CHAMPAIGN – A trip to Oregon's Cascade Mountains in the 1990s introduced Mark Swartzendruber to mountain biking.
The 1981 Champaign Central graduate has been pedaling ever since.
"I just absolutely fell in love with riding in general," Swartzendruber said.
And road cycling in particular. With no appropriate mountain trails in central Illinois to continue his vacation-inspired interest, the then-Ottawa resident bought a road bike.
From there, it was a short trek to joining a local biking club and then an equally quick spin to making a name for himself in the sport. Within a year after entering competitive cycling in 1998, Swartzendruber won the first – and second and third – of his now numerous age-group national titles.
Not bad for a guy whose knowledge of cycling once began – and ended – with the Tour de France.
"I was shocked. I was really shocked," Swartzendruber said. "I'd get into races with guys and I'd think, 'Man, those guys look so fit and so fast and strong.' And I would go out and just pummel them. And it was shocking."
Now 46, the Champaign financial investments adviser still is going strong in his avocation. A member of the Verizon Wireless Cycling Team, Swartzendruber has won two Master division races since mid-April. In 2008, he captured Illinois State Time Trial Championship titles in Master and Category 1-2. That same year, he was the runner-up in the individual time trial at the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships.
Since his high school days as a Maroons baseball and football player, Swartzendruber has maintained an interest in staying active and fit during his adult years. He played baseball into his mid-20s before shifting to golf. The latter, Swartzendruber discovered, isn't exactly a calorie-burner.
"I'd actually gain a lot of weight in the summertime, so I'm looking for a way to stay fit in the summer," he said.
That way presented itself last decade when Swartzendruber visited his brother, Steve, in Oregon. Their mountain biking excursions put Mark on his current cycling path. So did a chance encounter with a staff member of the then-nationally prominent cycling team sponsored by the Saturn division of General Motors. While riding with an Ottawa cycling club in the late 1990s, Swartzendruber met the Saturn team's massage therapist.
"You really ought to start racing," she told the novice rider. "I don't know if you realize this, but you're actually really fast."
She hooked him up with a Springfield-based team. By 1999, in his first American Bicycle Racing national meet, Swartzendruber swept the time trial, road race and criterium titles in the 30-and-over division.
"So I guess that was sort of affirmation," he said.
These days, the results are more modest, but the rider remains as enthusiastic as ever.
"I've gone from being competitive at national events to now where I'm competitive at regional events," Swartzendruber said. "But I still race avidly."
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