Real name: Kara

Where do you live? a few miles outside of Boston, MA

Explanation of your handle: because I've lived and loved in New Mexico! (A Zia is the symbol on the NM state flag, and the Native American symbol for "sun.")

Explanation of your avatar: me, on my mountain bike, doing my first triathlon and realizing -- for the first time -- that I loved road biking!

Age (general or specific): very, very slowly approaching 40...

Occupation: Information Architect

Favorite bike: a Terry Symmetry, which is in the sick bay, awaiting a new frame (at which point it will become an Isis with Symmetry components)

What's in your stable? Gary Fisher Marlin and the sick Terry

Fastest speed on a road bike? where? when? 33 mph, my last triathlon, going down a big hill in Hopkinton. Every time I look at my cyclometer going down hill, I think of what a teammate said she thought right before her big downhill crash: "I've never gone this fast before!"

Another picture of yourself or your ride? Not right now!

What is the biggest lie you've ever told: not really a good liar... no good ones, alas

Most memorable moment on my bike: biking through a crazy monsoon thunderstorm on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. I saw a commercial plane get struck by lightening less than a mile away. Terrified! I have never peddled so fast in my life.

Most fun ever had on a bike? My first triathlon, a women's only event. I never considered myself much of a biker, but during that race, I felt pure joy and power while I was biking. That's when I realized it was time to shed the inaccurate, negative image of myself as a biker (and as an athlete) that I'd been clinging too. It was a transformative moment!