Background:  I started racing in Washington DC on a local team sponsored by Kodac and mentored by 18 time National Champion Jim Montgomery. Under Jim's guidance I became a Cat 1 in a year and was on the World TEAM with him a year later along side other standout riders, Paul Curley (25-time National Champion), Jason Snow (35+ World Champion), and Brian McDonough (SAAB Professional and multi-time track National Champion).  I was very fortunate to learn from these guys at a time when American Crit racing was the predominant  form of racing in the country.  On World TEAM I went on to win the Mid-Atlantic Best All-Round Rider and in the Individual Time Trial I set a District record of 50:54 which stood for two decades.  In 2001 I moved to Lincoln, Massachusetts and raced with CCB, the nation’s No. 1-ranked amateur team at the time.  On CCB I won the New England Pro/Am Criterium Championships in Burlington, VT and rode support for future World Tour Pro Tim Johnson and Shaun McCormack. Two years later I switched teams to the Trek Factory Team and won the NYC Invitational Championship on Wall Street and was USA Cycling's number one ranked catagory 1 crit rider for two years in a row.