Lets talk about riding bikes. Donnie started riding and racing mountain bikes in '95. He has raced everything from World Cups to NORBA Nationals to 24 Hour races to single speed racing. Some of his best results were 7th at the 2000 World Cup, 1st Overall Norba National Series 03', 3rd Place Durango Nationals Super D, taking 1st in the Flagstaff Fiesta singlespeed and most recently 7th Men's Solo at the 24 Hours of Great Glenn '07.
Don has raced in the Northwest Wild Rockies Race Series, California State Championship Series, Florida State Championship Series, Mountain States Cup Series. Root 66 Race Series and NORBA National Series...
Don has traveled all over North America seeking out the best and most challenging singletrack known. Moab, Durango, North Shore Vancouver are just to name a few. Riding epic 60-mile rides in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado is what he describes as the real deal. He says, "There is nothing like riding your bike at 12 thousand feet for hours and hours". "A true test of your limits". Throw in some local flavor and add to that completing the entire length of Rhode Island's 80-mile North/South Trail in one day.
Now let's take it to the road. Don has raced his road bike in criteriums and road races but his claim to fame is riding his bike from Oakland California to Boston, Massachusetts solo and unsupported. On June 4th of '05 Donnie took off from Oakland to raise awareness for ovarian cancer. Having lost a friend from the ailment he said it was the least he could do. 4,200 miles and two and a half months later Don arrived in Boston. What a trip. But there is still a long way to go in helping bring more awareness to this deadly disease. .
Donnie started working on bikes in 95 for a big box retailer. They liked him so much they sent him off to CABDA (Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers Association) to get certified as a bike mechanic. When he came back he impressed them with words like deraileure and casett. They liked him even more so they sent him off to Vermont Ski School to be certified as a ski tech. This is where he learned how to tune and repair ski's and snowboards. When he returned from Vermont, his vocabulary grew even larger and included words like p-tex and indemnification. WOW!. Impressed by Donnie's mechanical abilities and business savvy his employers gave him full reign on the bike and ski shop with keys and everything. . Donnie worked for a few more years until he felt the need to get into the bike industry for real. So he applied to one of the largest mail order bike companies in the US. There he learned a lot about the industry and how to run a bike shop efficiently.
When Donnie reached his limits within the corporate world he moved to Durango, Colorado and worked for a much smaller mom and pop style bike shop/ski shop. Wrenching there with many of the countries top mechanics, there is where he further fine tuned his wrenching skills. No pressure really, just the thrill of working on many top road and mountain bike professionals bikes. Moving on he worked in a couple more shops and then started working at The Bike and Bean in Sedona, Arizona. There he had the dream job in dream location with epic singletrack out the front door and full responsibilities to run the shop. But living the life got old after a while. He felt he needed to be challenged and needed a project to pour his heart and soul into.
After his little jaunt across the country for ovarian cancer, Donnie decided to open a bike shop in Danielson, Connecticut. Avoiding the usual, easy way of starting a business with a loan from mister banker dude or some rich business tycoon, Donnie chose to make a go at it on his own. To help make ends meet he worked as a bike messenger in Boston, Massachusetts and worked for Page's Tree Service (shameless plug) through the first winter.
Having been submersed in the outdoor industry and lifestyle for more than 12 years, Donnie has hand picked products to sell that he knows work well. Giving him the upper hand to ensure you have the best possible outdoor experience.
After almost three years he's made an impact not only in the bike community, but also on the general population as well.
He plans on being a part of the community for a while so stop in and say hi or join him for the ride.