WATERLOO — As Kyle Messier pushed through the final, painful kilometres of the bike race in rural Quebec, he wasn't thinking about how much his legs hurt, how tired he was or the long ride home.

He was thinking about pizza.

Messier, a 31-year-old bike mechanic at McPhail's Cycle & Sports in Waterloo, is advanced in the art of active meditation. It come in handy when you're into extreme long-distance bicycle trips.

Earlier this month, Messier won the Big Red Gravel Run, a 100-kilometre bike race on the dirt roads outside Harrington, Que. To get to the race, he pedalled more than 650 kilometres from Waterloo — a three-and-a-half day ride.

When the race was over, Messier collected his trophy, had some celebratory pizza, slept for a few hours in his tent, then hopped back on the same bike he raced with and went home. All while fighting an abscessed tooth.

The bike mechanic is new when it comes to racing, but is experienced in endurance rides after spending a year and a half cycling around the mountains of South America.

He's trained himself to meditate, to break the journey into shorter milestones and focus on positive things he's looking forward to. Like pizza.

Messier, battling rain and the rolling hills of the Laurentians, led the pack most of the time before pulling into a comfortable lead in the last 20 kilometres of the five-hour race.

"I was just thinking about getting back to another pizza ... It becomes a mind over matter thing, versus just turning the pedals," he said. "Otherwise, if you're thinking 'I've got a 100 kilometres to go,' it makes things harder in your head. It'll eat your soul."

Your idea of relaxation may be your king-size bed or sinking into your leather recliner with Netflix on. But for Messier, who lives car-free, it's riding on two wheels, sitting on a narrow bike seat.

"It just makes me happy," he said. "I'm at peace when I'm on a bike. I'm at home there."

Messier, whose desire to live simply also means sleeping on a mat on the floor, is nonchalant about his feat. He says he doesn't know how fast he raced in Quebec, because he didn't bother to check his finishing time.

Instead, he hung around at the finishing line, cheering other riders on. For him, it was just another adventure on two wheels.

"I was definitely happy. It couldn't have gone any better," he said. "It was like, 'OK, cool.' I did what I came here to do."

Messier admits he was tired on the ride back, but just a little bit. His tooth was really bothering and he just wanted to get home. Back in Waterloo, he put away his bike, unpacked his gear and went for a nap.

"I'm the kind of person who gives the universe a thank you. I was like, 'Sweet, my bed is waiting for me,' " he said.

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gmercer@therecord.com

Twitter: @MercerRecord