by EZRA STUART

IN JUST A FEW WEEKS, Barbados' premier cyclist Barry Forde will be back in the saddle riding competitively.

And the former No.1 rider in the Americas is hoping his new journey on two wheels will take him to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, starting in China on August 8.

His father and former coach Colin Forde told NATIONSPORT that the two-year ban, which the sport's governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) imposed on him for using performance-enhancing drugs, would be coming to an end on March 1.

Forde, the only Barbadian cyclist to win a Commonwealth Games medal, tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone/epi-testosterone with a ratio of 8.1 – way above the normally accepted level of 4.0 – at a meeting in Grenoble, France in 2006.

But according to Forde Snr., his son had been training in Germany, where he is now based, during the period of his ban to stay in shape.

"He has been preparing himself for the return and is where he should be fitness-wise. He is in better physical shape than he ever was in," Colin said.

"He is hoping to qualify for the Olympics but the most important thing right now is to be back into competition," he added.

Only last year, Steve Stoute, president of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), said that Forde would need
a near "miracle" to return to his former glory and fulfil his dream of an Olympic medal.

"It is going to be very difficult and a really tough task to qualify for Beijing in 2008," Stoute said at the time but noted that
"it would be a tremendous effort after a lay-off of close to two years to make a comeback".

The 31-year-old 1998 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) gold medallist, was back home over the Christmas holidays but it is uncertain whether he will return for any of the events on the Barbados Cycling Union's 2008 domestic programme.

At the last Olympics in 2004, Forde finished a commendable sixth in the match sprint. Before that, he won two gold medals
at the Pan American Games in 2003, and he also won a silver medal at the World Cycling Championships in 2005.

However, he was given a warning and stripped of his double Pan Am gold medals and a World Championship bronze medal in 2003 after a positive test for ephedrine.