Chris picks it up from its spot on the handle bars of his $1,000 yellow racing bike and holds it in his hands.

"Let's see, the counter starts over at a thousand, so ever since I started cycling I've rode…" He pauses as he thinks, his brown eyes scanning the ceiling. "About 3,000 miles." The amazing thing is Chris Ridgard started cycling just under a year ago.

At only 19, the Jamaican-born sophomore earned first place in his division of racing in the South East Collegiate Conference during his first semester on the cycling team. He treats his successes like he does most things--smiling and shrugging off compliments as if his efforts were nothing.

Chris went out to cycling practice on a whim. He'd been riding for a while and thought that he would give it a try. The Friday practice of 25 miles turned out to be much harder than he expected, but he stuck with it.

The first race he competed in was a small course in downtown Gainesville. The rain that day made the gray cobblestone road slick.

"It was really exciting," Chris says. "People were sliding and crashing everywhere."

The final race of the SEC conference was held at the University of Georgia. He had no time to stick around and hear the results for the conference were because his ride back to Florida was leaving.

"I had no idea what the results were," Chris says, trying to suppress a grin. "I came to a cycling meeting that week and coach just handed me the first place trophy."

Related Sites

Team Florida Cycling Homepage

--By Peter Zimmerman