Techie • Friend • Cyclist
For my interview with Rahim, he came prepared. His three words to describe himself are Witty • Friendly • Motivated/obsessive.
When I first met Rahim over ten years ago I was impressed with his dedication to the grueling sport of long-distance cycling. I know because I rode a little, just how much motivation and obsession one must have to be a competitor. Rahim rides – oh about 100 km, 5 to 6 times a week. Yup, you heard that correctly, an average of over 500 km per week. It should come as no surprize that he cycled more than 15,000 km during 2020 and the COVID lock down.
Rahim wasn’t always either an athlete or cyclist. In fact, he had a pretty unhealthy lifestyle before slipping on a pair of cycling cleats. It was a visit to the doctor in his early 30s that changed his life. With a diagnosis that said he’d be on statins if he didn’t change his behaviour, Rahim took a look around. “I saw a group of people cycling together on Don Mills Road,” said Rahim. “I don’t know what it was that day, but I thought to myself; there was comradery and fitness rolled into one package. I could do that.”
“I joined D’Ornellas Cycling club.”
“In the winter, I’ve kinda geeked out. I’ve set up a turbo trainer in the basement hooked up to a computer that provides an outdoor experience for my rides. As soon as I can get outside, I ride 5-6 days of the week. It’s my passion and my obsession.”
“I was born in Kenya and emigrated with my family to Canada as a small child. Like many new immigrants, my family was originally placed in the Thorncliff Park area. As we settled into life in Canada we moved first to Scarborough and then to Markham. But I always remembered the Don Mills area.”
“When we were looking for a home in the city, we visited a university friend of my wife that lives in this area. I loved the look of the homes immediately. Now that we are here, we know how special it is. In all the years that I lived in Markham, I never felt there was a sense of community. Here, neighbours were friendly right from the beginning. It’s an amazing feeling to be connected to this awesome family network that is our neighbourhood.”
"Having that connection is important, especially as I’ve been a remote worker for over 10 years. As a collaboration engineer for a large tech company, I handle video conferencing services for clients across North America including customers like Exxon, TD Bank, Verizon and New York Health Hospitals, who needed special assistance coordinating world-wide conference-calls during the COVID-19 response.”
“I’m a tech nerd at heart. My latest obsession is whole home set up of internet ad blocking and malware detection. I know that doesn’t sound exotic, but I find it engrossing. My wife can find it annoying. I recently changed the colours of her light bulbs. She swears she can’t find anything with blue light.”