There are many different roads to the Olympics, but few quite as unique as the one taken by cyclist, Kristin Faulkner.

Other sports I was good at and I enjoy, but I didn't have that same deep passion that I do with cycling.

How quickly did it happen for you? Or were you like, Oh, my God, I love this?

Yeah, right away.

Her unlikely journey began in Homer, Alaska. Is Homer, Alaska, really the Halibut capital of the world?

It's self-proclaimed Halibut fishing capital of the world. When you drive in a town, there's a big sign.

There actually is a sign.

My parents went on a hotel restaurant in Alaska, and when we were kids, they had us work every single job at the hotel restaurant.

No bike racing. Not yet.

Both my parents are quite outdoorsy, and we did a lot of hiking outdoors.

At Harvard, where she studied computer science, she rode crew. Still, no cycling. Then she moved to New York City, starting a job in venture capital.

I still needed to have that outdoors fix that was such a big part of my life.

And that's when she first started cycling, with a lot to learn.

I couldn't clip in, and I was like, Why is this not working? And I was starting to get really embarrassed. And then finally, we realized I just had incompatible pleats and pedals.

Once she got the right shoes, she was off.

It was my outlet every day to get into Central Park and ride for 2 hours away from the bustle of the city. We'd wake up and start training at 05:00 AM.

The passion for riding quickly turned into more than just a hobby.

I came with this really big physical engine from rowing and other sports that really helped me in cycling, but I was also a very quick learner.

She had a meteoric rise in the sport, quitting her job to race as a pro in Europe only a handful of years after cycling for the first time. Now she has a spot on Team USA. What would be the best adjectiv to describe your trajectory in this sport?

I would honestly use the word resilience. I've had a concussion, I've been hit by a car, and every time, I've never lost my passion to keep going. It's never a matter of if I'll keep going. It's just a matter of how.

The unusual pedigree aside, there is no doubt Faulkner is an Olympian. Stephanie Gosc, NBC News, Colorado Springs.

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