Ken Wade - OCG Ambassador
Adventures were always a part of Ken Wade's itinerary. But it was only in 2005, in Thailand, that he started his cycling journey. After a severe illness, a friend loaned Ken a bike and encouraged him every step of the way to recovery. Since then, cycling entered his life and never left.
“Cycling is a combination of community and solitude, technical detail and feel, personal improvement and fun.”
For Ken, cycling represents his recovery and well-being but is also about being a part of a community.
“Cycling brings people together. Even when you are out on your own, you are living life with other people at a pace everyone can sustain. When I’m going fast, people get excited. When I’m going up a hill and barely moving people cheer me on. When I’m on the ferry boat, people strike up a conversation. Even when the idiots in pickup trucks hassle me as they pass, they prove themselves to be the minority and that makes me smile.”
Cycling isn't Ken’s only adventure. He is a husband and a father of 3. In his words, he is a 62-year-old techy nerd environmentalist, the numbers guy in the back office of an NGO project manager shop going back to school to get a second ME in Environmental Engineering. He couldn’t help but organize all his tips and cycling discoveries into a spreadsheet with fantastic memories and valuable tips.
“Because cycling is such a good thing for me and I enjoy it so much, I just want to do more of it. I love it when I can pass the young guys on expensive bikes and I love it when the young guys on the expensive bikes pass me. Every ride has a new story and it’s fun to share it.”
For Ken one of his biggest challenges is getting older with the lingering effects of injury and illness while managing his time and mind wisely. In this process, cycling is an essential tool that helps him keep a good attitude when things get crazy. His wife and children also play a decisive role in supporting and cheering him up no matter what happens.
Always open to embracing new challenges, Ken has set his current goal to ride the top half of the mitten, Johannesburg - Alpena, Alpena - Mackinaw, Mackinaw- Charlevoix, Charlevoix - Johannesburg, all in a week. We can’t wait to follow him on his journey, helping him get kitted out for it!
“Cycling taught me that in anything worth doing, the really hard part comes when you can see the end. When you’re on a significant ride the race doesn’t even start until you’ve ridden three and a half hours just under as hard as you can. That last half hour is where it all happens. 85% of it is just earning the privilege to do the last bit. It seems a lot of life is like that.”
KEN’S CHOICES
Planning many rides in a week, Ken needs high-quality apparel that endures this challenge while ensuring protection and long-lasting comfort.
