• On getting started: "I didn't play a lot of organized school sports growing up. I played a lot of pick-up games in baseball, football, basketball and some hockey on neighborhood ponds, but nothing serious. I moved to Colorado and wanted to get serious about mogul skiing, and when I got here everyone in the Vail area was so wrapped up in exercise and outdoor athletics that it naturally kind of grew on me. I started riding a dirt bike, began running some and then got a road bike, followed by a mountain bike, and it took off from there."
• On his second career: "Adventure racing was an unexpected re-emergence into the world of endurance sports for me. I had entirely planned on pulling out of mountain biking in the mid-1990s once I realized that I wasn't going to be as competitive as I was in the earlier years. I was ready to take on a different lifestyle. I got a real job and was kind of settling into the reality of life after professional cycling when I discovered adventure racing."
• On epic races: "They all kind of blend together for misery, but I'd have to say the 2006 Primal Quest in Moab (Utah) and the overall extreme heat factor would rank right up there. And then Eco-Challenge Borneo in 2000 for the heat and humidity and the leeches and everything else was pretty brutal. And probably the Adventure Racing World Championship in New Zealand in 2005 was a tough one because of the wind and rain. You expect the usual stuff - sleepless fatigue day after day, the competition level and how fast and hard you have to go on little sleep - but when you throw in the elements, that's what makes a race challenging."
• The one that got away: "There are a few. One that was a real disappointment that took a long time to get over was Eco-Challenge in Argentina in 1999 a year after we won in Morocco. We were down there for more than three weeks and put in a lot of time and preparation for that race, trying to familiarize ourselves with the area and maximizing our potential. It was disappointing to come away with a sixth-place finish because we were highly capable of a much better result. Maybe now I've learned to cope with the disappointment in a better way, but there are always those races that are hard to swallow."
• On his primary indulgence: "My favorite is chocolate cookie dough ice cream and chocolate cookies, preferably with nuts. I try to keep that stuff in moderation. Sometimes I'll go in binges and eat something like that every day, but other days I know I'll need to cut it off because I have a big race coming up and need to make sure I'm not tipping the scale too heavy."
Join Mike Kloser for his free lecture on Wednesday, August 26, 5:30 pm, at the Vail Athletic Club titled Essential Athletic Mentality: When You Can't Do It With Legs Alone. | 
