Riding on BI helped racer on World Tour

Kiel Reijnen, a former professional road racing cyclist, retired from the highest cycling scene recently for a handful of reasons.

Reijnen, 36, was born and raised on Bainbridge Island.

“After traveling around the world for years, it began to feel like work,” Reijnen said. “I have a five-and-a-half-year-old and one-and-a-half-year-old. The pandemic certainly accelerated a lot of the feelings I had, too. My family couldn’t fly over to be with me.”

In addition, Reijnen’s oldest daughter will be starting kindergarten soon. Therefore, he is looking to spend more time with her. “We have a sailboat that I’m hoping to get in the water in a month and take the kids on it,” Reijnen said.

Before retiring, Reijnen was one of a few Americans on the WorldTour. He said there are around 300 cyclists from around the world competing — about 15 are Americans. While on the WorldTour, his family would travel with him, allowing him to stay close to his wife and kids as much as possible. However, there would be times he could be away for up to three months at a time.

The WorldTour is the highest tier of road cycling in the world. The tour hosts 38 races every year. There are single-day races that last around eight hours and contain vigorous treks. Plus, the WorldTour has multi-day races like the Tour de France. Pro riders earn up to $200,000 a year, depending on their success and sponsors.

He got involved in cycling when he was young after his first passion of rowing fell short of his goals.

“My first interest in taking a sport seriously was when I signed up for the rowing team at Bainbridge High,” Reijnen said. “I was young enough to think I was going to keep growing. About a year into crew, I was trying really hard to keep up with the bigger kids.”

After struggling in rowing, Reijnen decided to take cycling seriously. “Being from the island, we used our bikes to get around all the time. I was riding a lot, and Paul Johnson, the mechanic at Classic Cycle, noticed I was riding a lot since I came in a lot to get my bike fixed.”

Johnson, a former mechanic for the national team, began to push Reijnen to cycle alongside that team so he could prepare for a professional career. “Paul was a big catalyst,” Reijnen said. “He encouraged me to get to Europe as young as I could. I did a short stint with the national team.”

After that, Reijnen enrolled at the University of Washington in 2006. However, UW was not the right fit for his cycling career. So, he transferred to the University of Colorado the next year. In Colorado, Reijnen learned about the domestic scene and used it as a stepping stone toward the WorldTour.

While on the WorldTour, he learned certain cultures really grasp the cycling scene. “A lot of those races were in Belgium and France,” Reijnen said. “They were terrible places to ride but had the best fans. It’s where the heart of the sport is.”

Although he traveled the globe, Reijnen never forgot his roots on BI. “It took self-belief and lots of hard work to become a professional cyclist, but I never would have had a chance at success without a community of support behind me,” Reijnen said. “The island was always there, waiting for me to come back.”

Reijnen said the island helped shape him as the racer he was in Europe. “In the beginning of my career, I was well known for being a sprinter who can get over the climbs,” Reijnen said. “That found me enough success to get me onto teams in Europe. A lot of those races were wet and cold in the spring, similar to here. Plus, riding on the island’s short hills and in miserable weather helped shape me for those races.”

Reijnen received so much praise from BI that he wants to remain here as long as possible. Therefore, he plans to compete in gravel racing, a mix between road and mountain bike racing, in the United States. Instead of leaving his family for months, he can step away for a short stint and race. Then, he can travel back to BI where he hopes the island will share its love with his children, too.

“I want my kids to grow up here and call the island home just like I do,” Reijnen said. “I hope they will be able to go out into the world and take a leap of faith, knowing there is a community of people here to support them no matter what the outcome. This island and the people who call it home mean a great deal to me.”

Kiel Reijnen hopes to stay on the island as long as possible because it means a great deal to him and his family.

At the beginning of his career, Kiel Reijnen was considered a sprinter due to his preparation for climbing short, tough hills similar to the ones on the island.