Imagine your legs and lungs burning so badly that you just want to collapse. Your heart rate is up and you can’t think straight. For one young man, this is a typical weekend.
ETSU senior Levi Olsen, whose major is sports and leisure management, races bicycles all across the United States.
All through the summer he raced in many cities including Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.
He was in Burlington, Vt., for the College Road Bike National Championship, where ETSU’s cycling team placed 12th overall.
The season started at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif,. and ended on Oct. 17.
Growing up cross-country skiing in Alaska, Olsen moved to Tennessee after his junior year in high school when he took up mountain biking. “I wanted to find a new sport to take up besides cross country skiing,” he said. “So I went to a mountain bike race with a friend, and decided that I wanted to race.”
Olsen spent a week in Wisconsin, racing what is called “Super Week,” which is a big international competition. “I’ve been racing mountain bikes since 1997 and started road racing in spring of 2001,” Olsen said.
It didn’t take him long to reach the top of the cycling charts.
Olsen, who is originally from Nashville, races with an expert status on mountain bike and is Category 3 on the road.
“By spring I should have enough points to upgrade to Category 2 on the road, where I will continue to race until I get to Category 1,” he says. The points you receive are determined by where you finish in the race.
“Each category is a way of differentiating skill levels in cycling, 5 is beginner and 1 is pro,” he said.
The more you race and the better you get determines which Category you get put into. Since Category 1 is the best, Olsen is working his way to the top.
This past summer he won overall the Criterion series in Nashville. This is a two-month-long series with nine races.
When Olsen is not racing with the ETSU cycling club, he races for the Backyard Burgers Cycling Team based out of Memphis.
To be a part of this competitively selective team of 16, one must send in a rsum, and it’s entirely based on performance.
Olsen, who is president of the cycling club at ETSU, wants to continue racing for quite a while.
As president, Olsen has to make sure everything runs smoothly. “I have to make sure everything is organized for road trips, funding and delegating fundraisers,” he said.
The club has only been around for four years and consists of 25 members.
“As little support as we have had, we do a lot of fundraisers and have done really well against other teams,” Olsen said.
Having competed in so many competitions, Olsen realizes that like many sports cycling takes a lot of hard work and dedication.
“You have to eat healthy and work out to stay in top shape,” Olsen said. “I try to drink lots of fluids, between 100 and 150 ounces a day,” he said.
He makes time for school, work and friends along with being in the ETSU’s cycling club and Backyard Burgers.
“It’s good to juggle a lot of things at once, it keeps you motivated,” he said.
Olsen is also interested in snowboarding, water skiing, and cross-country skiing when it’s available.
Olsen hopes that everyone will strive to be the best at whatever hobby or activity they do and really get involved.
“I’ve really enjoyed road racing and mountain biking,” he said, “but competing is hard and rough on the body, so I’ll probably drive for fitness and fun.

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