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Paul's Open Road

PAUL DEEM

Owner
Cycle Werks

“Many times you get older and you'd say ‘Oh I wish I would of done this when I was younger'…but part of the challenge of youth is to learn, right? That's the puzzle, that's what makes life interesting.”

INTERESTS:

Entrepreneurship Sports

THEMES DISCUSSED:

Focus Risk Support & Encouragement

TAGS:

athlete, coffee shop, Cycle Werks, cycling, entrepreneur, good ideas, learning, Merrill Lynch, Olympic Games, olympics, Paul Deem, preparation, professional, school, sports

BIOGRAPHY:

Former professional cyclist Paul Deem knew he wanted to ride bikes for a living. At age fourteen, Paul was already cycling—but not everyone in his life agreed with this path. "I've been 6-foot, 185 pounds since I was fourteen years old. So, the football coach wanted me to play football; the basketball coach wanted me to play basketball. I showed up in the locker room with shaved legs," he says. Four years later, Paul went to the Olympics. In 1981, however, he called his cycling career quits and went to work for Merrill Lynch, something he called a "real job." But Paul couldn't get the open road out of his head, and went back to working in cycling full time at his retail shop.