This was a day when I met Thomas first because he was walking his bicycle down Lookout (about a mile) in his bare feet to save his cleats and his socks.  The stem of  his tire tube had broken and he had to hoof the lowest mile of Lookout to get back to his car.  Unfortunately he was on a mission to support his personal trainer, Caleb Henderson, who was trying to “Everest” by riding 22 laps of Lookout in one push. (Everesting requires riding 29,028 feet of vertical gain in one effort to match the difference in elevation between the summit of Mount Everest and sea level.)  Caleb is pictured in the left photo and Thomas’ bicycle is the right photo.  

Thomas is originally from Germany and has been living in the United States for the last thirty years.  He handles the computer software for a company that produces graphics hardware (Nuipia or Nuidia).  His first bicycle was a Peugeot that he hopped aboard when he was 13-14 years old and he raced as a junior while he was in high school.  He admits to riding recreationally here but he has posted a 2:35 on Mount Evans and he was fourth among the 55+ riders last year.  When ruminating about his favorite ride, his mind wanders to the Stelvio in Italy and he cannot wait to return to Europe for more cycling in the mountains. 

Caleb had left his house close to downtown at 3AM and was hoping to manage 22 laps on Lookout ON A SINGLE SPEED BICYCLE WITH NO FREE WHEEL.  Unfortunately the bike still needed a bit of tuning to match the effort, but he did manage 15 laps before he decided to give it another try later in the year.