Kent Bostick This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. The Oak Ridge Observer - March 17, 2005 Issue

   www.oakridgeobserver.com/Archi - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/17/2005   Last Visited: 6/6/2005

   Bostick was part of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1996 and finished 9th in the individual pursuit. To this day, he holds the world records for the 5 km and 100 km track and the master's world records over 3km and 1 hour. He also won gold medals in the Pan-American Championships in 1987 and 1995. What's most remarkable is that he'll be 52 this summer. Bostick keeps defying his age. After having served as an alternate for three Olympic Games without ever getting to go, Bostick won the U.S. Olympic trials in 1996, beating a world champion who was in his 20s. Bostick was 43 at the time and became one of the oldest athletes at the Games. He moved from New Mexico to Tennessee in 1999 and still races. Last year, he won the Tennessee State Championship. The daily commute to work is his exercise. He covers anywhere between 25 to 40 miles one way, depending on the route he chooses. The shortest option still takes him an hour and fifteen minutes to Oak Ridge. He gets up at 5:30 a.m. to make it in time to Pro2Serve where he works as a groundwater hydrologist. The University of Arizona alumnus is involved in environmental clean-up work for federal clients such as the Defense and Energy departments. While his company doesn't have a health incentive program that pays cash for a good heart rate, his motivation for riding his bike to work is what he calls his "aging experiment" and his desire to explore how long he can perform at such a competitive level. Especially after he overcame what many considered a career ending leg injury suffered from a fall at the Tour of the Gila in 2000. "A fitness program is a fitness program, and when you take the car, you're backing out of it," he says.
   ...
   Occasionally, Bostick gets to zip by me and hundreds of other cars stuck in another after-hours Solway traffic jam. "It's payback then," he says with a grin. Bostick has a shower at the office, where he also keeps an armoire of change clothes. "My only problem is helmet hair," he jokes.