Five days ago, I went on my first official training ride with my new ride - an REI Navara touring bike that I bought from a veteran biker for $500. Seeing as how I know nothing about biking, he seems like the type of guy I can go back to when I have questions like “Why is my bike making this sound?” or “How do I fix this?” or “Have I lost my marbles?”

I thought I would keep the ride relatively, short, seeing as how the last time I went for a bike ride I had acne and was still listening to Motley Crue and Skid Row. So I went 10 miles, hoping to avoid muscle soreness. I did. When I rolled out of bed Sunday morning, I was pleased to do so without grunting or groaning.

“This is going to be a piece of cake,” I thought to myself. “I’ll be up to 100 miles by the end of the week.”

After fixing lunch, I changed into some shorts and a t-shirt, slipped on some shoes, and walked the bike outside, planning to push a little futher, maybe 15 miles or so. I jumped on my bike.

Then I screamed and jumped right off.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’

My butt was sore. Not just sore, as in a little sensitive. It felt like someone took a baseball bat to it and had a 12-pitch at bat. Despte the fact that my legs felt great and I was ready to roll, I couldn’t even sit down on the bicycle seat. Doing so was torture - worse then going to Bed Bath and Beyond to look at Laura Ashley comforters with my girlfriend during the Super Bowl.

It’s now Thursday. It still hurts.

I heard back from Red Bull (I sent my resume and cover letter to the hiring contact there last week). He mentioned Red Bull won’t be interviewing for the position until October, so when that time comes, he’ll contact me to discuss when I can come in for an interview.

That begs the question - is it possible that there will be snow in October in northern Arizona or Colorado?

Mental note: register www.snowshoetothebull.com just in case.

My name is Keith Peterson, and I’m doing something crazy. I’m biking from Phoenix, AZ to Denver, CO for a job interview with Red Bull.

When I told a friend I was planning on doing this, he asked me, “Why?” I responded by saying, “Because nobody else has.”

I like to think of myself as a thinker. I’m a big idea guy who likes to scale down plans, not up. When I heard about the job opening for which I applied, I knew I was going to have to do something different to get noticed. I have a friend who works there. I heard how progressive Red Bull was. They haven’t managed to hold 50% of the energy drink market share while hundreds of competitors come and go by sticking to the principles in Branding 101. 

Red Bull is a fun, creatively bold company that thinks outside the box, even though no one who works there would use the cliché’ “think outside the box” because to do so would be thinking inside the box.

It’s a company that thinks differently. A lot differently. I knew I had to, too.   

Sure, I could fly there. My resume is probably good enough to get me an interview without pulling this stunt. But this isn’t a stunt. It’s a lesson in branding. Only in this case I’m the product.

And this isn’t Jojo the Clown’s Energy Drink. It’s Red Bull - the Yankees of energy drinks, minus the overpaid pitchers. I could tell them what makes me a dynamic, adventure-minded maverick who loves a good challenge and thrives on orchestrating big ideas, or I could show them.

I’m going to show them.