Greg Cordasco, 46, of the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, made New Jersey bicycle racing history in the 2008 season by winning two Garden State Cup events in the same year. The season-long series of races, which run from April to September, features seven different racing categories based on age or experience. Cordasco won both the 35 and older (35+) series and the 45 and older (45+) series simultaneously -- a first in New Jersey cycling.

Cordasco said his victories are all the more sweet because he ruptured a disc in his back two years ago and lost 50 percent of the strength in his left leg. "I thought my competitive cycling career was over," he said. "The outlook was dismal, until I found myself in the capable hands of the physical therapists at Excel Fitness Center in Bernardsville." Cordasco said that once he realized he was in good hands, he did just as the professionals at Excel prescribed and was able to avoid back surgery and begin the road to recovery.

"They helped me repair my back, but, almost as importantly, they helped me help myself," Cordasco said. "I made rehabilitation part of my daily routine and got better and better." Cordasco said the first year back to competition was frustrating, but that he stuck with it, and, by the following off-season, he felt better than he had in six years. "I felt great at our training camp in Italy his past March, and that's when I knew that 2008 was going to be a special year."

Cordasco's campaign to win the Garden State Cup events began in April when he won the Pinecone Circuit Race in Hammonton, N.J. in a 4-man breakaway from the gun. That win was followed by another victory one week later in the 35+ race, again in an early breakaway, at the Rahway River Park Criterium. The first week in May, with a strong team presence, he won the 45+ Tour of Colts Neck. At the end of May, Cordasco extended his lead in the 45+ Cup competition with a win at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame Criterium in Somerville, N.J.

Cordasco had a firm hold on the 45+ Cup going into August. The 35+ Cup was not really on his radar until he won the 35+ Tour of Medford, which put him in the lead by two points with three races remaining. He was able to finish ahead of his persuers in both classifications a the NJ State Criterium Championships, 5th in the 35+ and 4th in the 45+, and also at the Denville Cycling Challenge. He then wrapped up both championships at the race that he has been promoting for 17 years on Labor Day, the Olde Mill Inn Tour of Basking Ridge.

"It was wonderful to win both Garden State Cups with family and friends present, and also to win the Cup in the town where my wife, Ingrid, and I have our family business, Liberty Cycle," Cordasco said. "This is where our dream all started 18 years ago, and it's wonderful to make a little New Jersey cycling history here, thanks to my family, friends and teammates," he continued.

Cordasco has already set his sights on the 2009 season. He finished 6th in the U.S. Masters National Criterium Championships in the 45+ category in Louisville, Kenn., on July 6. For 2009, Cordasco hopes to improve on that result.