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. Sometimes it’s a distinct time: afterward 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 driving outfit and makes his option to the lavatory. He brushes his enamel, 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 motorcycle. He needed to borrow one from the mountain bike program at Woodberry Forest, the boarding college the place he taught, coached, and lived for greater than 20 years. As we speak, he lives in Ruckersville and owns eight totally different bikes. He chooses the day’s rig, units his myriad lights, activates his a number of experience 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 every single day for 3,555 consecutive days. Whether or not there be rain, snow, or oppressive warmth, he at all times rides outdoors, by no means on a coach. He has stored 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 high of working full time in authorities contracting and elevating two kids.
For Homosexual, retaining the streak is about greater than health. He says it’s about dedication and being the most effective model of himself. He enjoys driving 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 almost empty Albemarle County roads, he has time to replicate. He thinks about the day prior to this and the one which lies forward. Typically, he doesn’t assume in any respect, coming again into his environment to comprehend that he has ticked off 15 or 20 miles in a blissful movement state.
Someplace alongside the way in which on every experience, he takes a selfie to submit on his @ridestreak Instagram account. A number of folks acknowledge him. One nameless driver yells phrases of encouragement to him each morning, and when he sees the biking staff from the close by Miller Faculty out for a morning exercise, a number of 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 velocity. Endurance, sure, however not velocity. As such, his tempo is predictable: the usual 30-mile experience clocks proper at two hours. He pulls again into his shed at 6:00 a.m., loads of time to bathe, costume, 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 completed one thing,” says Homosexual. “It doesn’t matter what occurs that day, I bought that finished, and [my] physique simply feels higher.”
NOBODY SAW THIS COMING,
not even Homosexual himself. He estimates he had ridden a motorcycle 10 occasions in his life earlier than the streak started in 2014. Whereas a pupil at Woodberry within the early 90s, Homosexual starred in soccer, wrestling, and lacrosse. He was not significantly large or athletic, however he leveraged an unusual degree of resolve and psychological fortitude to grow to be a staff 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 college calls for lengthy hours, and his bodily well being suffered. He gained weight. His power was low. Seeking a change, he hopped on one of many college’s mountain bikes.
Woodberry’s entrance entrance highway is lengthy and comparatively steep, and when Homosexual first began driving, he couldn’t even pedal all the way in which up. Nonetheless, he had discovered one thing that he cherished. He dedicated on the spot: 100 days in a row, 30 outside miles every day. When he bought there, he bumped the end line out to 1,000 days. Then 10,000.
“He won’t ever take the simple highway,” says Matt Hawkins, Homosexual’s classmate at Woodberry and greatest buddy. “He simply will discover extra power or room in his life.”
Hawkins is an avid bicycle owner who, after being hit whereas out for a experience 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 further socks…however he definitely makes me really feel like a professional.”
On the day of his 2,000th experience in early 2020, Homosexual breezed up the entrance hill that had as soon as taunted him and wound his approach into the center of the Woodberry campus. A crowd of colleagues and college students was ready with do-it-yourself indicators, cheering and blasting the theme music from the “Rocky” movies. Whereas he not works on the college, he nonetheless tries to benefit from the milestones alongside the way in which. Journey quantity 10,000 received’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 weight-reduction plan and doesn’t drink alcohol, so there received’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 experience trackers, and plug in his lights to cost, as a result of the subsequent day, at 4:00 a.m., he’ll want them once more.
“Anyone put it like this: I’ve bought one other 18 years left…that’s simply one other childhood,” he says with a chuckle. “However I don’t assume I’ll simply cease at 10,000.”
Cowl picture: Using buddies: Matt Hawkins (left) and Homosexual. Photograph by Hawkins
