At 75, Training for Bike Adventure

Seniors who want a hassle-free active vacation are smart to start an exercise program weeks, even months before departure. Here's one septuagenarian with that in mind.

Meet Herb Schon -- 75 years young, and training for his Diamond Birthday gift to himself, a cross-country bicycle trip.

Herb, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M. is a retired advertising executive. On June 2, in San Francsico he'll dip his bicycle wheel in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the traditional gesture in beginning a coast-to coast bike tour. He will join others on a journey of 3,836 miles over 52 days that ends in Portsmouth, N.H. July 24.

Herb was pedaling alone last summer, thinking about his upcoming milestone birthday. He decided, " I'll have to celebrate the occasion and not just with a 75-mile ride."

Not many of his friends have two months free. So he hunted for an organized tour and came up with the trip offered by America by Bicycle, a well-known bicycle tour outfitter.

Herb is determined to take the challenge despite a personal history of three rotator cuff tears, numerous knee injuries from skiing and a wife who is not a cyclist.

"The ride represents, beyond the age factor, the desire and work ethic that has motivated me in my pursuit and love of sports and fitness." The only concession: he will stay in motels rather than camping.

Herb knows that even his regular club rides would not get him to the fitness level he needs. So next month he starts serious long-distance training-- 80-mile rides three times a week, plus two days of riding toward the Santa Fe Ski Basin, which in itself is a monster climb by bicycle. For now he's just skiing and snowshoeing.

Of course, people who think 10 miles make a full day ask: why?

"I've always maintained that age should not enter the equation. The keys are desire and effort. Whether running, skiing or cycling, I have always sought to participate with much younger people as a means of working harder. I may be dropped or fall off the pace, or use the granny gear on my bicycle frequently, but I couldn't get this kind of training by being part of the geriatric pack. It's all too easy to drift along. The true joy comes from setting goals and meeting them.

"Besides," added Herb, "I don't play chess nor have I tried learning to shuffle a deck of bridge cards.

I'll check in regularly with Herb, and you abreast of his progress toward this fabulously ambitious cross-country trip.