A Virginia man has maintained a decade-long day by day biking streak, and he has no plans to cease.
On most days, the alarm goes off at 3:20 a.m. Often it’s a special time: in a while weekends, and even 12:01 a.m. when the schedule is full and time is brief. However on nearly each weekday, 3:20 is the magic hour.
Colin Homosexual wastes no time as soon as the bell rings. He springs from mattress so he doesn’t wake his sleeping spouse and since, greater than 9 years into this, his physique and thoughts at the moment are tuned to the rhythm of the distinctive schedule.
Within the nonetheless darkish, he alters into his using outfit and makes his solution to the lavatory. He brushes his tooth, flosses, and exchanges a couple of blinks along with his mirrored reflection. Then it’s straight all the way down to his bike shed. No espresso. No meals.
When he began doing this, again in 2014, he didn’t even personal a motorbike. He needed to borrow one from the mountain bike program at Woodberry Forest, the boarding faculty the place he taught, coached, and lived for greater than 20 years. As we speak, he lives in Ruckersville and owns eight completely different bikes. He chooses the day’s rig, units his myriad lights, activates his a number of journey trackers, and pedals off into one other central Virginia morning by 4:00 a.m.
As of this writing in June, Homosexual has ridden a minimum of 30 miles daily for 3,555 consecutive days. Whether or not there be rain, snow, or oppressive warmth, he at all times rides exterior, by no means on a coach. He has saved the streak alive whereas battling kidney stones and a case of COVID-19. He has ridden in any respect hours of the day, in Iceland, Jamaica, and California. He does this on prime of working full time in authorities contracting and elevating two kids.
For Homosexual, maintaining the streak is about greater than health. He says it’s about dedication and being one of the best model of himself. He enjoys using his bike, as a time of introspection and meditation. Many rides happen as a part of races and occasions, and his favorites are these with mates, however when he’s alone on practically empty Albemarle County roads, he has time to mirror. He thinks about the day before today and the one which lies forward. Typically, he doesn’t suppose in any respect, coming again into his environment to understand that he has ticked off 15 or 20 miles in a blissful circulation state.
Someplace alongside the best way on every journey, he takes a selfie to submit on his @ridestreak Instagram account. Just a few folks acknowledge him. One nameless driver yells phrases of encouragement to him each morning, and when he sees the biking workforce from the close by Miller Faculty out for a morning exercise, among the boys holler.
“It’s Journey Streak!” they yell. “What’s up, Journey Streak?!”
Regardless of years of doing this, Homosexual hasn’t gained a lot pace. Endurance, sure, however not pace. As such, his tempo is predictable: the usual 30-mile journey clocks proper at two hours. He pulls again into his shed at 6:00 a.m., loads of time to bathe, gown, eat some yogurt and nuts, and be part of his kids’s morning. The field is checked. The streak lives on.
“I really feel like I’ve achieved one thing,” says Homosexual. “It doesn’t matter what occurs that day, I received that accomplished, and [my] physique simply feels higher.”
NOBODY SAW THIS COMING,
not even Homosexual himself. He estimates he had ridden a motorbike 10 instances in his life earlier than the streak started in 2014. Whereas a scholar at Woodberry within the early 90s, Homosexual starred in soccer, wrestling, and lacrosse. He was not significantly huge or athletic, however he leveraged an unusual degree of resolve and psychological fortitude to change into a workforce captain in all three sports activities. After receiving undergraduate and graduate levels from the College of Virginia, he returned to his highschool alma mater to show and coach. Dwelling and dealing at a boarding faculty calls for lengthy hours, and his bodily well being suffered. He gained weight. His vitality was low. Seeking a change, he hopped on one of many faculty’s mountain bikes.
Woodberry’s entrance entrance street is lengthy and comparatively steep, and when Homosexual first began using, he couldn’t even pedal all the best way up. Nonetheless, he had discovered one thing that he beloved. He dedicated on the spot: 100 days in a row, 30 outside miles every day. When he received there, he bumped the end line out to 1,000 days. Then 10,000.
“He won’t ever take the simple street,” says Matt Hawkins, Homosexual’s classmate at Woodberry and greatest buddy. “He simply will discover extra vitality or room in his life.”
Hawkins is an avid bicycle owner who, after being hit whereas out for a journey in 2014, began his personal attire firm known as Ridge Provide with the intention of making high-visibility clothes for riders. He has been a supporter of the streak from the beginning, serving to Homosexual get arrange with the correct gear, becoming a member of him on dozens of rides, and even launching a particular Ridge Provide “Journey Streak” sock.
“It’s fairly cool,” says Homosexual of the socks. “I’m not particular. I’m not a professional. I’m not promoting him any additional socks…however he actually makes me really feel like a professional.”
On the day of his 2,000th journey in early 2020, Homosexual breezed up the entrance hill that had as soon as taunted him and wound his method into the center of the Woodberry campus. A crowd of colleagues and college students was ready with home made indicators, cheering and blasting the theme music from the “Rocky” movies. Whereas he now not works on the faculty, he nonetheless tries to benefit from the milestones alongside the best way. Journey quantity 10,000 gained’t come till 2042. He hopes he can plan it out sufficient in order that mates like Hawkins will probably be there. Homosexual is meticulous along with his food regimen and doesn’t drink alcohol, so there gained’t be cake or beers on the finish, simply the satisfaction of one other day checking the field. He’ll park his bike, flip off his journey trackers, and plug in his lights to cost, as a result of the following day, at 4:00 a.m., he’ll want them once more.
“Someone put it like this: I’ve received one other 18 years left…that’s simply one other childhood,” he says with a chuckle. “However I don’t suppose I’ll simply cease at 10,000.”
Cowl picture: Using buddies: Matt Hawkins (left) and Homosexual. Photograph by Hawkins