What can’t this Howard Beach couple accomplish?
Jack and Corinne Wlody — better known as Team Wlody — have finished at the very top of the New York leaderboard at the 2016 National Bike Challenge by cycling 23,783.1 miles, which is just shy of the distance of the Earth’s circumference, in just 153 days. The husband and wife team placed first and second out of thousands of cyclists in New York State, and eighth and 12th out of tens of thousands of riders nationally.
The community of Howard Beach was ranked fourth in largest amount of miles ridden out of 124 communities across New York state. The amazing part about this is that Howard Beach had only two registered riders — Team Wlody. In comparison, Brooklyn, which ranked first in New York, had a total of 461 riders.
“We are thrilled to be the NY State Champs — we dedicated ourselves to a task, and put in a lot of hard work,” Corinne Wlody said. “This, for us, feels like an Olympian moment, and winning the gold. It gives us great pride to not only represent our community, but it is especially rewarding to know we two riders held our own against other boroughs/cities with hundreds of riders. We were motivated to give Howard Beach something extraordinary to cheer about. That’s one of the most exciting details about our accomplishment.”
Jack and Corinne were proud to bring a bit of good news into Howard Beach, especially after the horrible news the community has gotten recently, Corinne said, referencing the still-unsolved murder of Karina Vetrano.
The Wlodys have a mission to ride their bikes to inspire people of all ages. Their motto is, “You can achieve anything at any age and under any circumstance. You only need to find your passion, set a goal, formulate a plan and pursue it relentlessly.”
So they rode their bikes for 153 consecutive days, through all weather conditions, on local bike paths, averaging over 80 miles a day.
They even gave back to the community during the competition by organizing local bike path cleanups at their own expense, inviting many of their friends to help.
Among those who joined Team Wlody were Ken Podziba, president and CEO of Bike New York; Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder; Bevan Harris, a representative from Giant Bikes; Timothy Farrell, a National Park Ranger; and several other friends.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Corinne and Jack Wlody for becoming New York state’s newest champions of the National Bike Challenge,” Podziba said. “What’s amazing is that they’re relatively new to endurance cycling, but as someone who knows them well, it’s not surprising that they were able to overcome some difficult obstacles during their long journey to the top. By virtue of their everyday actions of selflessly helping those in need, as well as their physical prowess, we have before us two real life superheroes.”
Jack and Corinne are highly respected fitness consultants who work to help their clients to change their lives for the better. Over their 22 years as Lifestyle Transformation Experts, they have successfully guided countless people to reach their fitness and lifestyle goals.
Corinne, who is also an artist, spent part of her limited time during the National Bike Challenge putting the finishing touches on her illustrations for Team Wlody’s soon-to-be-published children’s book. Half of the proceeds from the sales of the book will be donated to Bike New York.
