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Super Senior Cyclist Pedals EastTwo More Weeks Before End of Trip for New Mexico SeptugenarianSenior bicycle rider Herb Schon has covered another thousand miles and his cross-country bicycle group enters New York state today in final phase of cycling adventure
"During the past 12 days, I've covered 1,130 miles. Nothing like a nice little ride!" said 75-year-old Santa Fe bicycle rider Herb Schon with uncharacteristic understatement. "The upside of this is terrific: Seeing the Magic Marker line that traces our route on a huge U.S. map is very gratifying as it moves in chunks across the continent. The emotional high that comes with getting closer to the goal is something new." Cross Country Cycling Through HeartlandThis part of the trip took Herb's America by Bicycle group from St. Joseph, MO, to Erie, PA. The changes as they pedal, he says, "are subtle until you find that the flats are getting flatter, the long climbs less frequent, the short hills steeper, the cornfields not as endless and the towns closer together. Reaching the east, we've entered an older America with greater populations, more houses, more huge trees. I like it." There have been accidents: "Arlene, our oldest woman rider at 67, suffered an end-over" but despite facial bruising and a broken finger. she was "back on the bike riding one-handed 100 milers. I've been lucky," says Schon. On day 33, they were "ferried across the Mississippi along with truckloads of wheat. In a few miles we arrived in Quincy, IL. Stately homes and clean streets. German settlers built this place. Now our centuries and 90-plus milers are frequent but feel no different than a Sunday ride back home," Herb declared. Pain in the Butt"We're getting tough except in the butt, which is getting rough," he added with typical candor. In Indiana, a highlight was the Major Taylor Velodrome, named for the Lance Armstrong of turn-of-the-century cycling. "I hopped on the track, did a few laps, fantasizing as I swept down and up on the beautiful cement surface. Awesome!" Another highlight: meeting an old friend on the Indianapolis rest day and attending "an outdoor concert by the Indianapolis Symphony of John Williams musical themes from those blockbuster films, accompanied by some very tasty picnic fare." For Herb, "it's hard to believe there are only two weeks remaining.... Sometimes I feel as if I want more time on the bike and then that's tempered with my longing to be with my wife, Irene. Then there's the knees. Icing and an ace bandage help and I'm feeling better by morning. I'm still getting by without benefit of my Percocet." He also noted that "little quirks" are annoying some members of the group but "after six weeks, little quirks can get to you. That's to be expected. And I'm among the guilty. After all, we're human." Herb says that although "Ohio may be politically questionable," he has "never seen so much beautiful farmland and Victorian farm houses." Coming up -- New York, New England and the finish line.
The copyright of the article Super Senior Cyclist Pedals East in Senior Adventures is owned by Grace Lichtenstein. Permission to republish Super Senior Cyclist Pedals East in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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