To my Father: Happy Father’s Day and thank you for riding with me

The Cycliq Instagram community is growing at a rate of knots and it is quite something being able to share all the experiences with people across the world who use our bike lights. We see some scary things like close passes and epic fails, but we also see some pretty special things – from little kids enjoying the bike life to fantastic wins. 

Recently we came across this Fly12 video of Kevin Olivares tackling this massive hill with his father, and encouraging him all the way. When I asked for the story behind it, he told me how cycling changed both of their lives dramatically.

Riding a bicycle saved my father’s life and my life. We started riding in 2011 and never looked back.  

We had some old mountain bikes and went on vacation to June Lake in California. The road that goes around the entire lake is about 24 miles and we decided to ride it. We thought it would take us around 3-4 hours to finish this ride, well, we were so wrong! It took us 8-9 hours to complete the entire loop. Tons of people on road bikes passed us too.

We took a picture near the June Lake sign and that’s when we saw how heavy we both were. At the time, I think I was pushing 245lbs and my father wasn’t too far below that. When we got back form vacation, we went out and bought ourselves some decent road bikes; a Cannondale Caad8 for myself and a Specialized Tarmac for the pops. We made a vow to ride at least 2-4 times a week. Just like anyone we started off slow, doing 5-10 miles per ride. Several months went by and we decided to weigh ourselves and we were astonished! My pops went down from 245lbs to 205lbs and I went from 245lbs to roughly 195lbs.

Neither of us ever want to be at that 240+ mark again. We continue to ride 2-3 times a week, pushing each other and helping each other along the way- if it’s getting up and over crazy hills or pulling each other on long rides or even blocking the wind for each other when it gets tough! My pops is a really amazing guy and has taught me so much. I am glad that we have cycling to bring us together. Without his support, I would probably be in a horrible place in life but he has helped me become the man I am today. Happy Father’s Day, pops! 

Has your father been involved in getting you out and about on a bike too? Tell us about it- better yet- show us how on Instagram, tag us in the pic and tell us your story!