(Interviewed at Wise Son’s on 24th Street, San Francisco, on January 13, 2026)

** Ian Tuttle: ** How do you... So I hate to use the term older, but compared to a 20 year old, how do you experience your changes in your body and your ability and what is it like aging as a competitive athlete?

**John Gill:** Yeah, that is the toughest, most frustrating thing for me. Accepting that it is physically impossible for me to be the athlete I was 10 to 15 years ago. For me it has meant putting more focus and effort on recovery, and making that it’s own sort of process. Recovery is no longer lay around, eat pizza, and drink beer. It’s more ice baths, breath work, yoga, intentional low power recovery rides, etc. The issue is when I hop on my bike I am 18 in my mind, but 54 in my body.

I was actually thinking about this on my way here. The difference between now and when I was a kid. There is little difference in my mind and that is one of the greatest things about cycling. Age is not as relevant. My childhood was late 70s early 80s San Diego. Like many Gen X’ers my parents were uninvolved, unaware, and really removed from what the standards are for parenting now. It wasn’t always great, but man were we free. On weekends and all summer, me and the gang of neighborhood kids would set off on our bmx bikes in the morning with the only mandate of be home for dinner. We were often 10, 15 miles from home. Rides to the beach, rides through the canyons, and my favorite - rides to the bmx track in Kearny Mesa. I started racing there on the weekends. My parents were not into it at all. So I would have to ride 10 miles there, race, and ride 10 miles home. Our bikes were a remarkable pre-teen freedom and this incredible growth vehicle where we learned about life and the world not necessarily from our parents, but instead from behind the handlebars of our bike. Anyway, we rode all the time and were never worn out. I think I was like that well into my 20s and my joints were still made out of rubber. Now I sleep in a weird position and I am sore for 3 days. It is all just acceptance though.

How much do you ride in an average week? And I know this can vary greatly, but let's say like across a year, what do you think your average week is?

Yeah, it really depends on what I am doing for races. In 2024, I was preparing for Race Across America so that year I was averaging about 250 miles per week. In 2025, I was more focused on triathlon so I was riding more like 125 miles per week. This year, I’m planning on doing the Hoodoo 500. So my mileage will be back into the 250 miles per week range, but I might also try Ironman California so may need to adjust.

What kind of time does that look like?

It is a huge time commitment. I could not commit this much time if my kids were not grown and flown. A light week of training is probably 14 hours and heavy week is as much as 24 hours. It gets really tough to get recovery time in there and you know normal life, like work. So mornings and nights are training during the week and longer efforts on the weekends. I am very lucky to have a supportive wife because there is sacrifice. Last year when I was more focused on triathlon I would ride 4 days per week, run 3 days and swim 3 days. So obviously a lot of doubling up, not to mention finding time in there to recover while also surfing a couple days per week.

Yeah, would you ever train all 3 in one day?

Yeah, probably once a month, I would do a mock Olympic distance triathlon. Those are good mental exercises just so the brain knows what to expect. The transitions in triathlon are strange because your blood is flowing to specific muscles and then all of a sudden your body has to switch that off and pump blood to totally different muscles. It’s a crazy mental exercise, especially when you transition from the bike to the run. For me there is an internal dialogue where my body is like what the f are you doing and my brain is chanting just make it through these first two miles and settle down.

That's crazy. I got to find my questions here. Um, when did you first start riding road bikes?

So early 80s Southern California was all about BMX. A big part of that was riding through the canyons. Finding hills to bomb down and jumps to catch air. I was probably one of the more fearless kids on the block. I loved going faster than anybody else. We were all nuts. One year this neighborhood kid who was way older than us, maybe 18, dragged an old wooden half pipe down into the canyon. He cut the top section off and created a massive ramp to jump his motorcycle We discovered one rainy winter day that the stream he was jumping flooded into a deep river. My fearless 12 year old brain took control and found myself being the first to bomb down the canyon wall, hit the ramp and ditch mid air into the river. From then on it was our go to when it was raining. God were we stupid. I found my love for speed doing that as well as bike maintenance. After jumping our finely tuned bikes into the river we would take them all apart and dry them out and re-grease everything. I loved and love a clean fast bike.

Summer of 1984, we moved to Texas. Probably one of the hardest parts of my life. One of the things that made it rough was no kids were riding BMX. There were no tracks. No one was riding bikes much at all. I remember the first day of school, I rode the bus for the first and last time in my life. The next day I rode my bike, but was so scared my sweet GT was going to be stolen. That night I was gifted my stepdad’s old Raleigh. It was a 1970s 15 speed 40 pound steel tank of a road bike. I cleaned it up and the next day found a whole new experience that I had never considered. Gears. I could fly on this thing like I never could on GT.

So you got into it earlier.

Yeah, I think I was in 8th grade. I was the only kid riding an old road bike to school. Back then I thought of it as a piece of crap, but it's probably like some highly sought after vintage bike today.

When did you get serious about road biking?

Damn, that's a good question. I was thinking something similar to that on my way here. More in terms of when did cycling become this thing that I do. I have literally always had a bike of some sort. I started with tricycles and big wheels shortly after learning how to walk. I think when I was young the bike was not this separate entity from me. It was a part of me just like my arms and legs are parts of me. I think maybe when I started driving a car was really when I considered my bike was a type vehicle to just have fun with.

I don’t know exactly how to frame serious. In my 20s I got into mountain biking which was such a connection to my childhood, bombing down hills. I never really got super serious like racing, but had lots of fun. Then in my 30s life happened. You know we had children and that was all the focus. I rode a lot with my kids, but we also surfed a lot, went to team sports a lot. Then one day the kids were high school students who started to have their own lives going on, which is a sad stage in parenthood but certainly frees up some personal time. I focused on surfing a lot through my 40s. I was addicted to triple overhead Ocean Beach winter swells for a while. 35 mph on a surfboard is as close to flying as it gets. My son started getting into mountain biking when he was in 8th grade and so he and I would ride a couple times a week. Then during Covid we all started riding a lot more.

Unfortunately someone broke into our garage and stole all our bikes. I went about a year without a bike and was shocked about how much I missed it. I think for whatever reason I thought when I get a new bike it will be a nice road bike. They are so expensive though so I was on the fence for a long time. Call it cosmic timing, an old friend from high school asked me to crew for him on a cycling ride called the Longhorn 500. I did that and I think I fell in love with both road biking and endurance riding at the same time. I literally got home from that and bought a bike the next day and rode up Hawk hill the day after that. I think that is the day I got serious.

That’s only 4 years ago.

Yeah, so I got home from the Longhorn 500 and bought a Trek Domane. I started riding long rides right out the gate. I think surfing so much had really built my endurance engine, and I found riding to be a great way to process everything that was happening to me in life at that time.

So you were 51 at that time?

Yeah, and it quickly got almost obsessive. So if I backup in my story to 2018. I was 47, I got diagnosed with bladder cancer. I had surgery to remove 4 grape-sized tumors that thankfully had not breached my bladder walls. I was lucky. It wasn't even considered necessarily stage one, which was awesome, but I had to do chemo infusions via catheter monthly for almost 2 years. No lie, it was a horrible time physically and mentally. Surviving cancer is awesome, but weirdly comes with guilt, like why did I survive when others do not and worse is the anxiety of the cancer’s return. That is something that takes time to really accept and deal with.

Cycling really saved me in that regard. During Covid, no one was working very hard. I would go on 5 hour bike rides and no one even noticed. So I was riding everyday. For a solid year I was riding 5 to 6 days a week just a garmin, no power meter, no Strava, no posts about my ride, just me, my thoughts, my road. It connected me to my 12 year old BMX self again. I think it was fundamental to me coming back from cancer.

Yeah, it sounds like you’re... I mean, it's a fine line between avoiding something and and like coping and dealing with something and it sounds like you're maybe doing both of those things. I don't know.

Yeah, so that's a really interesting point. I think about that all the time… you know sometimes there is a fine line between obsessively riding to avoid dealing with life versus riding to help me deal with life. Which one is it? I think where I have landed is it’s probably both and that is probably ok. The fact is, I'm pretty happy these days. When I ride my bike, I feel awesome. When I feel awesome, I am a better person all around. So maybe I am a bit obsessed, but that’s cool.

So I asked, when did you start riding seriously? What is riding seriously?

I guess if we define serious as racing, or maybe measuring all your data points somewhat obsessively in an attempt to accomplish a goal like a race or ride, that started with my high school buddy Bill who I crewed for in the Longhorn. We were good friends growing up. Both very athletic. We played basketball throughout high school. He went on to play in college and is a college basketball coach now. He came out for a visit in 2023. We rode non stop for a week. All the usual epic rides. Afterwards he mentioned we should put together a two man team and do Race Across America. I’m sure I said no that’s insane, but the more I rode the more I thought about it, I started thinking it was possible. I started doing California Triple Crown races/rides. 200 miles with generally around 15,000 feet of climbing. I really enjoyed them. They are incredible tests of endurance. Have you done any of those?

Yeah, I did a triple crown in 2004.

Oh, long time ago. So those rides are awesome because there's support and aid stations. You don't have to think about anything. You just follow the arrows and push through the pain and exhaustion.

Yeah, you just ride 35 miles to the next aid station and get filled up on water and food. So it's a lot easier, right?

Yeah, exactly, I did the Carmel Valley double first, started King City The Central Valley over the coastal range to Carmel by the sea, then down to Big Sur, and back. I was hooked? I mean it is a brutal ride. 16 or 17,000 feet of climbing over 200 miles, but wow. I think there was this defining moment of getting over adversity in that race that I carry with me always. Coming back after Big Sur there was this 25 to 30 mph headwind. I was in my lowest climbing gear on a -5% grade going about 5 mph. I was miserable, but determined.

So why do you, so I think anybody who's ridden a fair bit has had these experiences. Why?

I like to think that that's part of it and part of what you sign up for. It is how cycling mimics life. You never know what your in for, sometimes you just have to get it done and sometimes it’s easy and enjoyable.

But why? And why come back to it?

No, no, no. I know. There are times I question what the hell am I doing right now? And certainly when Bill and I did Race Across America, there were moments where I was just like, there's just no possible way I can keep going. Like, what are we doing? Why are we even doing this? And what is my problem? Is it a sickness? Or a gene? I don’t actually know the answer to any of that, but what I do know is cycling is always this crazy adventure. Even when you ride the same route over and over, it is always different. Also I have really grown to love pushing through those walls of I cannot possibly ride another mile to go another 40 and then bust through that wall and so on. I think people who don’t understand think this is crazy talk.

Any normal person would think it’s crazy, but yeah, I can relate to all of that. Have you ever felt like road biking has negatively impacted your life?

Yeah, in some ways it has. The obvious are the wrecks. Breaking bones. Riding in an ambulance asking the EMT to call my wife. Road rash. That all has impact. But most of the impact is the time I am away from home. Some weekend days I’ll ride 8-10 hours, get home and all I want to do is crash on the couch. It’s not always fair to my wife and our relationship. I am sure I haven’t always been the most available friend to my non cycling friends. Maybe I don’t even have any non cycling friends anymore.

Like, what you're describing, I mean, it sounds like a bender. Like some people do that on a Friday night and Saturday morning and you just happen to do it Saturday day.

Yeah, right. A healthy bender. I think at some level having had cancer and having a healthy way to deal with and maybe prevent a recurrence makes a lot of this ok with my wife. She is super supportive most of the time, but there are certainly moments where she gets worn out. I remember her driving me home from the hospital in Larkspur when she asked when is it going to be enough? I still don’t even know how to answer that.

So you got into cycling big time, only about 5 years ago. When do you think you had cancer and treatment for that? But what was, I mean, this is a big time commitment. What was taking up that time before? Is this replacing something or is it augmenting something or?

Yeah, mostly family. Once my kids started going off to college, time started to become much more available. Also I used to surf a lot more than I do now. I’m still surfing once or twice a week, but I used to surf like 5 or 6 times a week. Ocean Beach is amazing. I have surfed all over the world and I still find Ocean Beach to be my favorite place. It is really hard on your body though so in some ways I am starting to age out. I rarely surf anything over 6 feet now where my limit used to be 15ish. Also the crowds can be a real bummer sometimes. I first surfed the beach in 1994 on a visit here, and then regularly after we moved here in 2000. Back then I would try to find people to surf near. Now on smaller days there will be 100s of people out.

There is etiquette to surfing that a lot of people don't understand. Just like riding. There's etiquette on how you pass somebody, how you ride somebody's wheel. A lot of people ignore the etiquette and it just makes for really bad vibes that I am just too old for. So when it is really crowded I would rather just ride my bike.

It seems like, I mean, because I would bike here in the 90s and there was a cycling scene, but it was small… now there's so many more people.

Yeah, I think there are some similarities to cycling and surfing in that regard. I think at some level these were kind of considered counter culture sports. Possibly in some way technology has made everything more accessible. Also I think platforms that maybe for better or for worse socially connect us much more have romanticized counter culture type sports. Also so many people work from home these days which frees up some week day time. I’m always so curious as to will it all stick or is it just some sort of phase people are going through.

Yeah, so working from home too, for sure. Do you have any goals for yourself right now regarding road biking?

Yeah, so my everyday goal is to get better at climbing. I think my strengths are descending and sprints. But my absolute weakness is climbing. I know it's because I'm a bigger guy, so mostly a power to weight ratio problem. I think as far as races go, I'm going to do the Hoodoo 500 this year, which is in August. It looks so awesome. It rolls through Southern Utah, Bryce, Zion, Coral Reef.

I'm going to do it as a 3 day stage race. Start at 7 AM every day. So the 1st day is like 205 miles. Next day, 170 and then the last day is 150. Every day is loads of climbing. Over 40,000 total feet of climbing all at high elevation. Never under 5,000 feet and as high as 11,000. I feel like I could ride that distance in 3 days now pretty easily, but I will really have to train to be in better climbing shape for this race.

That's a good goal. What else do we have here? What are some things that you absolutely love about cycling?

Tapping into that sense of freedom from everything is one thing I really love. For me, it is connecting to that freedom I felt as a kid of the 70s and 80s were parents were generally disengaged and we were free to roam. In a lot of ways that is a meditative experience. Certainly long distance rides become super meditative for me. It can be therapeutic. Riding really helped me deal with my mom dying a couple years ago.

There is also this aesthetic to cycling that is pretty cool. Bikes are just so cool to look at. I enjoy a lot of little things like that. And I love a clean fast bike. One of my favorite things is the first 100 miles on a freshly waxed chain. A totally silent operation. I find that to be so awesome.

I like that. If you had zero constraints on your time, how many hours a week would you ride?

Oh, man, I would probably have to force myself not to ride. I would ride like 3 or 4 long days 8-10 hours and maybe 2 or 3 shorter days, and get some runs and some surfing in there too.

So we were talking 40, 50 hours a week.

Yeah. So fantastic. That sounds amazing. That sounds like a dream.

What is something you wish a non-cyclist could experience about cycling?

Yeah. That's a great question. I mean I talked a lot about freedom, but another aspect of freedom I think everyone should find a way to experience is the freedom from their bubble. Especially these days. Everything is engineered to get your attention. I think it easy to get caught up in that and lose your self and your time to it. It is easy to feel you need to be this thing everything is telling you to be. Unplugging and connecting with the natural environment is the best way to combat this. Cycling, running, surfing, swimming are all great ways to break out of these loops we fall for. Personally, I find hiking to also be a great antidote. Our family spent the Christmas holidays hiking around Japan. It is such a cool way to experience it all. I think cycling is similar, but in a way better because you are covering more miles and seeing much more. I think people are so programmed to get from point a to point b that they miss some of the best parts in between. Like if your zooming by in a car you won’t have interaction with wild animals and crazy looking plants. I think cycling can sometimes put you in a serious state of flow and deeper consciousness. I mean look at Albert Hoffman, the guy to first dose LSD. When the LSD first started kicking in what was the first thing he felt compelled to do? Ride his bike.

I like that. Almost done. Have you ever taken a total break from cycling? And if so, why?

Just sort of casual cycling, I guess, took a year-long break, but since getting serious about cycling I haven't taken more than 2 weeks and that was because of family vacations.

Or when you broke your ribs.

Oh, yeah, broke my ribs. But even then I was on the trainer like 6 days later, I think. That was actually a really hard time. Not being able to cycle when I really needed to because I was still training for Race Across America. I think most of us don’t like our trainers. They are no fun. Good work outs but boring. When I crashed and broke my ribs I spent 3 solid months on my wahoo kicker bike. 2 to 5 hour sessions, 6 days per week, almost drove me insane.

And then last question. Uh, what 3 words do you choose to describe yourself as a cyclist?

Um, I'd describe myself as sort of a journeyman right now, I guess. I don't know… Adventurer, Naturalist, Addict.

Awesome. Thank you, John.