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The 34 year old had just enjoyed one of his best seasons in the sport.  In June he won the British 25 mile time trial championships.  His 49m 44s, 30 mph performance was sufficiently slick to beat Michael Hutchison, fourth in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and Chris Newton, former Olympian and World Champion into second and third place.  
 
In July, competing closer to home in the Ian Walls Memorial near Bishopton, he took an enormous 40 seconds off the Scottish 10 mile time trial record set by Graeme Obree in 1997. His time of 18m 47s was two minutes faster than the second place rider.  Then, in October Jason won the Tour De Trossachs for the 4th time, posting a new course record of 01.04.47.
 
A talented runner during his school years, it was not until the relatively late age of 18 that Jason turned his attention to racing on two wheels.  He made up quickly for any lost time - Ireland's Tour of the North being one of his early wins when he was aged 23 years old - and never felt it a disadvantage racing people with many more years experience.  Indeed he considered it the very reason he felt so fresh about racing and was improving well into his 30s.
 
 In 2002 Jason was selected as a member of the Scottish team competing at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games but recent knee surgery persuaded him to forego the demands of the road race for the briefer time trial.  He finished fifteenth in what he described as a 'hard race' against a lot of professionals but in doing so realised his potential lay in racing the clock.
 
 Last summer he spoke of the 10 mile time trial as being the distance in which he wished to excel:  “Something inside me wants to succeed greatly at the 10s.  I was desperate to win the 10 (British Championships) and I was second.   Probably in a lot of people's diaries a good result but I was extremely disappointed because I figured there were only two guys in it.  It's in there, it's a case of putting all the little things together that make records happen.”
 
A registered carer, who was supported by sponsors Dooley cycles and Continental Tyres, MacIntyre did not feel hampered by being based in one of the coldest and wettest parts of the country, so remote from the major competition venues.  As someone who had always lived on the west coast (he was born in Lochgilphead) he had no intentions of moving anywhere else.
 
Not owning a set of motorised four wheels presented a test of its own to get to major races south of the border.  It took Jason three days of travelling to just reach the start line of June's national 10 mile time trial in Cambridge.
 
 “I don't look at living here as a disadvantage, it's just the way it is,” he remarked stoically after finishing second in the race.  “The winner lives just 20 minutes away and after three days of travelling I felt quite tired.”
 
Being selected for the Highland Institute of Sport last summer gave Jason much deserved access to the use of its pool car.  Borrowing the car, which others might well have taken for granted, was “one of the extra pieces of the jigsaw that's helped me win the British 25”. Needless to say, he always showed immense gratitude in being able to use it.
 
 Whilst accumulating British titles was becoming a habit for MacIntyre his ambitions stretched far beyond the home scene.  Many believed he was a genuine contender for this summer's Beijing Olympics.
 
“I feel I can keep improving until the next Commonwealth Games and I'd like to think I could make the team,” he said last summer.  “I'd like to get a ride in the World Championships, and that would certainly be a starting point perhaps to see where I stand.”
 
 Whilst he understandably did all of his top end training alone, the social side of the sport and supporting local events was important to him.
 
 “There are quite a group of local club cyclists and I'm lucky in that there are local guys who are working shifts so for three or four days a week I've got someone to go out with,” said Jason, who had also recently become involved in setting up a sports fund for local businesses to help support athletes in the Fort William area.
 
 Jason was supported by the Highland Institute of Sport for the past 12 months and in that time he left an immense impression on everyone he met and worked with.
 
“We didn't have a more professional athlete in the Highland Institute than Jason,” said Chris Hildrey, Manager of the Highland Institute of Sport. 
 
“His focus and vision were exemplary and he was the one we always held up to the others as the perfect example of somebody who got out there and did what it took to succeed.  He had an ambition to make this summer's Olympic Games but was also to looking towards medalling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
 
 “Given that he had to overcome all the challenges of living in a remote location he was never one to mention what he may have missed out on through living so far away from the major centres of competition.  He was immensely modest and understated. 
 
 “It was inspirational to have known him and we shall all miss him hugely.  At this time all our thoughts and sympathies are with his wife, his daughters and his family and friends.”