Sprint to the finish

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This article was published 08/09/2022 (1305 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marian Pyszczek has had many roles — national cycling champion, Team Manitoba coach, shop owner, and now, retiree.

Pyszczek’s medals have been taken off Sprint Cycle’s walls. The repair shop’s last day is Saturday; Pyszczek is taking his mementoes with him.

“You’re a kid, you’re a student, you’re an adult, you’re working, and after, it’s time to retire and enjoy,” he said.

Customers’ repaired bikes peppered the Main Street store Wednesday. In the back lay scrapbooks filled with photos of Pyszczek’s coaching days — including his time instructing Leah Kirchmann, an Olympic cyclist.

Pyszczek, 65, started Sprint Cycle five years ago. He called it a semi-retirement phase.

“I had nothing to do,” he said.

He’s used to a busy life: he was racing in cycling competitions at 13 years old. Pyszczek started in Poland, his home country, and travelled throughout Europe.

He, his wife and two kids immigrated to Canada in 1985. The racing continued. Here, Pyszczek won five national championships, he said.

“Whatever you’re doing, you try doing the best that you can,” Pyszczek said in his shop Wednesday.

He pulled out a scrapbook of athletes he used to coach for Manitoba’s provincial cycling team. Pages spanned 2001 onwards, listing youths’ achievements — a national gold medal in downhill mountain biking for Jamie Biluk, a nod to Murray Carter for representing Canada at the Road World Championships.

Kirchmann had her own pages, beginning in 2006. There are lines commemorating her time in South Africa and Italy, Canada’s 2008 representative at various world cycling championships.

“I miss this time,” Pyszczek said, flipping the pages. “It was a good time.”

He compared coaching to teaching.

“The teacher is proud of the students, they’re adults and doing very well,” he said.

Coaching did not leave his spirit when he started Sprint Cycle, according to Denis Flores, a long-time customer and friend.

Flores began bringing his mountain bike and road bikes for tune-ups during the shop’s infancy. Soon, he was getting cycling tips from Pyszczek.

“He always put a focus on proper training,” Flores said.

It involves being mindful of ride lengths and recovery, he said.

For Flores, Pyszczek transformed from local shop owner to cycling partner. They’d traverse Lockport’s River Road together.

“I always told myself, ‘I’m riding with a Canadian legend in cycling,’” Flores said. “How (much) more cool can you get?”

Pyszczek picked Flores up when his bike broke down near Selkirk. The entrepreneur gave Flores his shop’s keys when he left for vacation so Flores could revamp his bike.

“With a small store, you always have this bond between people,” Pyszczek said. “After a while, some customers become a buddy and friend.”

Pyszczek, a self-proclaimed “one man orchestra,” worked up to 14 hour days last year. The pandemic had piqued people’s cycling interest, and business was booming.

Folks would travel across the city for tune-ups and repairs, said Pyszczek’s wife Barbara.

She was there to help keep the shop moving.

“He’s busy, or sometimes he’s away… so I take care of the stuff,” the retired nurse said.

She’s learned some bike repair and has shown a cyclist or two how to change their tire’s tube, she said.

The couple is moving back to Poland to be closer to their sons, both of whom live in Berlin. Pyszczek just turned 65 — friends in the cycling community, including people he’d formerly coached, threw him a birthday and farewell party in Sprint Cycle last month.

“We had a good living here,” Pyszczek said.

The move is bittersweet, both he and Barbara noted.

Sprint Cycle’s stock of helmets and bike accessories are on sale. Leftovers will be donated, Pyszczek said.

As of Wednesday, he wasn’t sure what would occupy 1729 Main St. next.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com