Leaving Simple Behind

There is a freedom to cycling that keeps you coming back. It doesn't have to be a long ride or an exotic location for cyclists to want to strap on their shoes and head out the door. Janet Christiansen dedicated herself to competitive racing, endurance events, triathlons, and endless miles on the open road for over thirty-five years. This book is as much about the specific events as it is about the journey, and how the journey keeps changing through the years.

The real impact of cycling is the exploration, both physically and spiritually, of heading into the unknown. In this exploration, 'simple' gets left behind, but 'interesting' does not. This book is not just about cycling and competitive sports, but the spiritual journey of cycling as well. Cycling offers the best kind of freedom. Life may be unchanged after a ride, but the time to be away from everything inspires change within you. Those who think pedaling a bike is the most mindless and boring activity every invented are letting the best in life pass them by. This book can be enjoyed by competitive cyclists, endurance enthusiasts, and recreational cyclists. The author started competing in sanctioned bike races in 1988, culminating in a tenth-place finish in the National Road Race. After moving from Upstate New York to sunny California, she switched to Ironman triathlon competitions, including the Hawaii Ironman in 1995. She spent the last 12 years of her competitive cycling career in ultra-endurance cycling, culminating in two Race Across America solo finishers. She also planned and completed thousand-mile solo bike trips to the back of beyond.

Janet Christiansen graduated from Cornell University in 1983 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. She started a doctoral program in Pharmacology at Cornell and began competing in sanctioned bike races, culminating in a tenth-place finish in the 1988 National Road Race. After leaving her doctoral program and moving to California in 1989, she began competing in Ironman triathlons, then ultra-endurance cycling. Her competitive cycling career culminated in two Race Across America solo finishers, and her last event was in 2015. Somewhere along the way, she settled into software engineering until retiring in May 2020. Her latest passion is sport climbing, but she continues riding recreationally on San Diego's rugged inland roads.