Kevinn Matthews '94, David Hughes '04 & Scott Krahn '04
Speed Racer
Kevinn Matthews '94
Long before the sun rises each weekday, Kevinn Matthews can usually be found stretching in the parking lot of a gym that hasn't yet opened. After his weightlifting regimen, he puts in a full workday as an attorney for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma; then he climbs onto his bicycle for his second daily workout, a ninety-minute ride. Matthews is in training for what he calls his "other job"—sprint cycling. In the sport, two cyclists ride 1,000 meters around an enclosed track. Only the last 200 meters are timed; riders, who sprint at average speeds of forty miles an hour, aim to edge out the competition by conserving energy on the first 800 meters and positioning themselves behind their opponents to improve aerodynamics. Says Matthews: "Consider sprint cyclists the gladiators of cycling."
A graduate of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Matthews devotes most of his free time to his cycling career. In addition to the time spent at the gym, on his bike, and in yoga classes, he makes the four-hour drive from Tulsa to Frisco, Texas, to train at a velodrome almost every weekend. "It becomes evident who's been doing their training and who's just been putting in their time," Matthews says.
Now sponsored by PowerBar, Matthews participates in sprint races around the country and has competed in the annual national championships. But even with his many hours of high-speed training, he says he can still appreciate a lazy ride around the neighborhood. "I can hop on a bicycle and cruise, and it makes the world a little easier," he says. "It's all still riding a bike."
— Liz DeLong
High Spirits
David Hughes '04 & Scott Krahn '04
Struggling to come up with an idea for their entrepreneurship class a week before the deadline, economics majors David Hughes and Scott Krahn went to Stella's Bar in Collegetown for a study break. While sipping martinis, inspiration struck: they decided to create their own brand of gin. Two and a half years later, the theoretical product they concocted for class became a reality when they sold their first bottle of DH Krahn gin. Based in Manhattan, DH Krahn distributes about 3,000 cases a year in New York State and San Francisco as well as in the United Kingdom and Thailand; they hope to expand both domestically and internationally.
According to Hughes and Krahn, their spirit is aimed at people who find traditional gin overpowering. "We thought there was a real opportunity for something that was distinctively gin but a little more subtle, a little more balanced, a little friendlier," says Hughes. Though DH Krahn is made with juniper berries, gin's defining ingredient, its sharp bite is mellowed by other flavors including coriander and the peels of lemon, orange, and grapefruit. Its most unusual ingredient: Thai ginger. "When you mention that to bartenders," Krahn says, "you can see their minds starting to turn with ideas of what they're going to do with it."
— Jamie Leonard '09