Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

Over in France Lance Armstrong is attempting to win his seventh straight Tour de France, but in Park City, UT, Mike Olheiser, originally of Wyoming, won the USCF nationals masters road race on June 28.

Olheiser, a 1993 graduate of Forest Lake High School, was racing with his Memphis Motor Werks Cycling Team at the national race.
BMX biking grabbed Olheiserís attention around the age of 10. Olheiser tried all sorts of freestyle and quarter pipe tricks. Olheiser joined a BMX team in Forest Lake and competed locally.

ìThat was a fun experience,î Olheiser said.î

Biking hasnít been the only thing Olheiser has been competitive in. While attending FLHS Olheiser played varsity soccer too.
Later down the road Olheiserís brother got him into mountain biking. One thing lead to another and Olheiser was trying to increase his stamina for mountain biking when he bought a road racing bike for the first time.

ìI started racing and it was a lot of fun,î Olheiser said. ìIt accelerated quickly from there for me.î

Olheiser and his wife Lindsay (Gatsoff) moved to Huntsville, AL almost five years ago because Lindsay had a job opportunity.
In order to allow himself time to train, finding a job that fit his training schedule was important. Olheiser works as a personal trainer at the Huntsville Hospital where he is the head personal trainer.

When he started road racing Olheiser was a category five racer, or a beginner, but by the end of his first season he had moved up to a category two and was a category one in only his second season of racing.

ìNot many people go from a category five to a two in one year and quickly pop up to a category one the following year,î Olheiser said.

Olheiser was able to move up in categories so quickly because he is dedicated to the sport, training five to six hours each day.

ìMy wife has been unbelievably supportive of my training,î Olheiser said. ìIt gets a little weary when Iím gone every weekend from March until this time of the year, then when Iím home Iím still out training.î

After last season of road racing Olheiser got a call from one of the members Memphis Motor Werks Cycle Team and asked him if heíd like to join the team.

ìA lot of times riders search for a team to race for and I was lucky that a team found me and asked me to race for them,î Olheiser said.

And that brings us to June 28th with the racers at the start line, one of them Michael Olheiser. As the racers peddled through the 76 mile course, Olheiser was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 3:07:06. Almost 30 seconds after Olheiser crossed the finish line his teammate Peter Knoop crossed to finish fourth.

Olheiser and his teammates were in Minnesota a few weeks ago for the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

ìAnything that could go wrong went wrong for us in that race,î Olheiser said. ìIt was still fun and itís always nice to come home and see the family.î

What now?

Winning a national title could be the pinnacle for most racers, but Olheiser is still looking ahead.

ìI think fun is the big key for me,î Olheiser said. ìIíve thought about turning pro more than once, I mean I race against pros all the time, but I set my goals every year to get to that next level. I just donít know where thatís going to take me.î

Thoughts of competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens crossed Olheiserís mind, but he missed qualifying. Now he wouldnít mind toying with the idea of taking a shot at qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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