I flew to Boulder in the fall of 2011 with two bikes, a backpack, and a duffle bag, seeking the hallowed training grounds and altitude that generations of pro cyclists have utilized. I didn’t know a single person when I arrived. But as a nomadic bike racer, this sort of adventure was normal. I had lived in or spent time training in Tucson, Solvang, Big Bear, Park City, all throughout the Pacific Northwest, Belgium, and dozens of cities that the North American pro circuit travelled through. My sole focus was training, racing, and earning a coveted spot on a pro team. The latter had been my singular goal since I began bike racing in 2006.
I accomplished that goal and signed with a Swedish team for the 2014 season. But like many amateur and tier three pro teams, it ended up being more talk than substance, and the team folded mid-season. I had just come off of my best year of racing in 2013, and to have my dream pulled out from under me was a huge blow, as well as a reality check that nothing is certain in bike racing, or life, and maybe the goal of turning pro wasn’t even that good of a goal to begin with.
I floundered for the rest of the 2014 season after returning to the U.S., plagued with sickness and low spirits. That fall, Adelaide, who was my girlfriend at the time, was struck by a driver while training and spent the next five days in a coma. Her face required 700 stitches and every bone on the left side of it was shattered when she went through the driver’s side window.
Riding has never been the same for me, and the stress from the event sent my then undiagnosed autoimmune disorder into overdrive. I became a shadow of my former self throughout the early 2015 bike racing season, and wondered if I would ever be competent on two wheels again.
Eventually, things got so bad in life and racing that I decided I might as well give up and become a triathlete.
I ended up winning the overall amateur division at Ironman 70.3 St. George in May of 2015 and took my pro license immediately. I did a few more bike races with my team that year while also racing in the pro Ironman field, finding out the hard way—in the swim—that triathlon was not going to be a cake walk.
At the end of that first year of triathlon I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroid disorder. My TSH was greater than 150. The extremely high Thyroid Stimulating Hormone number showed that I had been struggling with Hashimoto’s for a long time. This helped explain my history of frequent ups and downs in fitness, my tendency to spend three months of the years sick, and the brain fog and sleep problems that I’d been dealing with.
I was prescribed hypothyroid medication, which took about half a year to get me back to baseline—a baseline that I had probably not known since I was a teenager. While part of me wishes that I had picked up bike racing again after being diagnosed and properly medicated—to see what I was capable of when healthy—I don’t regret my decision to stick with triathlon, given the experiences and friendships that came with the sport.
So after ten years as a bike racer, I fully switched to triathlon in 2016. In the years that followed, I had the pleasure of standing on the podium half a dozen times, but more importantly I was free from the headache, and heartache, of dealing with bike racing team dynamics, meaning I was free to train, race, and travel the country and world as I saw fit, spending hundreds of hours suffering alongside the best training partners and friends anyone could ever ask for—and sometimes also racing and training alongside my wife, Adelaide, who also earned her pro license a few years after her 2014 crash.
Over the course of sixteen years as a professional athlete, I survived multiple broken bones—including a broken neck—frostbite while going for the Fastest Known Time for the Longs Peak Winter Duathlon, high speed crashes and pileups, too many altercations with road raged drivers to count, overuse injuries, overtraining, burnout, and the day in and day out drudgery of punishing my body and mind well past their breaking points. A youth well spent.
I retired from professional sports (for the time being) at the end of 2024 to focus on writing. I’ve written four novels to date. This blog, while largely abandoned years ago, will live on as a place to share some of my short stories.
I split my time between Boulder and Tucson with my wife, Adelaide, and my dog, Maybellene. And when I’m not writing, I’m likely out on a bike ride or run.
KENNETT PETERSON 
Good and exciting writing, Kennett. I’m following you as you write and ride.
Grandma
I’m following you with great interest, Kennett!
Kennett:
Your skills are awesome, your persistence is beyond compare and your dreams are clearer than the NorthPole Star.
It’s been great to watch you visualize your dreams and doing something about it.
I am currently reading ‘What The Bleep Do We know;’ it’s abook that might make good sense to you at this stage.
Europe is the place I sharpened my teeth on when young, and all the things you learn there will fit into the puzzle as you continue riding and writing.
Each race you bike this summer will, perhaps, leave the proverbial ‘foreign object’ that, proberly nurtured will, one day be ‘the pearl in your oyser.’
Your poem, by the way is great.
Thanks for listening, young man.
:)Kurt
P.S. My youngest son, Ian, just visited Barcelona this summer and he siad it was a neat city for young people.
Thanks Kurt!
Hi, I see you are looking for temporary housing in April. Are you offering anything for rent? I have room attached to garage with its own bath and separate entrance. Bike bath right in front of house. Cable TV, full size bed, a inflatable air mattress. Shed to look up bikes. If interested you can email me. K.overcash@att.net
I like your poem, Kennett. Hoping to hear more from and about you.
You should update this!
I look up Kennettron5000 every day and am disappointed when there is nothing from you. I wonder if your Grandma Paula and I, are the only two people who read your every blog. I know your Dad doesn’t and I am not sure about your Mom. I have a hunch brother Galen does if he has time during his college studies and work. I do wonder if you think more about food then bicycle riding. I really enjoyed reading about your team mates. Love and good racing this season. Grandma Carol
I’ll get another one out shortly. I haven’t had a lot of ideas to write on except about training, and I assume most people don’t want to hear about that. Plus I spent so long on that last one trying to get the photos in there and the right size, and then my computer crashed and didn’t save it so I had to do a large part of it over so I got fed up with wordpress for a few days.
Praying for you now.
Hi Kennett. What a fantastic blog! This is such a refreshingly different perspective than most self-serving tri blogs. Your writing is witty and entertaining! You and Adelaide seem like such humble and fun people! I wish you both the best and hope her recovery is going well!
Hi Kennett – great blog!
Do you create content for other cycling based blogs?
Drop me an email :)
I’ve seen you post a few times on Facebook, and I for whatever reason have never made the click to check things out on your blog. I see your writing as solid and inspirational! I look forward to diving into more of your pieces. Your style reminds me a bit of Jon Krakauer. Keep it up guy!
Thanks for the compliment Alice. Krakauer is one of my favorites!
I am an amateur cyclists but hoping to compete in more endurance challenges and cyclocross races next year. I was just diagnosed with Hashimoto’s too. Which totally explains all the ups and downs I’ve experienced in training. I found your blog and I am very interested to see how a cyclists copes with this autoimmune disease. I’m going to try the autoimmune protocol diet and see if that helps.
Hi Rachel, sorry for the long delay in response. Just saw your comment now. I would experiment with diet and other things, but the medication is the most important part of the puzzle. So stay in close communication with your doctor over this next year and go in for tests frequently.
Thanks. I have been on medication for a few months now. My numbers are great and it is making a HUGE difference. I am able to recover so much better and fully now. My energy is up! I will have periodic retesting with my endocrinologist. I am currently training for the Dirty Kanza and hoping for a good year of cycling.
Awesome I’m happy to hear that! And good luck at Kanaza.
the Thursday Nighter misses you
And I it.