Coached by David Ertl.
Two years ago, 64 year
old John Melville was overweight and somewhat out of shape. He joined the
Des Moines Cycle Club's program called Pedal Off The Pounds, based on the book
I wrote by the same title. However, John participated virtually as he
lives in Maryland. Despite this, he was successful in getting back on the
bike and losing significant weight. He has lost a total of 50 pounds
since then, 1/4 of his body weight.
Last year, as he began a coaching program and ramped up his training he
discovered his knees weren't up to the task, so over this past winter he had
both knees replaced. Coming off of six months of downtime last year, his
goals this year were simply to ride a century this year, complete RAGBRAI - the
7-day, 481 mile tour across Iowa and hopefully get back to his past fitness
level. In July he not only completed RAGBRAI but also knocked out a
century on one of the days. Not satisfied with having accomplished those
goals, he then proceeded to sign up for a time trial for the first time, a
tough 50K hilly time trial called That Dam Time Trial in Maryland. During
this time trial he set a new personal best FTP and discovered he enjoyed
competing. He competed in a second time trial a week later and set
another best FTP!
John has been an inspiration to a lot of people who have met him. He has
shown what someone is capable of when they put their mind to it and put in the
effort. I can't wait to see what he will tackle and accomplish next.
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