MANSFIELD — Dave Jolin has always had a passion for nature and activities outside.
Stemming from his childhood in Pennsylvania, Jolin, now 59, was a hunter.
“I grew up as a hunter,” he said. “My family hunted. I spent a lot of time with my dad in the mountains and the woods. I really enjoyed that.”
When he moved to Bellville, his interest in hunting wained due to a lack of state-owned hunting land and not being interested in killing unless he had plans to eat the kill.
Fortunately, Jolin found another outdoor activity.
“I started out road racing for a couple of years. It was a good way to keep active, and I enjoy the thrill of competition,” Jolin said.
After a while, a fellow biker showed him the ropes of Cyclecross, which he described as a combination between street and mountain biking.
“It’s very popular in Europe,” he said. “That involves a bike that looks like a street-bike but with off-road tires, and you’re in mud, dirt, sand and pavement.”
The appeal of the sport drew him in for nearly seven years.
“Finally, a friend of mine really talked me into mountain biking,” he said. “I was hooked right away.”
Jolin said biking in mountains is less dangerous due to a lack of motor vehicles, and it put him back into him outdoor happy place.
Jolin has become one of the better amateur mountain bikers in his age group, once finishing fourth in an American National race with bikers aged 55-60.
“Mountain biking filled that void of not being in the woods,” he said.
In August of this year, Jolin and a friend from Pennsylvania flew to Switzerland to compete in the Swiss Epic, a five-day stage race, similar in format to The Tour De France, with races across touring country over the span of 211 miles.
“My wife and my buddy and his wife went for a racing vacation,” Jolin said. “We were there for 10 days.”
Jolin and his biking partner, Jim Matthews, 61, finished 14th out of about 50 teams from around the world in the Grand Master Division.
“There were people there from South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom…” he said. “There were some ex (professional bikers) and amateurs like me.”
It was Jolin’s first duo race (with a partner), he said, and it took a few days for the teammates to click, he said.
“The first day, we finished in 18th place, the next day, 19th,” Jolin said. “Then things clicked, and we moved to 14th at the end of the fifth day.”
Another factor of racing Jolin admires is the social aspect of the sport.
“You know, we may talk differently. We may have different colors of skin, but we all have that passion for this,” Jolin said. “And that’s what is exciting about it.”
“Everybody really connects. The egos are left at the front door. If there’s a pro racer in the race who finishes an hour ahead of me, we’ll still get a coffee or a brewski after,” he continued. “We’ll just yuck it up a bit. We shared the same coarse.
Specifically, Jolin and Matthews befriended two Swiss bikers named Patric Larson and Stefen Ek.
On the fifth day of the Swiss Epic, Jolin said he noticed his Swiss friends trying to catch him and Matthews in the race.
“I could tell they wanted to beat us,” he said.
Larson and Ek won the fifth day, but Matthews and Jolin finished the race with less time combined over the five days.
“It was fun,” Jolin said. “We are going back next year.”
Jolin will participate in the Marji Gesick race in Ispeming, Michigan next Saturday.
He has raced the 100-mile race twice, but this year will take on the 50-mile coarse.
“It’s one of the most tough courses in America,” he said.
