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Michael William Cusack (born September 22, 1955) is an Irish writer and former racing cyclist who competed as a member of the Irish national team.

Background
Born in London, England, Cusack acquired Irish citizenship from his father, John Cusack, who was born and raised in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. The family moved to Dublin, Ireland in 1964 and he was subsequently educated at Drimnagh Castle and Templeogue College.

Cycling career
Following in the footsteps of his brother David, he began his cycling career in 1973 with the Dublin Wheelers Cycling Club. In 1974, he finished second in the Irish National Junior Championship and represented Ireland at the Isle of Man Cycling Week. In 1975, he won his first senior road race, beating a field that included Sean Kelly and Pat McQuaid at the Skerries Gran Prix near Dublin. Later that year, he joined the Tailteann racing team managed by John Lackey and was named to the Irish Olympic Squad for the Montreal Games, along with Kelly, Peter Morton, Alan McCormack, John Shortt, and Tony Lally. He rode his first Tour of Ireland in the same year, finishing 35th in the eight day race won by McQuaid. An accident returning from the Sean Dillon Memorial Race in 1976, the same year as he raced in the United States as part of the American Raleigh team with compatriot Peter Morton, knocked him out of competitive sport for over a year. He returned to racing in 1978, and won the Longford Two-Day race, following which he was named to the Irish Team for the inaugural Tour of Europe, where he finished 36th after six days of racing from Reims through the Vosges Mountains to the finish in Strasbourg. On his return from Europe, he won several domestic races and represented Ireland along with Stephen Roche in the Tour of Ireland, where he finished third in the final stage. Cusack was then named to the initial Irish Olympic Squad for the Moscow Games, along with Roche, Bernard McCormack, John Shortt and Alan McCormack. His last major race was the Shay Elliott Memorial Race in 1979, which was won by Morton in a snowstorm. He retired from international events to focus on a copywriting career, although he later raced in the United States for the Somerset Wheelmen and High Gear Cyclery road racing teams.

Professional career
Cusack won the "Best Newcomer to Irish Advertising" at the Irish Advertising Awards Festival (IAAF) in 1980. After living and writing in Vienna, Austria, he spent two years working in Saudi Arabia before writing about his travels throughout India, Nepal, China, Mongolia and Russia. He emigrated to the United States in 1985, where he studied English at New England College, New Hampshire, under the guidance of Joel Oppenheimer. Following his marriage in 1987, he moved to New Jersey, where he acquired a Master of Arts degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He returned to Nepal on two subsequent occasions, once attempting to ride his bicycle from Kathmandu to Tibet. His two sons, Sean and Brendan, were born while he worked as a consultant for the AT&T Artificial Intelligence group and Bell Laboratories. The American Society for Quality published his first book, Online Customer Care, in 1998, and he subsequently published "Cycling was My Life", which describes his final season at international level. His business books include "Conducting a Contact Center Assessment", "Technoservice", and his most recent publication, "The Future of Customer Service" in 2013.

Results

 * 2nd Irish National Junior Road Race Championship (1974)*3rd Douglas Gran Prix, Douglas, Isle of Man
 * 1st Skerries Gran Prix, Dublin, Ireland (1975)
 * 1st Dublin-Longford Two-Day (1978)
 * 4th Irish National Senior Road Race Championships (1978)*9th Tour of the Cotswolds International Star Trophy Race (1978)
 * 1st Carrick-on-Suir Gran Prix (1978)
 * 1st Tour of Clondalkin (1978)
 * 1st Mullingar Road Race (1978)
 * 3rd Tour of Ireland, Stage 8 Dublin, Ireland(1978)