Dean “the machine’ Walker is one of the greatest humans on Planet Earth! Although Dean may not be a Mi Duole OG, he is a cycling OG and fits right in with the Mi Duole tribe. Dean is a cycling legend in his own right and has notched his place in the annals of Mi Duole with putting the “O” in Stoopid, like many of us, with great cycling feats and concomitant cycling injuries. Dean has done Leadville at least 2 times. He cracked his pelvis when he crashed doing the Leadville warmup ride and then on a subsequent year’s Leadville training ride, broke several ribs when he decided to take a nap in a loamy patch of bushes in a hairpin on Armstrong, only to find a hidden tree stump underneath!

While Dean favors the mountain bike, with the Local Legend up the Rattlesnake hairpins, he is no stranger to the road. He has competed in several LOTOJA’s and is a regular up the summer Thursday Big Cottonwood/PC loop sufferfest. Dean has a penchant for sweet bikes, which include a custom hand-painted Open gravel whip from Italy. All of Dean’s cycling feats are inconsequential relative to the real man that he is.

Dean is a man of God and the most generous, loving, humble, kind person you will ever meet. And oh, by the way, did I mention that he’s an amazing surgeon? Dean is your go-go guys for shoulder, hip and knee replacements. I can now do head-shoulder-knees-and toes with the best of the 6 year olds! More importantly, Dean is a man of honor and integrity. He is a loyal friend and will offer you the jersey off his back whenever you need it.

I’m humbled so see how Dean is currently making a very sweet concoction of lemonade with the lemons he’s recently been given. Dean is a rock. Dean is your Wingman. He is a genuine friend and it is my honor to consider him one of my best friends. I present to you, Dean Walker; the man, they myth, and the OG of true Italian backyard brick oven pizza