It’s a sunny morning in Sedalia, Colorado and Broncos safety and special teams veteran David Bruton is seated atop a lime-green racing bicycle that is worth more than some new cars. At first glance, Bruton looks nothing like the waifish, pencil-thin men and women who flock to cycling. Fist-like biceps bulge from under his bike jersey, which stretches paper-thin across his hulking v-shaped back. A mop of dreadlocks spills from under Bruton’s cycling helmet.

But a closer examination shows a few telltale signs that Bruton is as much a hardcore cyclist as the throngs of spandex-clad weekend warriors that regularly ride through Sedalia. Tattooed on Bruton’s calf muscle is the image of a racing bicycle with the Colorado state flag “C” as wheels. Bruton’s color-coordinated clothing and gear is smartly curated from different high-end bike brands. And finally, there’s Bruton’s knowledge of all things bicycle.

“I love the reliability you get with Dura Ace,” Bruton says, pointing at his high-end electronic Shimano shifters and brakes. “It’s worth the price.”

The matching outfit and technical savvy is just the tip of the fast-growing iceberg that is David Bruton’s obsession with cycling. This past March, Bruton walked into Elevation Cycles in Highlands Ranch and told employees that he wanted to buy a high-end road bicycle and “get into cycling.” Bruton says he’d been wanting to try his hand at road cycling for several years, and he saw the sport as a fun way to build endurance and leg strength away from the gym.

Store manager Nick Howe recognized the team’s special teams captain from his Twitter image. A Colorado native, Howe helped Bruton select a racing bike and volunteered to take Bruton on his first rides. Within a few weeks, Howe said, Bruton had picked up the nuances of the sport.

“He carried some of the trepidation you see with any new cyclists,” Howe said. “He got on the bike in March, and within a few weeks he was pretty comfortable.”

By late spring Bruton was riding up some of the toughest climbs in the Front Range with Howe, despite his newbie status and hulking frame. There’s a reason pro cyclists are usually runway-model thin and just slightly taller than jockeys: The sport rewards an athlete’s power-to-weight ratio. Bruton weighs more than 220 pounds and stands 6-foot-2. When he rides uphill, he carries nearly 60 more pounds of body mass than Howe.

On one ride up Boulder’s infamous Flagstaff Mountain, Bruton lost his balance and keeled over on the road’s steepest ramp. Instead of quitting, he got back on the bike and muscled his way to the top.

“David talked about [the climb] as if it were the 4th quarter, and everyone’s hurting, and you need to find some extra strength,” Howe said. “And then he sprinted to the top.”

In Sedalia, Bruton laughs at the football analogy, and grimaces as he recalls that climb up Flagstaff. In his own description of the ascent (he said he just didn’t want to walk to the top), Bruton spells out what road cycling has brought to his game. It’s a potential career-prolonging activity. Today’s bike ride coincides with Bruton’s 28th birthday, which in the NFL often represents the turning point between plucky up-and-comers and veterans looking to prolong their careers.

While Bruton continues to learn more about the game each year, he admits that his best physical years may be behind him. If pushing a bicycle uphill helps him squeeze out just one more contract, Bruton considers it time well spent.

“I’m getting up there and my knees can’t do what they used to do,” Bruton says. “If I can put my body through that hurt — and yeah, it’s similar to the hurt of football — then it’s definitely beneficial to my game.”

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The Quest to Start

And if the bike rides help Bruton achieve his career-long goal, he will also consider the bikes (he now owns three) as money well spent. Since he entered the league in 2009 after a standout career at Notre Dame — the Broncos drafted him in the fourth round — Bruton has dreamed of earning the starting free safety position for the team.

Since 2009 he’s started just five games, and has played most of his minutes on special teams. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying.

As a rookie in 2009, Bruton stood behind veteran Brian Dawkins in the strong safety lineup. Dawkins held the starting role until he retired in 2011. But prior to his departure, the Broncos scooped up two safeties in the 2011 draft – Rahim Moore in the second round, and Quinton Carter in the fourth. Moore moved into the starting role as free safety. Mike Adams landed in Denver following five years as the Browns safety. And after losing in the Super Bowl, John Elway brought in hard-hitting Pro Bowler T.J. Ward, another safety from Cleveland.

Bruton got a chance to start last December when Ward skipped the season finale against the Raiders with a neck injury. But in that game Bruton himself suffered a neck injury as well as a concussion. When Ward came back for the divisional playoff game against the Colts, Bruton was back to special teams.

It isn’t that Bruton doesn’t like special teams. He just believes his skills can transfer over to the defense.

“I feel that I’ve been here long enough to know that I can take my leadership from special teams to defense,” Bruton says. “I know the guys. I know the schemes. I want to win that starting spot and this year I have the chance.”

Ward is almost assured to win the strong safety position this year, but the departure of Rahim Moore after 2014 opened the door for the free safety position. While new signee Darian Stewart has said that the position is “his to lose,” Bruton knows that there is a chance to, at the very least, grab the attention of coaches during camp.

But even then, Bruton isn’t sure if that’s enough to start.

“I have that special teams label. I have that title on me,” Bruton says. “They don’t want to take me off of the [special teams], and that’s tough.”

Recently arrived special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis acknowledged that the label is a hard one for players to break — Bruton included. DeCamillis called Bruton a “natural leader,” and praised him for “running, hitting and being so strong this late in his career.”

Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will give Bruton a chance to make the starting squad, DeCamillis said, but Bruton will struggle to lose the special teams tag.

“He leads the (special teams squad) because he’s always talking to the guys and because he puts the work in,” DeCamillis said. “It’s hard; there’s no question because he’s so good at (special teams) and that’s how people view him.”

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Chasing the Colorado Lifestyle

Jarre Canyon Road climbs steadily out of Sedalia toward the foothills. Once it enters the canyon, the road juts abruptly skyward, and hugs the canyon walls as it climbs into a pine forest.

As we pedal onto the steep ramps, Bruton begins to slow. He spent all morning in the weight room and admits that his hamstrings are on fire. He tucks in a pair of ear buds as he looks down to embrace the pain.

“Going up that hill at 220 pounds is not the easiest thing in the world,” Bruton says, laughing. “It’s going to hurt.”

Half an hour later, we’ve hit the summit. Bruton rolls up; pops out the ear buds and dries the sweat beads from his brow. He points his bicycle toward the downhill and smiles. Long before he picked up cycling, Bruton learned the dynamics of two-wheeled riding as a teenaged motorcycle rider. He still owns motorcycles, and knows how to carve them through turns.

Bruton quickly accelerates on a steep straightaway and speeds toward the dozen or so tight bends further down the canyon. Without braking, he leans into the turns, carving across the apex with his best Valentino Rossi impersonation. Soon, he’s several bike lengths ahead. Another turn appears. Again, Bruton navigates the bend without scrubbing off any momentum, and speeds down the road.

The daredevil behavior comes naturally to Bruton. A quick scroll through his Instagram profile reveals a slideshow fit for a Red Bull-sponsored extreme sports athlete. One image shows Bruton flying down a dirt trail on a full-suspension mountain bike, clad from head to toe in black body armor and wearing a full-faced crash helmet. Another image shows him jumping his jeep over sandstone obstacles in Moab. Another picture shows him snowboarding.

Bruton says he keeps the extracurricular activities to the offseason, and shelves the bikes and expensive toys for football. Teams sometimes negotiate clauses against skiing or other would-be dangerous sports into the contracts of marquee players. Bruton says he’s never received pushback from management about his snowboarding, jeep jumping or other activities. He says he’s tried to expose his teammates to cycling, snowboarding and mountain biking. So far, there have been few takers, he says.

“The guys tell me I’m crazy,” Bruton says. “They say ‘Bru, you’re going to win the Tour de France.’”

The Tour de France is a long shot. So is the starting spot. But Bruton’s ability to remain in the league as a team leader and a hardworking backup is a very realistic future. Whether the bike riding helps him advance his NFL career is something to watch for 2015. But even if it doesn’t, the activity is likely to become part of Bruton’s regular life, even when football ends.

As Howe said, although Bruton’s only been in Colorado since 2009, he will probably be here for the long haul.

“David has become such a local,” Howe said. “I tell him, ‘you grew up in Ohio but now you’re a Colorado guy.’”