Spoiler alert:  This post isn’t about RVing but it is about a journey of sorts.  Before I retired and became an RVer, my main hobby was cycling.  I wasn’t a racer, just a serious long distance cyclist.  I rode all over the country.  I rode so much that I wore out the chains and gears on my bikes each year.  I was recently cleaning out a file cabinet full of old pictures and found a bunch of pictures from my cycling days.  It brought back a lot of good memories.  Cycling was a big part of my history.  I figured I write a post about my cycling days to record a little bit about that time in my life.

One of my worn out chain rings

I got into cycling as a way to lose weight and improve my health.  I was under doctors orders to get my weight down, get my blood pressure down, and lower my cholesterol.  I didn’t like running or working out in a gym (been there, done that), so I started riding an old bike I had that was collecting dust in my garage.  Fear was my motivator.  I had to lose the weight or risk succumbing to an early death.  Once I started riding, I found that I really enjoyed cycling.

My daily excercise routine of riding down my street quickly became a passion.  My daily six-mile rides became fifteen miles.  Week end twenty mile training rides turned into fifty mile excursions.  On good days, I’d sometimes ride into work – 28 miles each way.  And then I began signing up for weekend charity rides and was doing 100 mile century rides several times during the summer months.

Once I started adding all the miles and changed my diet, the weight came off (over 40 lbs) and all my health number became normal.   No more high blood pressure, no more high cholesterol, no more high triglycerides, and no more meds for anything.  My doctor and I were very pleased with my results.

Heading out on the Dan Michaud Memorial Ride in Brunswick, ME (I’m in the white helmet far back right)

But achieving my health goals didn’t stop me from riding.  It made me ride more.  I was in great shape and had become addicted to riding.  When I rode my first century ride at age 45, my average speed over the whole 100 miles was 12.1 miles per hour and I was worn out.  I remember reading something that cyclists who rode in the 10-12 mph range were jokingly called Clydesdales.  I wasn’t going to be a Clydesdale.  My new focus was no longer weight loss – it was speed.  When I did my daily 15 miles workout ride, it became a contest as to how quickly I could complete it.  Within a year I was riding in the 15-17 mph range.

Start of the Maine Bike Coalition century ride in Bethel, ME (I’m front center left, yellow jersey and black arm warmers).

I rode in most of the local century rides in New England.  I also rode in the MS Society’s Great Mass Getaway fund raising ride from Boston to Provincetown for eight straight years.  I did that ride for my sister who died of MS complications at age 44.

While still doing the century rides, I started taking week-long cycling trip vacations.  For my oldest sons high school graduation present, I took him on a week long bike ride through Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park.  We rode up the Going to the Sun Road into Canada and then back around the eastern side of the park.  This was my first big bike trip.

My wife and I took a week long cycling trip with a group through the Cajun country in Louisiana.  We rode in a big loop through the small towns just north of Lafayette.   We rode about 40 miles each day and then went to Cajun dance halls each night.  It was a fun way to see the Cajun prairie and get exposed to the Cajun culture.

I rode in Bike Florida for several years.  This is a week long group ride that happens every spring.  It attracts hundreds of riders.  I enjoyed doing this ride and over the years met some great people.  It was always a fun time.  I got to explore many of the back roads in north Florida, from Jacksonville to the panhandle.

With my friend Larry.

My fastest century ride was on Bike Florida where I rode an average of 18.2 mph.  I rode with my good friend Larry from Alabama.  I met Larry while on Bike Florida and rode with him for several years.  We were about the same age and rode at the same pace and cadence.  When we did that century, there were no riders who could keep up with us. Not bad for a couple of 50-year-old guys.

The high point of my riding career was doing RAGBRAI in 2006.  It’s an annual ride across Iowa and it attracts over 12,000 riders each year.  It’s a right-of-passage for a serious rider to do RAGBRAI.  In 2006, it was 471 grueling miles over one of the toughest routes in the history of the ride.  I was riding 70-80 miles per day for 7 straight days in the sweltering heat.  It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done.  You can read my write-up about it here – The RAGBRAI Experience.

A typical day on RAGBRAI

It was on RAGBRAI that I started to slow down and enjoy the scenery.  At age 52, I could still ride faster than most 20 year old’s but I no longer had anything to prove to my self.  I’d done a lifetime’s worth of century rides and now just wanted to ride to enjoy the view of the places I was riding.  No more pacelines or riding in groups.  I began riding at my own pace, stopped when I wanted, and rested for as long as I wanted.

Biking took me to some great places.  It took me from being a 235 lb Clydsdale to a 190 lb lean biking machine.  It took me from just being able to ride down my street to riding over the Rockies in Montana.  I got to participate in large group events with thousands of people.  I went places I never imagined going to.  I even got to ride my bike around the race track at Daytona.

On the finish line at Daytona. My top speed was 22 mph.

Biking gave me a great been-there-done-it-all feeling of accomplishment.  There was no road that was too long or hill too steep that I couldn’t ride.  I could easily ride over 100 miles and spend 8 hours in the saddle.  I’ve ridden through down pours, micro bursts, 90+ degree heat, and cross winds that almost blew me off my bike. I was lucky to have never had an accident or get hurt on the bike.  All I have is great memories

One of those great memories was the year that I rode the MS Great Mass Getaway in the rain.  The second day route was 72 miles from the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown.  It was raining lightly at 6:30 am when I saddled up and got on my bike.  By the time I got to the rest stop in Wellfleet, it was raining very hard (like a monsoon).  They told us the Ride Director was shutting down the ride, getting the riders off the road, and trucking them into P-town. I decided to keep going.  Diedre (the Ride Director) pulled along side of me while I rode on.   She rolled down her window and told me there’d be a truck by to pick me up.  “No, thanks”, I said. “I ain’t getting off the bike”.  I was riding for my sister and all the folks who battle MS.  I wasn’t giving up on them just because it was raining.  Out of 800+ riders, 14 finished that day.  I was one of them. There was a group of high school cheerleaders and volunteers (many who had been touched by MS) standing in the pouring rain, drenched to the bone, waiting for us at the finish line.  As we crossed and got off our bikes they gave each of us big hugs and thanked us for not giving up and finishing the ride.

Biking was something I was forced into and it turned out to be a great chapter in my life.  When I had to stop riding after getting colitis, I didn’t feel that I’d left anything on the table.  I had biked non-stop, 5 days a weeks for over 11 years.  At age 55 my body was starting to wear out from all the miles.  I had biked everywhere I wanted and accomplished much.  Riding a stage route on the Tour De France would have been a nice bucket list thing to do, but I feel pretty fulfilled with what I did.

I still ride a little these days, still own 4 bikes, but don’t do any of the long distance stuff.  I do most long rides on a motorcycle now, but that’s another story.  Below is a gallery of pictures from my cycling days.  Click on a picture to see a larger image.