I started mountain biking about 10 years ago at the age of 34. Back then, I was overweight (250+ lbs) and a typical 'couch potato'. I did not even learn how to ride a bike until I was 26! During my annual physical exam, my blood pressure was way higher than normal, so the doctor told me to lose some weight to control it. A former collegue, and a good friend of mine suggested mountain biking. He quit smoking himself and started riding with me. My first ride was 2.5 miles long and I thought I was having a heart attack when I started climbing the first hill on the trail. I lost 60 pounds in 6 months and riding a mountain bike has become my favorite activity. As I was getting stronger, I started riding more often and started doing longer rides. My annual mileage increased from 900 miles in 1999 to 5700 miles in 2002. As of today, I put over 26,000 miles on my mountain bike.

As of today, I completed 11 24-hour solo races, 7 12-hour solo races and several all-day epic races, such as Pisgah adventure race, Off-road assault on Mt. Mitchell, Cohutta 100 (TN) and others. I competed in 24-hour world solo championships 2 years in a row - in 2004 and 2005 and finished 6th in 40-44 age group in 2005.