Tommy's LA club colours

As far as cycling is concerned, Chicago is fairly forward-thinking. But nestled at the foot of Lake Michigan, it’s also pan flat. As the tongue-in-cheek social tag has it, even if #LAsucksforcycling, it’s not short of a slope or two.

“Riding up a mountain or in the hills, there’s a challenge to that. It took a while to get over my own anxiety of ‘am I strong enough to ride up this 10% grade of a hill?’”

And there’s only one way to find out – by riding. You don’t have to race your bike, but every time you get on it’s going to challenge you in some way, test your legs, test your head. More often than not it’s the latter that gets in the way of the former.

“I think a lot of what cycling has brought to me, moving from Chicago to Los Angeles, is you do see people in the middle of the day surfing, running, riding their bikes, doing yoga outside. They’re creative types and business types, part of the engine that runs the city, getting things done. But I think there’s also a culture of not necessarily taking yourself too seriously.”

Whether you take it seriously or not – and you certainly can, if that’s what you want – really embracing any pastime will eventually look for you to consider just how you spend your time.

“It’s a lot more acceptable to say you want to take off some time in the middle of the day and go on a ride. Or like me, you want to take some time out from your career and get on your bike, find what drives you,” says Thornton.

If the world is more competitive than ever, it’s arguably also more enlightened – a sabbatical doesn’t inspire the same suspicion from prospective employers as it once might have.

CORE JERSEY II

A versatile, mid-weight cycling jersey made for all roads and every rider.