Despite the ability to ride a bike without training wheels at two years old, Kaleb Koch, a senior at South, hadn’t found his passion for cycling until freshman year when he was signed up by his father, Richard, for a biking team.

Now, following nothing but hard work and preparation, Kaleb is training for the 2016-2020 Olympics.

When Kaleb was younger, he lived in southern California and had a hobby of riding his motorcycle. He moved to Glenview in the fifth grade, and with the lack of opportunities to ride his motorcycle, Kaleb began to play other sports such as football and wrestling in the winter.

Kaleb began cycling with his father and eventually started to cycle competitively.

“I had absolutely nothing going on in the spring time so I walked into a bike shop and by the time I exited the bike shop somehow I signed up,” Kaleb said.

Even with his success at such an early age, Kaleb doesn’t take any time to just be proud of himself and lose focus. In fact, Kaleb’s former track coach—Kurt Hasenstein—also spoke very highly of the cyclist’s work ethic.

“I didn’t know how good he was in cycling, but I realized what a hard worker he was,” Hasenstien said. “…He would be really particular about working on starts and techniques and I could tell he was very focused and very serious about what he did.”

With cycling an unusual sport of choice for a high schooler, Kaleb has much required of him in order to maintain his abilities. In order to qualify for the world cup events which leads to the Olympics, Kaleb must drop seven tenths of a second for his 200 meter dash.

Prior to a big competition, Kaleb take the steps necessary to be at his peak.

“I try to stay off my feet,” Kaleb said. “If the race is in the afternoon I pretty much sleep through the entire day or take multiple Epsom salt baths. Three hours before I’ll eat a light meal.

According to Kaleb, his parents are his biggest supporters. He says his mother, Meg, is very financially supportive and his father is heavily involved in his cycling career.

“My dad is the guy who got me signed up […] My dad has gone to like every race, he’s always there taking video, critiquing me on tactics, and before I had a coach it was pretty much my dad who was coaching me,” Kaleb said.

Richard has become less involved as he feels Kaleb is old enough to make his own decisions. In one of those decisions, Kaleb decided to graduate early in order to fly out to Los Angeles to train for the 2016 Olympics.

“It is more important to develop yourself for your long term future […] and that’s where Kaleb is at,” Richard said. “These are his choices. I’m not going to say ‘come on son go to the Olympics; that would be so great.’ That’s a huge sacrifice and you’re giving up your life for four years,”

Though there are certain dangers involved in cycling, Richard trusts his son to be safe in competition.

“You’re gambling with your life […] but it’s his choices at this point” Richard said.