A little late to the party, Eric Wohlberg was blessed neither with great timing nor natural physical dominance.

Jumping into the sport of cycling in earnest in his mid-twenties, that age by which countless European riders enjoy a decade or more of upper-end competition under their racing belts, Wohlberg describes himself as a “bit of a pork-chop sandwich”.

“Something this small should not weigh this much,” he laughed when prodded for a definition of a term that may not have yet even worked its way into any urban dictionary of repute.

And yet here we are, sipping on coffee in Sudbury as the long-time Californian returns home for his father’s 91st birthday, reminiscing on a career which produced appearances at three sets of Summer Olympics (1996 – Atlanta; 2000 – Sydney; 2004 – Athens) and an induction into the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame in 2018.

Born with something of a contrarian streak that permeates much of his personality, the now 59 year old who still rides several times a week has always been thankful for his tendency to run against the grain.

“In cycling, there might be a super hard climb coming up, so you have to mentally prepare yourself to go as deep as you can, get over that climb and then you can reset,” said Wohlberg, a gold medal winner at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and six-time national champion in the time trials event.

“You have to convince yourself that where people are going to try and go easy, I’m going to go hard. That’s how I’ve kind of lived my life, opposite the way that everyone wants.”

Spending much of his youth in the Onaping Falls – Levack corner of the Greater Sudbury region, Wohlberg shared a multi-sport passion that also lured the likes of Ulf Kleppe and many others to year-round activity in that neck of the woods.

“A lot of the athletes there had a cross-country (ski) background – and cycling was easy compared to cross-country skiing,” said Wohlberg. “There’s no coasting in cross-country skiing.”

Family support was constant, with his siblings either out on the trails and roads at his side (Shannon) or offering a different kind of helping hand altogether (Brent – through his business: Sudbury Video Transfer Services).

“I did a lot of training just with my sister back in the day,” noted Wohlberg. “I was lucky I didn’t have to race against her. I would have been second place all the time.”

Well into his teens by the time that he connects with Battista Muredda, Bill Narasnek, Roy Hums and the balance of the Sudbury Cycling Club faithful, Wohlberg was still employed with E.B. Eddy in 1990, trying to balance work and athletics.

His decision to take the plunge fast-tracked everything.

His first major race win came in 1995 at the Tour-de-Beauce in Quebec, site of the oldest stage-race in North America and a few months after Wohlberg had celebrated his 30th birthday.

By this point, there was no looking back.

“I am lucky that my performance standards, my reliability and consistency, overcame my physical age, which was always a barrier,” noted the man who raced professionally for years in the United States, eventually sliding over to the management side of the sport as team director with Rally Cycling.

Much has been learned of the uneven playing field that existed for cyclists like Wohlberg, those who competed clean throughout their careers. He would love to have Olympic results and the like rewritten to allow the removal of those who cheated the sport that he loved, though he knows that is not about to happen.

Comfort comes in discussing those moments when none of that mattered.

“As a clean athlete, you might only have maybe six golden opportunities per season where everything comes into alignment and you have that day when you are unstoppable – and three or four of those days might happen on a training ride,” he explained.

“I was lucky in the sense that I had two very significant days in my career where are the cards kind of fell into place – both at time trial events.”

In September of 1998, Wohlberg was a world away, in Malaysia, to be precise – but hitting the top of the podium on the same day his father celebrated both his retirement and his birthday created the type of cosmic convergence that will forever remain etched in one’s memory.

A year later, Wohlberg was much closer to home, laying claim to another gold medal, this one at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, again in the road time trial. “I’ve done well in time trials, but I’ve also won road races, I’ve won criteriums.”

“I would train so that I could go wide open for one hour, whether that be for a TT event or at the end of a road race. The difference with a mass start is that you have teams of individuals that are chasing you all the time, working together.”

“My pinnacle performances were not necessarily the Olympics (though he would crack the top-20 twice) or Games events,” said Wohlberg. “I remember U.S. pro road races or some national events here, on those days where you really had a good day, when you were an army of one all day long and were able to get through it.”

“Those days can be hit or miss.”

With group rides these days a near-daily norm in the Cupertino area he now calls home, Wohlberg finds peace on his bike, or working on cars.

“I’ve checked a lot of the boxes,” he said. “A lot of the places I have gone to visit have always been linked to a race or something, whether I am competing as an athlete or directing a team. It gives you a chance to see a lot of the world, but usually in a work capacity of some sort.”

“It’s not like you’re actually vacationing.”

Still, it’s a life that he would not trade for anything, for all of the pros and the cons that come with it.

“When I reflect on what I was up against, it’s damn impressive for a guy who was basically just “giving ‘er”.”