Morning Call, The (Allentown, PA) (KRT) via NewsEdge :

Aug. 15--Mike Friedman remembers well the mornings getting ready to compete in cycling races for Penn State Lehigh Valley.

"We had to do this ritual," he said of himself and Topton's Bobby Lea, who are both competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics over the next several days.

Lea is competing Saturday in the points race then teaming with Friedman, a Pittsburgh native, on Tuesday in the tag-team Madison.

"We had to go to Jim Young's house, our coach's house, for morning coffee, and then go to a bagel shop," Friedman recalled. "We'd drink coffee and eat bagels all the way to the race. He would always take care of me and Bobby. He treated us first class and made it fun."

Young has been making cycling fun for cyclists at Penn State for 30 years, the last 12 while battling Parkinson's disease.

"It's been a slow change over time for him that's usually so small, you don't notice until it seems like a big meltdown," the 24-year-old Lea said of Young, whom he's known since he was 5.

"I was not scared," Young, of Easton, said of how he reacted when he received the diagnosis of Parkinson's. "Certainly I was concerned. I don't want to see myself getting to [ Muhammad Ali's] stage even a little bit, but my voice isn't what it used to be. It's not a life threatening disease. People that have serious conditions like cancer and heart disease have a lot more to complain about than I have."

This year, Young had an operation during which two electrodes were placed in his brain and operate off a pacemaker-like device to stimulate the affected portions of his brain.

The disease has meant a shift in lifestyle, literally, from driving a car with a stick shift to an automatic, then not driving at all before the operation.

"The first time he spoke after the operation, he was speaking like seven times faster than I had ever heard him speak," Lea said.

Young's speech is on the rise, as are his two cycling pupils. Young, 69, considers Friedman and Lea the best he's coached in his 30 years at Penn State, and it brought him to tears to talk about them making the Olympic team together.

"Both of them wanted this so badly," he said. "I can't even talk about it. It's beyond anything I ever dreamed of. The best kids I ever had, and they're good friends. They devoted their whole lives to this; it's just wonderful."

Young has devoted more than half of his life to cycling, a sport he came to in his mid-30s after converting from wrestling and running to triathlon.

"He's the Joe Paterno of Penn State cycling," Friedman said of Young.

Young has won the affection of just about every rider who has passed through his watch. That includes a few years with the Future Champions Cycling Club, where he helped mentor such young riders as the late Nicole Reinhart before reaching into a second generation of riders such as Jame Carney and Sarah Uhl at Penn State.

Carney was the first Olympian whom Young could claim as a student, but now the former assistant professor of kinesiology at Penn State has two more.

"He wanted to go to China to see us race," Lea said of Young, "but his doctor told him that the health risks for him would be too great."

Young will be glued to the television trying to catch his cyclists. The points race is scheduled for 5:40 a.m. Eastern time Saturday and the Madison for 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Young, who like Paterno, insists, "I'm never going to quit," enjoys being with the kids.

"I admire them so much," he said. "The ones in college are amazing to be able to maintain a good cycling career and good grades in college, and some even have jobs. It's astounding to me that they're able to do that."

gary.blockus@mcall.com

610-820-6782

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