He’s Back in Business : Careers: Cycling gold medalist Mark Gorski switches gears and starts a new career.

A year ago, Mark Gorski’s working wardrobe was spandex shorts, skin-tight jerseys and funny looking shoes with large front cleats. His equipment was a custom-made bicycle with no brakes, built for speed.

Today he wears business suits, drives an expensive car and carries a briefcase.

He used to talk about 50-tooth gears and 200-meter intervals. Now he discusses investment parameters and trust portfolios.

Until last fall he was America’s most decorated sprint cyclist, an Olympic gold medalist and a celebrity on the velodrome circuit. Now he’s a retired athlete in his rookie year in investment management.

He appears to have landed on a winning team. Gorski, 30, is one of three former athletes hired for Wells Fargo Bank’s Asset Management Division, a group of 14 people throughout California handling large-asset investments for groups and individuals.

Where he used to spend his days cycling from Newport Beach to the Olympic Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills for sprint workouts, Gorski now drives the South Bay area from Long Beach to Marina del Rey, or puts in long hours at his desk at Wells Fargo Center in downtown Los Angeles, selling potential investors on his company’s program.

Gorski competed in his last race in October, in the international NEC Invitational at the Olympic Velodrome. He planned to continue racing into this summer’s Goodwill Games, next year’s Pan Am Games and maybe the ’92 Olympics, but an odd premonition came over him that weekend.

“I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere in the sport,” he said. “I had a hard time motivating myself. I wasn’t even nervous before races. That was a bad sign. As we were leaving for the race this really strange feeling came over me and I told my wife, ‘I think this is gonna be my last race.’ It really surprised her.”

It was prophetic as well. Gorski hung up his cycling shoes, and began looking around for business opportunities. As one of the sport’s few spokesmen with viable sponsors, he considered positions associated with the business side of cycling.

Through a friend of a friend he met at the 1984 Olympics, Gorski was introduced to the Wells Fargo group and did well in what he describes as a rigorous interview process.

Now Gorski is busy finding and advising investors, learning on the job and continuing to think big.

“I’ve been on the job from Day One. There was no real training,” he said. “I see a wide variety of people. It’s important to be credible, professional, accommodating. If you come in as a slick salesman you’re not gonna get anywhere. What it’s all about is pushing yourself, making as much contact as possible and providing ongoing service.

“I was looking for something with unlimited upward potential, where the amount of time you put into it, the better you do. Like sports. I’m only now beginning to appreciate what athletics gives you--self-confidence, the ability to deal with pressure, those kinds of things.”

The way had been paved for Gorski by two former pro football players in the Asset Management Division, Bill Ring and Paul McDonald.

Ring, 33, who retired from the San Francisco 49ers in 1987, has become the top-earning salesman in the division. Ring had been preparing for a financial career while playing football, working in investment firms during the off-season. His success prompted Wells Fargo to hire his friend, former USC quarterback Paul McDonald, straight out of the NFL last year. McDonald has risen to the division’s No. 2 revenue producer.

The 32-year-old McDonald works the Orange County area and, Gorski said, has been something of a mentor to him.

“I came in absolutely cold,” McDonald said. “A lot of our colleagues had horror story after horror story about losing their money (while playing) through bad investments, agents who made bad decisions. The impetus was the idea of helping players with investments. Bill shared the same concerns about athletes and we had a few conversations about the direction I could take.”

McDonald was looking at another job when Ring persuaded him to talk to his supervisor at Wells Fargo, Art Rutzen.

“I never thought a bank could do a good job in that arena,” McDonald said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”

And he was hired.

Rutzen, a former wrestler, said he had no qualms about hiring untrained jocks. “I made the transition from athlete to Wall Street. All that extra work and drive transferred over,” he said. “I look for intrinsics in people, not substantive knowledge. Show me somebody who’s a superstar in one arena and obviously intelligent, and they can be a superstar in another arena. Especially (athletes), who make it on heart, not just talent. They’ll sublimate all that drive that they put into winning a gold medal or a Super Bowl into a new arena.”

Rutzen, a senior vice president, said that his division accounts for about 10% of Wells Fargo’s profits--which were $700 million in the last fiscal year--and that it is the fastest growing profit area of the bank, with the prospect of continuing to grow.

Rutzen said Gorski has fit right in. “He’s going great guns. He hit this with a bang,” Rutzen said.

Gorski, who had done a fair amount of marketing and sales work with his cycling sponsors and had dabbled in real estate as well, was probably better suited for his new career than most athletes.

“I think for the majority it’s intimidating to leave your circle and start at the bottom,” he said. “There were times I’ve wondered what I was doing. It wasn’t easy. But I’m glad I gave it a shot.

“It’s been great having guys like McDonald and Ring to talk to. Paul came cold to the business. I think there were some raised eyebrows (when he was hired). The fact he’s been so successful speaks well of Art and really helped me.”

As an articulate and attractive spokesman, Gorski has long been one of the best salesmen for cycling in general and for the track tour’s sponsors as well. He remains a member of the U.S. Cycling Federation board and could have continued to make a living in the sport.

But while road racers--notably Tour de France hero Greg Lemond--have gained wide acclaim, track cyclists continue to struggle for backing and recognition.

It hit home for Gorski when his 7-year-old son, Alex--who took a victory lap on his father’s shoulder in the 1984 Olympics--told him he’d like to be called “Ryne”--as in baseball star Ryne Sandberg.

“Track racing is going through a tough time,” Gorski said. “Most of the quality guys are on the road--and they’ve turned pro. Guys are not staying amateur very long. There are so many more opportunities as a road rider. If I were coming up now, with the way they’re changing Olympic rules and amateur rules, I don’t think I’d stay amateur very long. The major sponsors have dropped their sponsorship. It’s an exciting sport but it just hasn’t come as far as I hoped. I can’t explain it.”

Gorski, who competed from his early teens, said that for a while it was difficult not to work out. Most of his exercise now is limited to weekends, riding in the Newport Beach area where he lives with his wife Mary and children Alex and Kate, 3.

“It took some getting used to,” he said. “The first couple months (away from competition) was like withdrawal. It took some getting used to. I’d had a routine for a long time. But I don’t miss all the travel. While I was cycling I was away--a lot. Now I may work long hours, but I see my family every day.”

Gorski stays in touch with other velodrome veterans and misses the camaraderie of riding.

“The sport has been great to me,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It was a great life But it was just time to find something else.”