Michael Vaarten, Mr. Versatile.

Michael Maarten started out knowing he always wanted to be a biker racer. His parents made him wait to race. Michael's parents wanted him to focus on school. He did get started at 17 years old and a few years later he won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the kilo. Here's what you didn't know, he won without ever having coach to guide him. Track racing was always his favorite discipline. But Michael raced road races at a high level. He also raced multiple events on the track like the Madison, points race, kilo, sprints, six days to the keirin. in fact he was a keirin world champion. Vaarten raced in Japan on the keirin circuit and race for many years here in the states. Once he retired Michael says his friend and former coach Patrick Sercu asked him to become a derny pilot in the six days. Now days he's enjoying retirement and his granddaughter.