When I first asked Kevin if I could profile him, he seemed a bit reticent.  After he semi-agreed, we talked for half an hour.  

This was his first ride up Lookout Mountain.  He was headed for Moab, Utah on his bicycle.  He usually rides the Cherry Creek Trail, the Clear Creek Loop or the Highline Canal Trail- which he has ridden from end to end. (He informed us that the 70 mile trail drops only two feet per mile in that entire distance.) This day he decided to come up Lookout Mountain Road rather than riding up the less scenic Mount Vernon Canyon next to I-70.  

His five children all cycle.  One daughter is headed this way soon from St. Louis to ride part of the Colorado Trail with him.  They are going to bike pack the Cathedral Ranch section over by Lake City.

Kevin was born in Washington D.C. and grew up partly in the Boston area.  (His father was a professor of statistics and worked for McDonnell Douglas Corporation.)  Kevin graduated from high school in Hudson, Wisconsin and then attended Quincy University, a small private Catholic liberal arts school in Quincy, Illinois. His parents still live there. Kevin is now a general contractor who tries to engage clients who have homes in the Washington Park area of metropolitan Denver (where he used to yearly run the Turkey Trot).  

When asked about his favorite cycling route, he said that he tries not to do the same route twice, but he has spent eight days cycling 378 miles on the Colorado Trail which he refers to as a “hike a bike” experience in many instances.  Though he says that he spent many years “riding on crap”, he picked up this most recent two wheeled transport on Craig’s List and he now protectively “keeps it in my living room”.

His father is such an avid cyclist that he has ridden in Germany, Austria and Italy.  When Kevin’s Dad contracted cancer, he rode his bike to his chemotherapy treatments.

Damn.  That is one tough cyclist.  Much like his son, I am sure….