That
was nearly 35 years ago. Today, the father-son combination is still going
strong, albeit on bicycles and on an occasional basis. The next such
opportunity comes later this month, when Stephen and his father, Bill, participate
in The Bicycle Tour of Colorado.
Along
the way, the men will be fueled partly by XS Summit Blast. Stephen plans to
take photos of the Summit can with the Rocky Mountain scenery serving as a
breath-taking backdrop.
The
weeklong 462-mile trip includes one rest day in Steamboat Springs and actually
includes a jaunt into Wyoming. It begins on June 17th and will be a
chance for the men to renew a lifetime of connection through athletic action.
They
will scale summits of 10,000 to 11,000 feet. Cumulatively, more than 30,000
feet of climbing is in store for them. Those figures are not especially
daunting for Stephen. His home in south-central Utah is 7,000 feet above sea
level, so a typical riding day sees him getting up to 10,000 feet above sea
level (that’s roughly two miles high).
After
logging his first early-morning miles as a youngster in Texas, Stephen moved
with his family to Chicago, where he eventually attended college with XS Energy
co-founder David Vanderveen. His father was a professor at Moody Bible
Institute and continued his athletic outlets. Now 70, Bill is on the national
triathlon team for his age group.
In
1997, Stephen moved to Torrey, Utah. For 10 years, he was a field director for
a wilderness program that worked with troubled youth. Over the past three
years, he has been self-employed as a day trader. He and his wife, Monica, have
two sons, 3 ½-year-old Judah and 3-month-old Isaac.
After
years of distance running took their toll on his knees, Stephen became an
ardent rock climber when he moved out west. He later shifted to mountain biking
and then, more recently, to road bicycling, which is easier on the body.
“I’m
42 now and toning things down a little bit,” says Stephen.
It’s
all relative, of course, when you consider he will soon be covering nearly 500
miles in a week and navigating steep inclines that are too grueling for most
people half his age. XS Nation is thrilled that Stephen will be taking XS
Summit with him—and, with every pedal push, embodying the drink’s spirit of
adventure and achievement.
For
more information about the course that the Martys will be traversing, visit http://www.bicycletourcolorado.com/