Interlakes Cycling, Inc – A History, by Bob Wells

The Interlakes Cycling Race Team was formed in the Winter of 2003, when a bunch of friends that raced and trained together sat down over some beers and discussed the state of competitive cycling in Rochester.  At the time, many racers in the area were either forming competitive teams or joining existing teams.  It was a matter of joining forces or fending for yourself as an independent.  Speaking for myself, I just wanted one of those cool cycling jerseys with all the sponsor logos on it!

The idea of using teamwork to pursue a common goal was very appealing to us and we made the decision to go ahead and form a team.  There was a question of whether or not we would pursue commercial sponsorship, but I was convinced that we could convince some businesses of the value of advertising with us.  To that end, we were successful, and we debuted as the Interlakes Oncology – Hematology Cycling team in April of 2003.

That first year was a huge step forward in learning how to race together, how to train

effectively, and how to deal with the mechanics of managing a cycling team (for me).  But we came out that first season relatively no worse for the wear, and took that knowledge learned into the next season.  The team made a key acquisition late that season, and asked Dwight Roth to join the team.  We also said farewell to a few riders and prepared to enter 2004 as a team of eight:  Bob Wells, Dwight Roth, Mark Dux, Dave Rowley, Mark Rowley, Chris Williams, Mike Dispenza, and Jim Fetten.

In October of 2003, one of our team members, Jim Fetten, MD was one of 26 riders to take part in the inaugural Tour of Hope, with Lance Armstrong.  Jim actually became a bit of a celebrity, appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno with his fellow Tour of Hopers.

 He also got the priceless opportunity to ride alongside Lance Armstrong.  At some point prior to beginning the Tour, Jim got the idea to start an exercise program for cancer patients and survivors.  With Lance’s encouragement and the promise of support from his teammates to run the program, Jim put together the basic idea of a free exercise program for cancer patients, survivors, and family members to participate in a weekly bike ride, all with the purpose of helping cancer patients to adopt regular exercise as a part of their therapy.  That gave birth to the Interlakes Foundation Wellness Program.

Also at this time, Jim, Dwight, and Bob worked to incorporate ourselves as a recognized business entity.  We took our still fledgling knowledge and went to work at obtaining sponsorships for 2004.  And we were quite successful at this, enabling us to completely outfit the team with some much nicer looking gear.

So we looked good, but could we race?  Well, 2004 was another learning year, but most of us made great strides as racers, and some of us produced some great results.  We were becoming more recognized as a team entity as well.  More importantly, the Wellness Program Bike Rides was a huge success, and was written up in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and I think we did a great job for our sponsors.

Our increasing visibility and presence allowed us to make some key moves going into the 2005 season:  we added three excellent riders – Mike Mathis, Rob Dietrick, and Taylor Hogan; and we were successful in obtaining a great local business as new title sponsor:  High Falls Brewing Company / JW Dundees Premium Beers.  We also managed to bring in Specialized Bicycles as a sponsor, so we will be riding Specialized framesets this year.  The look is complete; let’s hope our legs are up for it.

That brings you up to date.  Pretty cool, huh?  Stay tuned for the continuing saga!