I had known Vincent Shirima for some years before he was a biker. He was a business contact I lunched with every few months. His family has business in coffee exports, well drilling, airlines, and milling. But his sport was motocross.
A few years ago we didn't see each other for about a year, and next time I saw him he looked really different. I realized he had lost weight. That is an understatement, he had lost a lot of weight. After we talked I learned that he had lost 50 Kg, that is 110lbs! He could still lose some more but , hey, after that much you cant help but respect Vincent for that. It turned out that one of the ways he lost weight was by taking up cycling.
So I started to invite him to come on casual Sunday rides . For the first 30 minutes I was a bit concerned as he would lag behind slightly going up hills. It was looking like we needed a vehicle to come and pick him up. He would ride to the top of a long steep hill and fall over. I started to worry our ride was over.
However when he was on the ground he would say stuff like "Man, that was a great". Three minutes later he would get up and continue on. After two rides I stopped worrying about him and just learned I would have to wait a few times for him at the top of hills. He never complains but looks like he is dying sometimes. His enthusiasm on rides is so refreshing.
Then I took him up Meru, just him and me several times. He was stoked.
In the picture at the top was a ride going south, we ended up doing 80km on dirt roads. He was pretty wasted the last 1/4 but he made it.
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