Dan hit it on the head with this item. For me, it was mountain biking. I had been riding off road since 1991 and took up racing in 1999. In 2000 I got the race bug bad and every MTB ride was a training ride. I did pretty well that year, for a newbie and upgraded in 2001. In 2000 I bought a road bike to traing like the real MTB racers. Soon I found myself training on the road 90% of the time because of the lack of decent singletrack in metro San Diego. My downhilling ability suffered and I became frustrated with my results. The weekend before 9/11 was my last MTB race ever. I sold my bike and looked on to another adventure, and so my journey into TT began.

I faded in and out of duathlon and focused on TT in 2002 and finally got a real TT groove going in 2003. Now I plan on getting a little du action going again in 2004 because I like running and I found that a little running helps keep me balanced and in shape, helping my cycling. My true goals for '04 are the State title and maybe a shot at Nationals, depending on where they are held, just for experience (for the years to come).

TT racing is an old guy sport for the most part, with Masters level racers making up the majority of entrants. I believe that this is because in TT racing you always strive to improve your best time, and you race against yourself for the most part - you are your own competition.

I miss MTB racing a little, but with TT I have found a new high speed, technical love.