Wow, thank you, flattered to get several responses already.

Reesha - I appreciate the idea of taking time to come to any conclusion. It is a huge, huge thing indeed. Maybe I am just selfish, wanting my spouse who I love dearly but also this new passion and pursuit which has given me so much already. It feels like having your cake and eating it too?

Irulan - I'm completely open to that because I do care about the relationship immensely. I wouldn't want to walk away w/o feeling as though I'd simply quit rather than tried to work things out. A compromise of some sort seems like the right thing but figuring out the how/why of that, doesn't feel so obvious.

Arielmoon - intriguing question about self-image. Sometimes I miss my "girly" figure of my pre-race days (although I definitely miss my pre-race eating habits at times!!!) but generally, I'm also very proud of the body I do have now as I've worked hard. A lot of the other girls, who are darn fit themselves, at race day give me lots of compliments on my physique and how lean/fit I look. That's flattering when people you respect as competitors (and friends away from racing too), recognize your hard work.

As far as seeing myself doing this for a long time...I'd say I want to race seriously for maybe 2-3 years, more or less "see how far I can go" with it and then after that, keep riding but more for fun and less for competition. I recognize that as a 30 something, the window of being a competitive bike racer, at least at a high level, is pretty small and I'm at the very tail end of it.