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Kathryn Bertine spent much of the last two years chronicling her quest to qualify for the 2008 Olympics on ESPN.com.

Bertine, a University of Arizona graduate, tackled 10 sports — team handball, fencing, swimming, rowing and running to name a few. She settled on cycling and gained dual citizenship with the United States and the tiny Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis to continue her quest for Beijing.

She fell short of her goal but plans to continue training for the 2012 Olympics. On Saturday, she will ride the 109-mile race in the 26th El Tour de Tucson.

Bertine, 33, placed seventh among women riders in last year's El Tour, her first.

"I feel slightly more prepared now that I somewhat know what I'm doing," said Bertine with a laugh. She has been cycling for 22 months and lives and trains in Tucson.

"I would like to bring an El Tour win to Tucson, and hopefully this will be the year for the women's side."

Bertine recently spoke to the Star about her Olympic goals, why she dislikes team handball and her future in publishing.

Olympic quest: ESPN approached Bertine, a professional triathlete and author and former figure skater, about devoting two years to pursuing an Olympic dream. Beginning with a pentathlon in September 2006, she journaled her pursuit for ESPN.com. Her least favorite sport was team handball.

"I didn't grow up playing court sports, so that was incredibly foreign to me," she said. With her background in triathlons, Bertine embraced cycling, which she focused on this past year.

"The camaraderie is great," she said. "Every competitive cyclist is going for the win. It's a really classy sport, too. The majority of competitors are good people."

After falling short in her Olympic bid, Bertine placed 41st in the time trail at the world championships in Varese, Italy, and finished second at the Arizona State Time Trial championships in September.

Island: After Bertine failed to make the U.S. team, ESPN urged her to race for another country's team. St. Kitts and Nevis, a two-island nation in the West Indies, came to the rescue, offering to work with her if she helps the 101-square-mile nation of about 40,000 residents develop a cycling federation.

"They didn't have a women's team. That way I wouldn't be barging into another country to take a spot away from another woman trying to get to the Olympics," she said.

Next month, Bertine will visit schools and promote the sport in the country, where the favorite sports are soccer and track and field.

Her background: A native of Bronxville, N.Y., Bertine grew up skating, running and playing softball. After she graduated from Colgate University in 1997, she toured with Holiday on Ice and Hollywood on Ice. She earned a master's degree in creative writing from the UA in 2000 and wrote a book, "All the Sundays Yet to Come," a memoir of the trials, tribulations and sequins of a figure skating career.

Team: Bertine will ride for Xood Racing, a team of 18 men and women, at El Tour. Xood is an all-natural performance drink founded by two Tucson doctors, Salvatore Joseph Tirrito and Lou Lancero.

Future: Bertine hopes to contend for an Olympic spot in 2012 in London. Currently, she is working on a book about her Olympic quest set to be published next year.

"I can't believe how fast it's happened and how far I've come," she said of her cycling career. "And I still have a long way to go."