NAME: Jeff Fischer

AGE: 50

TOWN: Warren, NJ

OCCUPATION: Business Owner

ATHLETIC BACKGROUND: I swam in high school and played soccer in college.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR TRAINING? This would probably take a therapy session to answer honestly. There is a part to stay healthy longer and to be able to eat good food and drink good wine without any guilt. More than that I am not content to go for a casual ride around the neighborhood. I want to push myself to ride farther, to ride faster, to be able to climb a hill I was not able to climb last year. And I like the look on people's faces when they say, "you rode how far today?"

HOW DO YOU FIT TRAINING INTO YOUR BUSY SCHEDULE? During the week the only time I can train is before work so I wake up at 4:15 - 4:30 so that I can put in anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes on the bike and still leave the house 6:00 - 6:30. On the weekends I plan training around my kid's activities. I either bring one of them to an activity and bring my bike and ride in that area until they finish or ride near home while my wife is out with them so as not to take more time away from my family than my work already does.

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 - YEAR GOALS IN CYCLING? I have just started entering races so I would like to finish higher in the standings. I am constantly striving to increase my power to weight ratio. I want to break an hour for a 40K time trial.

WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU OFFER TO A NEWBIE CYCLIST? Don't be over-anxious in expecting results. I know for me I would go what seemed like a long time with no improvement and then all of a sudden there would be this huge jump up in results. It doesn't always happen incrementally. Also know your body and listen to what it is telling you. It is important to balance pushing yourself to reach new gains and knowing when you are going to set yourself back by over-training.