CT Wike lives on Snell Isle, in St. Petersburg, FL at four feet above sea level. Hurricanes Helene and Milton are the most recent punctuations in a life of overcoming huge obstacles. You see, Wike has lost over 100 pounds over the past few years from his 503-pound peak weight, when his doctor told him he would soon die if he didn’t make some big changes. He now competes in triathlons and will do his first Ironman in 2026 in Salem, OR.

CT’s first podium!

It is hard enough being Wike’s size and physically taking on the kinds of athletic challenges that he does. Imagine also facing the ridicule and judgment that he confronts while doing it. Wike says, “People love to make fun of fat people. The majority of “athletic fail” videos on TikTok are of fat people falling down.”

Wike made his resolution to save his life through exercise on New Year’s Day of 2021 and has been pursuing it with fierce determination ever since. “I knew I needed to make a change, and my doctor agreed that I needed that change to come quickly. I couldn’t bring myself to choose the bariatric surgeries, so I knew the only way out of this hell was to walk through it to the other side,” he said, and he meant it literally. Wike walked a 5K every day in March 2021 and learned to swim as well. In May 2021, he started participating in 5K running events, overcoming the ignominy of finishing behind the Chick-Fil-A mascot.

By late summer, he had brought his weight down to 426 pounds, when he slipped and shattered his foot. That kept him in a boot and away from his athletic goals for 100 days and, discouragingly, saw his weight go back up to 476 pounds.

He recognized that exercise had become part of his life and the only thing to do was to keep pushing forward. Once cleared to walk again, he simultaneously began working on his diet and lifestyle. Walking was too slow for him to get to work, so he got a bike – the only one he could find for someone as big as he: a Zize bike.

Challenged by his neighbor to do so, Wike signed up for the 2023 St. Anthony’s Sprint Triathlon. He started open-water swimming by the St. Pete pier and literally didn’t fit in until he found Spare Tyre triathlon suits from the British brand, Fat Lad at the Back, which he “barely squeezed into.” He also gave up drinking beer, something that months before he could not have imagined being without.

Ignoring people who told him he couldn’t do it on a 58-pound hybrid bike, Wike did that first triathlon on his Zize Yonder. The Zize was still not strong enough for him though. The crank broke off, causing him to fall hard. Broken cranks were only the tip of the iceberg; “the gears broke, the brakes broke,” etc.

Recognizing that “it takes a village” of friends, family, coaches, health-care professionals, and sponsors to support such a huge transformation, Wike even named his village of supporters “Doldora,” a Romanian word meaning “to be filled to the brim.” His sponsors include Herban Flow non-alcoholic beer. “With the support of local businesses, I felt more connected to this city than I ever had been,” he said. “I was connecting with amazing athletes, and I was still able to spread hope to all that ANY and all body types can participate in races and triathlons. My Instagram page was growing to guide new participants who previously felt excluded.”

This year, he fully ran a mile for the first time in over dozen years and is on two different running ambassador teams. Racing has become part of him. Continuing to do sprint triathlons despite frequently breaking his bike, he had dropped to 425 pounds.

Wike bought a Clydesdale triathlon bike from us this summer, and Primal is making him a custom tri suit and bike jersey. “There are options for people like me. They cost a lot but can be found,” he told me, adding that, “Literally, you all made it happen. Without the bike, I can’t do the Ironman. The fact that you guys even make a bike for a big person makes it possible.”

CT Wike, Lennard Zinn and Nick Wigston in front of Zinn Cycles in Colorado

Now 393 pounds, Wike’s first time under 400 pounds in a decade, he completed a 1,000 Pound Challenge (Squat, Bench, and Deadlift), and he made his first podium. When he was 15, he used to make fun of drop-bar bikes while riding downhill bikes for his local bike shop in Memphis. Now he spends five hours per week on one!

Even though titanium bikes usually go unpainted, Wike had us paint his frame in Maroon Glitter with Green Mirage logos, and he found a local artist who did a custom wrap for his fork to match it. Starting with the Gli + Mir of his paint colors and incorporating the name Mira, his best friend and inspiration to his Ironman journey, and that he wants his journey to be a glimmer of hope to others, he named his bike Gliméra.

Gliméra with its new fork wrap along with CT and the artist who did it

Forced to evacuate during hurricanes Helene and Milton, Wike said, “I was so happy The Bikery offered to store their customers’ bikes through the storm. They have a solid concrete building with an interior room and high elevation out of flood zone. I was nervous in my location about losing my roof. So Gliméra was safe.” And so are Wike’s intentions to inspire large-bodied people everywhere.

In the immortal words of Albert Camus, “In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” CT Wike has found his invincible strength, too, and he offers it to the world.

As a frame builder, Lennard Zinn has been designing and building custom bicycles for over 42 years; he founded Zinn Cycles in 1982 and co-founded Clydesdale Bicycles in 2017. His Tech Q&A column on Substack follows his 35-year stint as a technical writer for VeloNews (from 1987 through 2022). He is a former U.S. National Cycling Team member and author of many bicycle books including Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, and The Haywire Heart. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Colorado College.