mark the utah rider

mark nielson


i just met mark this year on the blog scene, he emailed me and we did a ride and i showed him some riding secrets, fixed his bike and thats that.
i wish more people were out going like that and come up and start conversations, come to think of it i should do it more myself. well now hes on his way to the sport class and im sure expert next year.
keep it in the big ring.


1 how did you get into racing, blogging and meeting all your new online friends

Well, I wouldn't say I'm really "into racing" yet since I've only done a handful. That said, my family is adjusting to the time commitments on race day and I'm having fun getting worked over each weekend so right now the plan is to continue. When I was a kid growing up in Boise, ID I raced the weekly Tuesday Nighter. I remember the first one I did because I'd just received my first pair of "real" cycling shorts in the mail that afternoon. So I showed up in tennis shoes, cycling shorts and a t-shirt and got dropped like 50 feet after the start! And that was with the "slow" or "C" group. Over the course of the next 3 years I kept at it and slowly improved to the point where I could actually hang with the "fast" or "A" group. Based on my limited race experience as an adult, it looks like I'm in for the same gradual process of improvement 17 years after enduring it the first time!

As for the blog, it was a natural progression from reading CyclingNews, VeloNews, etc. to reading the blogs linked on the Utah Cycling Association page, to finding other blogs linked on those blogs, to deciding to write my own. My decision to start blogging was mainly one of finding the motivation and help to begin racing again. I figured if I could solicit the advice of any readers who raced and make my intentions to race known, it would be much harder to talk myself out of actually doing a race. So far I think it's worked out pretty well. I've met a bunch of really cool people who have been extremely supportive and helpful in my return to competition.

2 what do you tell all the girls when they ask you out, you are married, but you must have some cheesy line so they dont feel bad.

I hate to disappoint you but thus far I haven't had any girls - other than my wife and daughter - ask me out since I've been married. I suppose if it were to happen I'd just assume they were married too and say something lame like yeah, talk to your husband and I'll talk to my wife and we'll figure out a time to get together and do something.

3 if you didnt ride, race or train what would take up that empty time

A varienty of things depending on the time of day I would have been riding. For example, if I didn't ride during lunch I'd probably eat more food or do more work! If I didn't ride at 6:30 am I'd spend the time sleeping. If I didn't ride in the evening I'd probably be working in our yard or watching tv. If I didn't ride on Saturday I'd probably do some camping and/or fishing. You know, basically the same things I did before I started riding. I like to think I maintain a good balance between family, work and riding so when I ride I don't miss out on any of the important daily activities.

4 how long have your been training and or racing

In total about 8 years but there was a 17 year gap between the first 4 years and the second 4 years. During the time away from the bike I graduated from college, met & married my wife, had 2 kids, started my career and gained a lot of weight. It was because of that last item that I started riding again. I had gotten pretty big, around 220 pounds (I'm about 165 now), and I told my wife that if I bought a bike and started riding I'd lose the weight. She thought that sounded good and here I am today. As far as racing goes 2007 is really my first and if my earlier experience is any indication I'll probably need another 2-3 years of getting my butt kicked before I start to go well. One thing I've discovered is that it was much easier to get worked over as a kid than as an adult. When you're younger it's easy to say "yeah, I got worked but those guys are 10 years older than me" rather than now when I get worked over by pretty much everybody!

5 what did you do with your self before racing or training

My big hobbies before cycling took over were fly fishing, skiing, gardening, hiking and playing computer games. I miss all of them with the exception of computer games. However, since I started riding a mountain bike last year I've started to reconnect with the outdoors. I can cover so much more ground riding the trails versus hiking that it's opened up a whole new world to explore.