In the spring of 1995, I had so many problems with work and marriage that I gave up cycling for a week, thinking I might quit for good. My boss, Pete McEntire, told me I needed to give it up. I went to casual riding for a week. Instead of helping at work, I felt stale, and less productive there. When I started with a little more spirited riding again, I didn't take it seriously, and began playing with different training methods. On one ride I put the bicycle in my top gear, which is very hard to turn over,and rode at a comfortable effort with my hands on the tops of my brake hoods to be comfortable. To my surprise, the speeds were only a few seconds below some of my fastest times. I thought to myself,"The experts say if you are geared too high then you'll hurt your knees and your speeds will be too low". But my results didn't agree with that.
On June 3, I raced a ten-mile time-trial in Caroline County, south of Richmond. I'd ridden my training course, still in those high gears, and it seemed like I'd start slow, but then I'd overcome the gear and end up very fast, so I thought this race would be fun.