I started riding Mt bikes in college, to get around, occasionally riding w/ the local racers in Statesboro, GA. I was accepted onto onto the cross-country benefit ride called The Journey of Hope, put on by PUSH America which is college guys that raise money and awareness for the physically disabled. After college I worked in what is still the largest bike shop in GA. I entered and won my first bike race, and was hooked!
After a couple years of training and racing, I had a uneventful crash that changed my outlook on flexibility and muscle tension. After the crash I had extreme pain in my right knee – tendinitis. I tried in vain to find out what was going on with my knee. I went to a physical therapist, then a knee specialist that told me he could give me cortisone, cut my IT band and let it fuse back together or I could take the ‘homeopathic’ route, which meant I was back on my own to figure that out. Even though I didn’t fully know what the ‘homeopathic’ route was, I knew I didn’t want to get ‘cut’ or just mask the pain with cortisone.
Finally a friend suggested I work with a massage therapist for several sessions and they could solve the pain. At this point anything was better than the pain in my knee and the pain of not being able to train and race.
Sure enough, after several sessions, I was experiencing less knee pain until finally 1 day I realized I had not thought about or felt any pain all day – that is a Great day! If you are in pain, I want you to experience that day for yourself!
To support my habit of racing and give me the time that I wanted to train, I started working as a Personal Trainer getting certified first by ACE, then by NASM. I worked in 1 of the biggest health clubs in north Atlanta. Now, I have been working for myself as a personal trainer for 5 years. To further expand on my knowledge base and to help my clients the best that I can, I spent hundred of hours reading and researching articles. I also started to go to seminars to meet and learn from some of the best in the industry.
I raced for 5 years as a category 2 cyclist, several years racing for Roswell Bicycles.
After burning out with road racing I went back to my love of Mt biking and started to get a taste of 24, then 12 hour relay races, and 4-7 hour epic rides in the South Eastern Mountains.