Karl Outerbridge says he had two choices as a teenager - drugs or cycling.

Thankfully, he chose the latter and now at the age of 35 the St. David's resident has the chance to display his talents on the international stage.

After an 11-year national team hiatus Outerbridge will represent Bermuda at the forthcoming Caribbean Cycling Championships.

The event takes place in Curacao on October 12 and 13 and Outerbridge will be joined by the Island's number one rider Kris Hedges, Geri Mewett, Wayne Scott and Kent Richardson.

His inclusion in the squad is a just reward for a fine domestic season which has seen him consistently finish in the top four.

Outerbridge believes his accomplishments prove that with hard work and dedication it is possible to achieve your goals.

“I'm not afraid to say this - I didn't grow up in the best of neighbourhoods,” said the Somerset native. “I can remember around the time I was 18 sitting thinking one day ‘Do I want to get caught up in drugs or do I want to ride my bike?'

“If I do drugs and get caught by the Police I wouldn't be able to ride my bike so I went out and rode instead. That kept me on the straight and narrow and for the rest of my days I think I will always ride my bike.”

His first taste of international competition came in 1991 at the Pan American Games riding alongside Bermuda's finest cyclist Elliott Hubbard.

“We were in Havana, Cuba and although I didn't complete the race I did enough to help get Bermuda listed in Velo News, which is the equivalent of a local football player getting their name in Shoot! magazine,” he said. “We were credited as making the race extremely fast. It was a 105-mile race and at the end of the day the average speed was about 42 or 43 kilometres per hour.”

Outerbridge said it was an experience he will never forget, although he wishes it had come a little earlier.

“It was definitely a high for me. Unfortunately, it came at the age of 24 which I thought at that time was a little late to be pursuing a professional career,” he said. “The Bicycle Association back then wasn't what it is today as regards having contacts and being able to push riders.

“Actually, the very next day the coach for the Colombian team offered me the opportunity to go there, race and train with his team. But as I said things weren't set up here and I missed out on the opportunity.”

Outerbridge says he believes he made the right decision but wonders now and then what might have been.

“I do, especially when I see how far Elliott got,” he said. “Back then we were both on a par. We went there (Cuba) for the road race and the team time trial and in the time trial Elliott and I just blew everyone to smithereens. We had no problem riding at 35 miles per hour.

“Sometimes I think if I stuck with it who knows what might have been but I wasn't in the position where if I went abroad and something went wrong I could say ‘Mom and Dad I'm moving back home'. That was the deciding factor - not wanting to take that risk.”

But though Outerbridge passed up that chance and now works as an aviation firefighter with BAS-Serco, who have assisted him with his endeavours, he has still retained the hunger for cycling.

Over the years he has become a stalwart on the local scene and this season his performances have again caught the eye of the national selectors.

He puts his re-emergence down to intensifying his preparations.

“I think I've got in just under 9,000 miles since December and that's taken about 490 hours,” he said. “Cycling is a sport where if you really want to do well you have to be meticulous about your training.

“Take my food for example - everything I eat is on a spreadsheet. I know exactly how much carbs (carbohydrates) I am getting in, protein and so on and so forth.

“If you are trying to put in 15 hours a week and you are not eating or training properly you will blow right up. I have seen it happen to so many people and it's happened to myself. I have made mistakes and learned from them and that's why I think at the age of 35 I can still go out there and compete with guys ten years my junior.”

As far as his role in the forthcoming Championships is concerned, Outerbridge describes himself as a team player.

Hedges, the defending time trial champion, will undoubtedly be the focus with his fellow riders working hard to get him in a winning position.

That is a strategy that sits comfortably with Outerbridge.

“This is not to put myself down, it is just the nature of cycling - I don't consider myself as one of the guys who can go out there and win races, I am more the one that goes out there and helps the guy to win races.

“Cycling is a team sport and in every race you have people who are designated as the team leader. Everyone else on that team is solely there to make sure that guy wins, whether it's chasing down breaks, blocking the wind, if he gets a flat you give him a wheel . . . anything and everything. It's not a solo sport.

“I like playing that role and I would like to see the guys that I am going with win a medal. If I get a chance, then hey, great.”

In his mid-30s, Outerbridge is not setting himself any long term goals, although he is keen to try his hand at being a physical trainer for a First Division football team. As he puts it, “I am open to offers.”

That aside he does have another eye on the future - even if it is not his own.

“I push myself because of the kids that are coming up behind me,” he said. “I am not saying that they don't look up to anyone else but I get on with them and always help out at junior camp.

“I know as long as I am doing pretty good they will call me up and go training with me and their parents will ask if I can help their son or daughter.

“That keeps me involved. In the same way that I had a choice to make parents come to me because they want their child to stay on their bike, they don't want them getting involved in drugs.

“That's one of the driving forces for me. You never know, one of those kids could turn around, turn pro and win the Tour De France!

“To have a positive impact on somebody means a lot to me.”