I rode all the time when I was a kid. Bought mountain bikes when I was married, but just rode on paved trails, hardly at all. Got divorced, moved to Florida in 1998 to be where I could cave dive every day. Was doing the kind of dives that require excellent cardiovascular conditioning in order to be able to decompress safely/efficiently, as well as needing to be in shape to walk around with 130# of gear on my back. All my diving friends were MTBing, so I bought a $1200 Mongoose on sale and learned how. Fell in love. Took two week-long vacations to North Carolina every year to MTB. Lots of good trails in Florida, too. Built up a trail system at a new park. Did a couple 50-mile off-road events. Started trail running. MTBing fell off to a day a week. Found out I liked the "long stuff" the most. Did one road marathon, a few trail marathons, a 50k. Switched job positions, didn't get off at 1PM, didn't have time to train for the 50 mile race I really wanted to do, got diagnosed with exertional compartment syndrome which was why it always hurt for the first 45 minutes I ran, signed up for surgery, doc had a heart attack, by the time he was back to work, I'd chickened out. Rode BF's GT MTB with road tires for 37 miles of a Century a year ago October, just to have something to do while he was doing the Century. Had to walk the hills. Had a blast. Resolved to be able to do a Century the next year, 2005. All winter, ran a teeny bit, barely rode, did a mini tri in April, my first one, then Wickham Park marathon Memorial Day weekend (Google it- you won't believe it!) rode the GT a little bit in the summer, got pneumonia in July, found out I almost had diabetes, decided to actually really lose weight, (although I'd _hardly_ been what you'd call inactive the previous many years!) rode the heck out of the GT, soon 50-60 miles was easy, really wanted a road bike, bought my Trek 2100 WSD on eBay the last week of August, when I was on vacation, rode her every day, traveled all over FL with her, riding paved trails, did a sprint tri Labor Day weekend, Three Gap 50 in September up in the Georgia mountains, my first Century here in Gainesville in October, the Horrible Hundred with _no_ walking in November, thought I'd try a 200k brevet in January because I couldn't find a Century, then the 300 in February, survived, and am now training for the 400k in March. I love doing Centuries as training rides! What a feeling of, I don't know, unreality, that what was a year ago an unknown, feared distance is now a comfortable friend. Who knows where it will go from here? My MTB friends all hate me, BTW, for switching to road biking...

Nanci