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When Isaiah Knouff, 26, needs some inspiration, he turns to quotes, one in particular.
"A man is not defeated when he loses. A man is defeated when he quits."
The quote helps him to get back on the bicycle, literally. Knouff is preparing to go to Belgium to train for competitive bicycle riding.
A 1996 Warsaw Community High School and 2001 Indiana University graduate, Knouff has been riding for approximately 4-1/2 years.
While at IU, Knouff was in a fraternity that had a team competing in the Little 500. The fraternity won in 1999 and Knouff said it was definitely inspiring to watch the team train and ultimately receive the reward of winning. So he decided to join the team for the next year.
"Plus," he said, "I felt like I needed more structure in my life."
He trained with his fraternity's Little 500 team, riding with them in 2000 and 2001. The first time he rode with the team, he said, he barely made it up a hill. It was really steep and he was out of shape. But he kept at it, he didn't quit.
Then last year about this time, he said, he began taking it more seriously. He also was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Business career or riding? He thought he could succeed in either one.
He applied to the business school at Butler University and took the Graduate Management Admission Test. He didn't do as well as he had hoped on the GMAT.
He also thought about training in cycling out in California.
A friend from IU told him about training in Belgium. "I think in order to make it to the top level, you have to move to Europe to train," he said. "Training over in Europe, I'm going to be able to focus on it full time."
While over there, Knouff said, he will be living with about 20 guys who are dedicated to riding. If a person doesn't surround themselves with people who have similar goals, a person easily can be distracted. Another reason for him to go to Europe, he said, is to leave everything here behind and focus on cycling.
"You just don't know where some of these guys can go."
Knouff leaves March 8 and is scheduled to be there until the end of June. The cycling school director over there e-mailed Knouff's coach Ben Sharpe and asked if Knouff should stay until the end of the season, in October. But Knouff said ideally, he wants to come back to the states to compete in some races in August.
To get into the cycling school in Belgium, Knouff said, he had to fill out two seven-page forms. He didn't get a reply until October.
The cycling school team doctor in Belgium is the same doctor for the U.S. Postal Service team.
What does Knouff hope to accomplish?
"Ideally," he said, "I would love to race in Europe for the next couple of years."
He would like to be chosen for a professional cycling team, too, but that is hard to do. But he doesn't plan to quit.
Meanwhile, while working on his cycling, he also will study for the GMAT again and try to get his master's degree in business.
"You have to stay extremely focused with what you're doing," Knouff said. It's difficult to succeed in Europe and sometimes a person "will have their teeth kicked in." But if you stay focused, you will achieve your goals.
"I like the focus that (cycling) brings to me more than anything," Knouff said. "I like the fact that you have to continually train to be better."
