Bob Mionske - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Bob Mionske was born August 26, 1962, in Evanston, Illinois. During Mionske's childhood, his family moved to Wisconsin. When Mionske was seventeen, he spent the summer working for his father; at the end of the summer, he bought a new touring bike with his earnings. Mionske subsequently spent countless hours in the saddle of his touring bike, exploring the forests and lakes of Wisconsin. After graduating from Wilmot high school, Mionske enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he continued to ride a bike—an old cruiser—for transportation around campus.

Bob's entry into competitive sports began during his university years, with ski racing. Mionske reports that one day in his Latin class at the University, he noticed that one of his classmates had the shaved legs typical of a bicycle racer. Mionske struck up a conversation about bicycle racing with his classmate, who was an amateur bike racer and worked for Andy Muzi at Yellow Jersey, a bike shop in town. The classmate—Colin O'Brien, who later went on to set the national hour record in 1981, before joining the national team—gave Mionske advice about bicycles and racing.