Forgive me Devil for I have sinned.

It’s been 93 days since my last blog. Life has finally slowed down long enough to brush the cobwebs off this confessional. And that’s no bullsh*t (CLINK, a quarter falls into the Holy swear jar located in a dusty back corner of the confessional near a pile of empty Budweiser bottles). Truly life at times have been more than I’ve cared to handle.

Now I’m not saying that my life sucks because it’s just the opposite. Just so we’re clear, the life of Donny Frey rocks harder than the 1988 Monsters of Rock Tour. It’s just there have been some potholes along the way that went beyond running out of backstage passes for groupies and Jagermeister. Rather than getting into the nitty-gritty details, like snorting ants with Ozzy Osbourne and Tom Boonen, I’ll just cover a few of the highs (pun intended) and lows.



• Some of you are probably wondering, “Don… Are you even riding your bike?” The answer is yes. Basically I wake up at 5:45 AM and ride indoors on the trainer or rollers until 7:00 AM. If I’m lucky I’ll get in another one hour, indoor ride in the evening after Andrew is in bed. In jest I’ve told Laurie that the most expensive stationary bikes in Northeast Ohio are at our house.

• Life without Dylan (Old Smeller) is not as sweet. To this day we still miss him. He wasn’t ever a dog to us but a member of the family. Even that last statement trivializes the relationship we had. In realty words can’t describe what he meant and the loss I still feel. Maybe this short Dylan story can give some insight to the loss. One of his favorite places to hang out was under my legs when my feet were on the coffee table. And though he passed away in January, to this day I’m still catching myself to make sure I don’t step on him when getting of the couch.

• After 39 years of being on this big blue marble called Earth I’d come to the conclusion that there was nothing new to learn from my father. I was wrong.

• Growing a full beard is liberating. Shaving it down into the classic Zorro porn mustache… Zabriskie-rific!



• There’s nothing better than putting 28’s on the Colnago and riding the dirt roads back home in Pennsylvania. Don’t believe me? Then let’s go on a road trip and I’ll show you a good time in PA. Dear God… What I’m I saying? Oh no! The Zorro porn mustache has taken over my brain!!

• Andrew’s observation of The Smiths while on trip to Toy’s ‘R Us: “Dad, the singer sounds like Barney. You know… the guy that’s on The Simpsons.”



• Some of you are probably wondering, “Don… Are you ever going to race this year?” The answer is yes. If (and the key word here is if) everything falls into place I’ll be racing plenty of cyclocross. The goal this year was to do some local time trials events, race the Westlake crits at least once a month, and of course race cross. As stated earlier those goals had to be adjusted around the real world and now I’m just racing against myself on the trainer.

• Being awaken before the pre-dawn trainer ritual by Andrew to the tune of “DAD! WAKE UP!! GRANDMA NEEDS HELP!!!” is not the best way to start off your day. Going upstairs to find a two-pint trail of blood from the guest bedroom to the bathroom definitely is not the best way to start off the day.

• Let’s be honest. Riding and racing are a lot like the lyrics to the song by Judas Priest, Pain and Pleasure… You give me pain, but you bring me pleasure. So when Campagnolo teamed up with Trojan Brand Condoms to redesign the rubber hoods for the 2009 shift levers I got… well, how would you say… a little aroused.



• Start saving your pennies everyone. Laurie’s book, UNBEATABLE - The Whole Story, will be published at the end of the month and will be available through all major bookstores and Amazon. If asked nicely there’s a good chance she’ll be able to arrange a signed copy of the book for you. But only for a price so start saving your pennies. :-) When more details are available I’ll post an update.

• This is classified information for Dave only. If your name isn’t Dave or your initials are not DS then the information below is not for you. I repeat…STOP READING THIS TOP SECRET, CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IF YOUR NAME IS NOT DAVE!

Hey Dave, you can get the (un)official Riding With the Devil t-shirt at velogear.com.

• Some of you are probably wondering, “Don… Is the Zanconato cyclocross bike one sweet pimped out ride?” The answer is… HELL YEAH!!!


Well this is the abridged version of the past 93 days of living the rock star lifestyle with Donny Frey. The audience is calling for the band to get on stage for an encore so I’m going jump back into the limelight. The show must go on.