The Story
 Hi, I'm Kevin. I'm the owner of WebSkis.com. I am also the owner of WebCyclery, a high end online bike shop (we also have a brick and mortar store). I got started on skis at an early age in Wisconsin. My parents used to take my brothers and me out to the golf courses whenever it would snow and we would ski around on our very old school Rossis in our goofy looking snowmobile suits and gators. It was alright, but then we all got into Alpine skiing and Nordic took the back seat.
When I graduated from Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, WI, I really wanted to move out to Park City and start a ski shop. My parents put the kibosh on that idea, and I ended up going to college. After spending a couple of years at UW Madison, a year off in Alta, UT, and a couple more years at FSU in Tallahassee, I graduated from college.
I moved out to Bend, OR in 1996. A lot of the people I met were into skiing. I entered a race called the Pole Pedal Paddle, in which you alpine ski down Mt Bachelor, Nordic ski 8k, bike 22 miles down to Bend, run 5 miles, kayak through town, and sprint to the finish. I hadn't cross country skied for 15 years, but had to try it so I could race. So all my friends told me that I had to learn to skate ski. I didn't know anything about it, other than it was faster than classic skiing. I borrowed some skis and quickly found out that it was harder than hell and that it was a lot more fun than I remembered, and wow was it fast. I skied a little bit each year, just the week before the Pole Pedal Paddle each year to familiarize myself with skiing again. Then, a few years ago, I finally decided to buy some skis and get myself a ski pass. I was hooked. Without having a car I only got up to the mountain a couple times a week, but it was enough to know that I loved it. I got my brother (MeanTodd) hooked the next year and we've been skiing ever since.
I have been running WebCyclery since late 1997 and things have finally started to take off. Earlier this year, one of the local bike/ski shops was going out of business, and I decided to hire their ski guru - Dave Cieslowski and start up WebSkis.com. Dave is a pretty damn good skier. He was the guy that fit me on my first pair of skate skis, and he did an awesome job. He was on the St Lawrence University Ski Team in Canton, NY, and then worked at Nordic Equipment and White Pine Touring in Park City before moving to Bend. He was teaching skiing up at Mt Bachelor, and had served as resident of one of the local Nordic Ski Clubs, and could ski faster than any of us. Dave helped us get things going for the first couple of years. But all good things must come to an end, and Dave decided to go to PT school in Portland, so he left our little family.
It was time to bring in a fresh face or two to lead our ski business. Enter Bert Hinkley. Bert was driving through Bend, looking for a new life after spending the previous 30 years teaching at Proctor Academy in NH. He was a very gregarious fellow and very enthusiastic. He had run the ski team at Proctor and his son skied combined for the US ski team. He is very passionate about skiing, and loves to teach people about everything ski related.
So now Bert is usually the one that is checking all of our ski orders to make sure that the skis are flexed right for each and every customer before we ship them. He also oversees all of the Base Prepping, Waxing, and mounting of skis. He writes the wax recommendations as well. If you have questions, give us a call and ask for Bert.
For those of you who don't know about Bend, Oregon, here is a little info. It's a small town of about 80,000 avid outdoor enthusiasts. We're right on the edge of the High Desert and the Cascade Mountains, so we've got plenty to do for just about everyone. We've got great mountain biking, road riding, paddling, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, etc. The place rocks! And unlike the rest of the Pacific Northwest, it doesn't rain all the time. Since we're on the edge of a desert, it's really dry and sunny. One of the only downsides to living in Bend is that everyone seems to be super fit. There are a ton of pro and former pro athletes that call Bend home, so it really puts people like me in their place. As far as Nordic ski racers, we have a ton of former Olympians, including Gold Medalist Beckie Scott, her husband Justin Wadsworth, Ben Husaby, Patrick Weaver, Dan Simoneau, and more.
Mt Bachelor ski area is just 22 miles up the road from Bend. It has a Nordic center which boasts 56k of groomed Nordic trails, and there is plenty of skiing available at the local snowparks as well. If you are into Nordic skiing (or anything else outdoors), Bend would be a great place to check out.
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