B.C. Lions legend Brent Johnson slims down, gears up in post-CFL life
“I’d like to get down to 210 [pounds],” said Johnson, who will be placed in the Lions Ring of Honour at half-time Friday at BC Place Stadium. “I know that’s a very ambitious goal, but I’m biking a lot. I still need that competitive outlet. I’ve been doing the speed and power thing with football for so long. And now I need another challenge.”
Johnson, who played at 265 pounds because that was the requirement of his position, is already headed south because of cycling competitions such as last Saturday’s RBC GrandFondo Kelowna, a 142-km. distance race around scenic Okanagan Lake, where Johnson was among a pack of 1,200 riders.
In June, he was a participant in the Squamish Test of Metal cross-country bike race, which covers 67 km., half of that distance single-track and featuring 1,200 metres of climbing.
He’s no Ryder Hesjedal or Catherine Pendrel, the reigning world queen of mountain biking, just yet. But the overall calorie burn, and strain and stress on his thighs, hamstrings and gluteus maximus is just as profound.
Indeed, unlike many other professional football players, who give blood, sweat and sinew to the game, and feel the physical cost long after retirement, Johnson seemed to have been surrounded by a protective barrier.
He joined the club in 2001 — Johnson was a third-round pick in the 2000 draft, from Ohio State, one of those dumb-luck selections who rewarded the Lions for years to come — and he never missed a game, except once. That was to attend the birth of his first child, Roman, whose arrival coincided with the Lions game against the Eskimos last Oct. 29.
