Obituary: Dave Zimbelman

Dave was passionate about the outdoors and became an avid rock climber while living in Arizona. In Colorado, he discovered his love for cycling and began racing professionally in the early 1980s. Bike racing brought him around the world and throughout the U.S., and his accomplishments included winning a National Road Championship title in 1984. He met Martha Stevenson while racing in Bend, Oregon, and they married in 1987. They had two daughters (Eloise and Johanna) while living in Boulder and Dave returned to school and earned his Ph.D. in geology from CU Boulder in 1996. The family moved to White Salmon, Washington in 1996 and Dave began working as a consultant doing volcanology research. His research included a variety of volcanic hazard projects funded by the University of Colorado and NASA. Dave traveled extensively to work on some of the world’s highest active volcanoes, and he enjoyed the challenges of those demanding environments. He later left volcanology to start a bike shop (Salmon Cyclery) in The Dalles, Oregon, in 2006, which he ran until 2015. During those years, Dave’s love of geology drew him back to academia, and he taught volcanology part-time at Columbia Gorge Community College from 2010-2013.

While living in Washington, Dave began bike racing again in the early 2000s and had many successes, including winning multiple Masters National Championships and two UCI Masters World Championship titles (the time trial in 2009 and the road race in 2011). He retired from racing in 2017, and continued riding at a high level throughout the remainder of his life.

He was a devoted father, and his family will miss his sharp intellect and clever wit. He will be remembered for enthusiastically sharing his knowledge of local geology, and his passion for cycling and the outdoors. Nothing gave him more joy than to be rock climbing, mountaineering, skiing, hiking, and biking with his family and close friends.

Dave is preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his children, Eloise Zimbelman (Tim Bak) and Johanna (Dustin) Wilson; sister, Karen Zimbelman (Chris Copple); brother, Mark (Karen) Zimbelman; brother, Brian (Angie) Zimbelman; and many nieces and nephews.

The family has plans for a celebration of life at a later date.