Hi ladies--I ride a Bianchi Boardwalk outfitted with racing wheels and racing crankset. I do charity rides (the MS 150) and I log appx 50-70 miles per week while working full-time and having a family with a husband, two girls and a dog.

I'm now 44 years old and when I started my family, I outlived my mare, a Five-Gaited American Saddlebred whom I had from high school into my early 30's. Before I met my husband, most men were really put off by my equestrian hobby, not to mention my livelihood as a FedEx station manager (since 1984!!).

In 1986 I brought my then future husband out to the barn to meet my mare after dating him for a few weeks. My mare ALWAYS had commentary on the company I brought out to the barn and had a bag of tricks reserved for those who she deemed "undesirable". She fell in love with my husband instantly and looked out for him when he attempted to ride her. Eventually we bought him a Saddlebred bay gelding which he rode as a hunter-jumper. We have been married almost 20 years now.

Then came kids and our having outlived our horses. I felt a void in my life until I really starting cycling 5 years ago. My mother, never a horsewoman, was smoking a cig in my garage, eyeing the acculumation of bicycles which have engulfed my garage and said to my husband,

"Jeezus!! It's as bad now with the bikes as it was with the horses!!"