Aside from bicycles, of course, the main reason I choose to continue my futile search for fortune in the bicycle industry is because of the people I know and meet. There’s no shortage of extremely smart and passionate people who are insanely interesting, individualistic personalities. Sure it’s cool to be around famous athletes from time to time, but I much more deeply value the less publicly visible people that make the bicycle world go ’round. As such, I’ve decided to revive a special online series where we do a very brief standardized interview with some of these individuals: The Bicycle Industry Insider Profile Series. I want to share the stories of these people with the rest of the world through the Dirt Rag and Bicycle Times web sites. This week we have…

Name: David Cory

Hometown: MPLS, MN

Current location: MPLS 4th ring suburbs (yeah, that’s right, I love the suburbs)

What do you do for/with/to bicycles? I work for Quality Bicycle Products here in Bloomington, MN. I am the brand manager for Handspun Wheels. In addition to running the wheel program I manage Bike Builder, our in house bike production department.

What’s the best thing about your job? QBP is a great place to work, we are an industry leader, and we’re populated with people who are passionate about what they do every day.

What’s the toughest part of your job? Waiting. Waiting for lead times, waiting for new products, waiting for production time. Patience is something that has been forced upon me.

What was the path that led you to work with bicycles? My educational background was in Political Science, and after putting in a few years at the MN Legislature I decided to try getting involved with bicycle advocacy at QBP. That resulted in an interest in our DC operations, which lead to going back to school for my MBA, which landed me where I am today.

What was your first bicycle? My first real bike was a 1987 Marin Palisades Trail mountain bike. I earned the money for that bike by making $1/hour babysitting when I was 15. 18 gears, knobby tires, and you know it was black as midnight.

What bike do you currently ride the most? Lately I’ve been spending most of my time on the All-City Nature Boy ‘cross bike.

Where is your favorite place to ride? Anywhere by myself.

What music goes through your head while you ride (literally or figuratively)? For ‘cross racing it’s always something heavy—Terror, XTYRANTX, Integrity- because cyclocross is always a festival of pain. Typically while commuting I’ll have some of my daughter’s little kid music stuck in my head—Backyardigans or Spongebob or something. That keeps me positive on those zero degree winter commutes.

What are your interests aside from bicycles? The Family, being outdoors, camping, dogs, Straight Edge, Hardcore music, HUP United.

If you weren’t working around bicycles, what do you think you’d be doing? Making process maps, or managing a brand that makes granola.

Please share one of your favorite stories you’ve seen or been a part of while involved with the bicycle industry: I’ve just been really impressed with how many great people are in this industry. I have been fortunate enough to get to know many people in the cycling industry who are still extremely excited and passionate about what they are doing. I also feel very fortunate to be able to make a living working with something that is still a huge source of enjoyment for me.

Who would you choose for the next subject for the Bicycle Industry Insider Profile Series? Jeff Frane from All City Cycles.

Why? He’s the real deal—he is 100% true to his brand and to riding.