I’m about to break one of writing’s golden rules for good reason.

Telling the following, still-evolving professional bicycling story in generalities instead of specifics is a more impactful way to link it to last week’s mention of open-mindedness, a quality that needs to be nurtured rather than neglected if you’re serious about improving your mental and physical health.

The story begins about 10 years ago with a promising young amateur cyclist racing so well he’s clearly on the road to becoming a pro. And based on the terrain of the races he’s done, it only stands to reason the rest of the road steeply ascends.

The kid’s lean, lanky, and seemingly defies gravity. A born-to-be hill climber if there ever was one.

Who does something after turning pro that to anyone who’s not trying to climb mountains on a bicycle as fast as possible would see as unhealthy as it is unnatural. The kid intentionally goes from lean and lanky to skin and bones.

That’s when one of the truly unnatural parts of this story begins. Despite losing weight, he climbs no better than before.

Worse, he feels a lack of power on flat roads, less energy, and he’s always hungry. His career stalls to the point where he might not be offered a second contract.

He knows he has to do something. He also knows his muscles perform better when properly fueled, so that becomes his new goal.

Which means he eats more.

Soon he feels much better and rides much better, so he increases his portions even more. Before long, he’s doing something previously unheard of in the professional road racing ranks: Gaining body weight intentionally.

The proof that this is good for his body is clear to him by more than betterment on the bicycle.

Now in his mid-20s, this guy finally grows facial hair as well as two and a half inches taller, two surefire signs that his past caloric deprivation has delayed his body’s full maturity.

He keeps adding “good” weight with the help of his team’s nutritionist and nearly hits 180 pounds, almost 45 pounds more than his lowest pro racing weight. With that weight comes a pedaling power he has never had before.

It not only allows him to climb really well for a “heavy” pro, but also — and more importantly — makes him an absolute monster on the sorts of courses too flat for pure climbers and too hilly for pure sprinters.

It’s at this point in the story where generalities need to cede to specifics.

On June 2, Jonas Abrahamsen, the aforementioned pro rider, won the Brussels Classic a prestigious one-day race that, by pro standards, is not too hilly and not too flat for his first major win ever. Currently, he’s riding for Team Uno-X in the most prestigious race of all, the Tour de France, an athletic competition easily as important to Europeans as the Super Bowl is to Americans.

And has Abrahamsen ever been riding well in it.

Well enough that in the first of the 21 one-day stages, he attacked before a minor climb and secured the prized TdF red polka-dot “climber’s” jersey designating the King of the Mountains. He held on to it for the first 10 stages — something only one other rider ever accomplished since KoM scoring started in 1933.

Well enough that he also received the equally coveted green “sprinter’s” jersey awarded to the rider scores most points for based on finishing placements and intermediate sprints inside most stages after stage four. In addition, he was named the Most Aggressive Rider after stage 8 for riding in the lead and alone for nearly 87 of the stage’s 113 miles.

All of this has cycling journalists calling Abrahamsen — regardless of where he ultimately finishes in any of the categories — this tour’s “revelation.”

Reading about him and his recent success, however, is not designed to increase your interest in cycling or even lead you to some amazing health and fitness revelation. Only serve as a powerful reminder to the benefit of doing what last week’s article suggests you always do.

Remain open minded.

While it’s best to be that way throughout each day, it’s essential if you want to be healthy and fit as possible. Because, as you’ve read here so many times before, you can learn oodles and oodles from the experiences of others — and by staying abreast with the latest scientific research — but the only way to know for sure for yourself is to take it all in, reflect upon it, and creatively and intelligently do what’s morphed into my battle cry.

Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Jonas Abrahamsen’s is important to share because not only is it such a rarity, but it’s also such a clear example of how — when all is said and done — you’re the only one who really knows what’s best for you.