By Hank Greenberg

From boychick on Keith Haring (remeber them?) to local racing macher on ChampSys Gavi Epstein has long a popular presence in NYC cycling, we sat down with him at the 2nd ave deli to talk about growing up racing in NY. 

Intro to Racing



I grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and I started cycling when I was 11. I rode all over the place — to school, 30 mile charity rides. I played baseball in school, and used to ride my bike to practice. But one day, I just kept riding and didn’t go to practice.



I wanted to get the pro look. When I was 13, I went to the Tenafly Bicycle Workshop at the end of the summer, and David Bell, the owner, told me about racing in Central Park. He said if you’re really serious, come back in November and I’ll give you a trainer and put you on a training program, 30 minutes everyday. I was riding to get out of my house, and every time I went riding, I went a little further on 9W.



I grew up Orthodox Jewish and went to Yeshiva high school. My family observed the Jewish sabbath, which is on Saturdays. I didn’t know any bike racers growing up, and there weren’t any religious kids who wanted to be bike racers. The first team I was on was CRCA/Keith Haring Foundation. I raced spring series, but I could never do the club races because they were on Saturdays. The first race I ever did on a Saturday was when I moved out of my house when I was 18.

I entered my first race when I was 14.  It was the first spring series race in March.  I had no idea how to dress, so I was wearing cycling shorts and a hoodie because it was so cold.  I got dropped on the first lap but finished the race. I made sure to finish all my races.



I was driven to finish in the pack, so I kept coming back. By the end of the season, I was finishing in the pack in Cat 5 races. I always tried to be aggressive.  I wish I had raced track when I was younger to teach me how to finish off races. Once I started racing track 4 or 5 years ago, I saw my biggest improvement because everything happens so quickly on the track that road racing seems to unfold slower by comparison.



Breakthrough



I wanted to take racing more seriously as a junior, but growing up in a religious house made that hard. I could never race on a Saturday or do a stage race. But now I’m grateful it happened because so many juniors I raced against are gone, some because they burned out and some because they didn’t have it to turn pro.



I was a Cat 2 by the time I was 17. I enjoyed racing Pro/1/2 races even though I got my butt kicked.  I was hanging on for dear life. But every race I hung on further and further, and then I would attack. I could only make one attack and then I would be dying off the back. As time went on, I could do more and more in races.



My breakthrough races was fourth at Bear Mountain in 2007. That year I was on CRCA/Sakonnet Technology, which I was on for two years.  Sakonnet had more structure than Mengoni, which I was on before. They had a manager and a plan to develop racers.  I wanted to be part of something bigger.  On Sakonnet, I went to race in Belize and did all the NRC races in California. I also met my coach, Matthew Koschara, who was directing Sakonnet at the time.



Club Championship



I was CRCA club champion in 2009. I was 22. That was after the most crazy block of racing I’ve ever done.



I started on Saturday night at the Iron Hill crit outside Philadelphia.  Sunday we went to Washington, DC for the DC criterium. From DC we drove through the night to Chicago to do Super Week.  We slept Monday morning in the hotel and started racingMonday night.  We raced everyday through Thursday, then flew to Boise, Idaho to race in the Boise Twilight Crit on Saturday. Then, we flew back to Milwalkee for the rest of Super Week and raced Monday through Sunday with only one day off.  All in all, we did 14 races in 17 days.



That was two weeks before CRCA club championships. The day of the club race, I went off the front with Lohner.  We got caught with a lap and a half to go.  I saw an opportunity to go at Harlem Hill, and I coasted down the hill waiting for four guys to catch me. I kept screaming at those guys, “they’re coming! They’re coming.” One by one they started getting dropped until it was just me and an Adler guy. The finish was at the Met. He was a big guy and was stronger than me, but he was putting in bigger pulls. He went as hard as he could over Cat’s Paw, and then he was done and I sprinted to the finish with the field bearing down on me.



Chipotle Development Team



In 2010, Jonathan Vaughters was doing a fundraiser in New York for Chipotle.  Eric Kyoo Min, the owner of Sakonnet Technology, wanted to sponsor Chipotle and also wanted to help an individual rider out. I was the best rider in New York who fit the bill. Kyoo invited me to the fundraiser, and I met Jonathan.  A few weeks later, Jonathan called me and invited me to the team.



I thought Chipotle would have much more organization and more racing. But I only raced with teammates 5 or 6 times that year. I was kind of left out. They said, "we’re sending you to crits because Chipotle wants representation at the crits." But I was racing alone. It was kind of crappy. I was hoping for more. I wish I could have done Philly.  When I joined the team, they told me I was either doing a race in Africa and or Langkawi at the start of the season. They never took me to either, but I trained well to prepare and ended up winning the spring series instead.



At the end of the year, there was no communication with Chipotle.  I never called them and we never talked to each other again.  They signed Thomas Decker, the ex-doper.  He took my spot to go to Portugal.



I had the ambition to be a pro bike racer before I was on Chipotle.  But after that, I realized its not as important to me whether I’m a professional or not.  I just want to be a part of a team that really cares about me and goes to do these races. At the end of the day I love racing. I still have a long way to go in bike racing.  I’m not pressuring myself to be a pro, but if the opportunity came I’d give it everything I have.



Side Gigs



I have a business selling on consignment on Ebay. It’s mostly bike stuff. Every once in a while I’ll get weird stuff. I’ve sold a Range Rover, a Mini Cooper and some English smoking pipes. It’s given me the security to be able to leave for a week and go race. I’m not worried about paying the rent as much anymore.  I travel with a laptop and do stuff on my phone, and my wife takes care of a lot of the business as well. I couldn’t do it without her.



Family



I still consider myself Jewish, I always will. We light the menorah. My parents wished I was more focused when I was in school, I know my mom is happy I applied myself to something. I think they are proud of where I am now. I’ve built a business with my wife and stand on my own feet.




If I Weren’t Racing



I’d be a lot bigger than I am now, I love food. When I’m done racing, I want to promote races bringing more high level races to our area, and I’d like to get high school kids into cycling. Wherever I go, I see race courses.