Chris Froome's true struggle

I could see no better time than now to pay a tribute to a great man and cyclist, Chris Froome. My post is directly connected to the the first couple of chapters of his book "The Climb"

For those of you not familiar with Froome, he was the man who fought for Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 during the Tour De France to win him and his team an overall victory. One year later, his undeniable strength during the previous years tour, earned him the right as team leader for Team Sky. All eyes were on the Kenyan to deliver, and deliver is precisely what he did! Froome rode the perfect race not putting one foot wrong in the grueling three weeks in one of the worlds toughest races and was crowned the Champion on the 100th edition of the tour.

So what makes Froome so great? As I studied the man and his humble Kenyan beginnings I begun to realize that training, never giving up and pushing through pain in cycling would never be his biggest challenge. Let me elaborate. At the age of 6, Chris's mother and father went through a tough divorce leaving Chris and his mom financially crippled in Kenya while his father moved to South Africa.

Chris speaks in detail about his first race in Kenya on his entry level super market bicycle that is left damaged after his mom bumps him off it while driving behind him in her car. He speaks about meeting David Kinjah, the Kenyan cycling legend that taught him everything he knew. He speaks about sitting in the village watching the bicycle mechanics hammer his bike into shape. He speaks about his mom and his relationship and them making promises to never shout at each other again after his dad leaves the house.

He also speaks in detail about the feeling he feels in his stomach as a youngster when people shout at each other and the vivid memories it brings back of his mom and dads bitter relationship. After that he explains the time that his dads employees tear their gate down and storm the house to take most of their belongings away. A story that is touching to me is when he sells fruit at the local village and slips the notes into his moms purse without her knowing. He is always concerned about their financial situation and gets worried for his mother when it is her turn to buy all his friends ice cream that he rushes into the shop and choses all the cheapest ice creams for his friends leaving them no room to decide for themselves.

Starting off in a dusty village on an old bicycle in Kenya seems like an unlikely setting for our Team Sky hero but it makes one realize just how much of his struggle happened before he ever got his first road bike.

Struggle is key, getting through struggle is vital and conquering the mind is crucial in becoming a champion. It has been easy for Froome to conquer mountains all over the world compared to the struggles he had to overcome in Kenya. Failure was not an option!