When I was a kid I started riding my rusty old Huffy ten speed 20 miles each day. But my goal was not to be a cyclist; it was just to get where I needed to go. That was to swim practice (7 miles each way) and to school (3 miles each way). One day the Huffy's frame broke in half while I was riding it, injuring me in a sensitive area. After I dragged the bike home in two pieces, my parents made a deal with me. They would pay for half of whatever bike I wanted to buy. So I bought my first decent road bike, which was a black Motobecane.

When I turned 15 I really started putting on the miles, riding around Marin on that black Motobecane. As evidenced by the fact that this bike never broke in half while I was riding it, it was a much better bike than the old Huffy. Yet still it was very heavy and slow by the standards of any decent road racing bike. When I rode my first road race (the Tassajara Road race near Livermore) this was my personal milestone that I was riding enough that I was ready to get a new bike.

This time, I was older and had a job, so I had to pay for the entire bike. I spend nearly all my savings on a used racing bike from the local bike racing shop, "Cycle Dynamics". The new bike was an aluminum Vitus with Campagnolo Super Record parts and Mavic E-2 wheels. It was very light for the time (or even now) -- weighing 18 lbs. ready to ride. It had an aluminum frame with standard sized tubing, glued together (instead of welded). But it was very strong. I crashed the Vitus once at over 40 mph and the only damage (to the bike) was bent forks. I, on the other hand, had a chain link fence scar on my back for a few months.

In college I rode a lot during my first two years, around 150-200 miles per week. Every time I did any serious hill climbing (out at Solano Dam) I would warp the super-light rear wheel. So I built a new set of stronger wheels for the Vitus -- bladed spokes and Mavic G-40 rims. These were a little heavier, but a LOT stronger. I did a couple of century rides, including the grueling Davis Double. Near the end of my junior year at Davis I got so low on finances that I sold my Vitus to stay in school & pay tuition. After that, I stopped riding for several years.

More than 10 years later, in early 2000, I started riding again. I currently have a fleet of 5 bicycles: two mountain bikes, two road bikes and a tandem. Some of these bikes are described on my wheels page. Now I ride my road bike or mountain bike almost every day and Michelle and I ride the tandem at least once each week.