth of a second). I simply concluded that this was the fastest the bike could go and if we wanted to run a faster TT, we would need a new bike.



Stage 2: This crit was so fast; I don’t even remember much of it. I recall being in an early break and winning the first prime…the rest of the race is a blur. I finished at the tail end of the field. However, after the race everyone was coming up to me and congratulating me. I kept asking for what? They replied that when I won the first prime the announcer announced that I had just closed on my first house the day before and got engaged! The first was true; the second was not…I’m not sure where he got his sources. No engagement yet.



Stage 3: This race was great! The only thing that could of made it better was about 50 more miles. Priority Health controlled the entire day keeping their yellow jersey (Graham Howard) safe and sound. I felt I was very attentive and active this entire race. I made it in three different breaks, but Priority was not having it. However, towards the end of the race a break developed with myself, Dan Klein, Steve Clark and Jim Regan of Saturn, Graham Howard (the yellow jersey), and Tom Archer of Lathrup/Ford. It was fun to be riding in a break with my own teammate and the horsepower that seemed able to last. However, Graham sat up and Priority re-staked control quickly. The race ended in a field sprint with Ben Renkema of West Coast Riders winning it. Way to go Ben, you are this weeks recipient of the “Who Cares, I’m Flying Award”. I ended up in 20th for the stage and 34th out of 80 overall in the GC.

On a more somber note, our teammate Robbie Dobbie had crashed in the final stage breaking his collarbone. Lets wish for a fast recovery for him so he can start winning some field sprints.

A place to hang my helmet...

I finally closed on my first house today. I must admit this process has been quite a journey with several ups and downs. This is my first home, I am a bit freaked out by the responsibility, but I guess everyone has to grow up sometime.


This is me signing my life away. I signed my name 57 times, I made Angela keep a tally.


You all best believe I will be having a house-warming bash as soon as I get settled. My move-in date will not be until sometime in late June...stay tuned.