120,000 miles logged in the saddle

[Bike Writer]

WOW, what an inspiration!

http://www.annarbor.com/news/at-near...f-bike-riding/

[Biciclista]

wow, that's amazing! wotta guy!

[Bike Writer]

And believe it or not I will be able to meet the guy. A friend of mine is executive director at a senior residence and this gentleman lives there. Several months ago she told me stories about an elderly gent who lives there and goes on these fabulously long rides daily. She said he often will ride 50 miles in a day.

Well I posted this article to my FB page earlier today and she saw it and invited me to luch with the two of them. Turns out he was the same guy she had told me about.

[kmehrzad]

And believe it or not I will be able to meet the guy. A friend of mine is executive director at a senior residence and this gentleman lives there. Several months ago she told me stories about an elderly gent who lives there and goes on these fabulously long rides daily. She said he often will ride 50 miles in a day.

Well I posted this article to my FB page earlier today and she saw it and invited me to luch with the two of them. Turns out he was the same guy she had told me about.

That's just awesome. I'll bet it was a pleasure to have lunch with the two of them and listen to his stories. You'd come away extremely motivated, as in "I can do this activity that I love for years and years to come."

[hebe]

oh wow! Many happy returns Joe, and here's to the next 120,000 miles I hope you have a fantastic lunch with him and your friend, Road Trip!

[Bike Writer]

"That's just awesome. I'll bet it was a pleasure to have lunch with the two of them and listen to his stories. You'd come away extremely motivated, as in "I can do this activity that I love for years and years to come."

I have not had the luncheon yet but will be over the next week. I'll be sure to post any words of wisdom or inspiration gained.

You hit the nail on the head about cycling for years and years. It's one of the reasons I love biking and golf. You can do this on into your elderly years.

[channlluv]

I hope you guys have a great lunch. I'd love to hear his stories, too.

Lately I've noticed an elderly gentleman in the neighborhood where I work. He stands out because he wears a long-sleeve Mickey Mouse jersey with lots of red polka dots and a mirror on his helmet. I've seen him twice. Once when I was leaving Fiesta Island, and the next day on a corner several miles away near the school where I work. I was amazed. I wonder if he rides a really long circuit, or if he just switches up neighborhoods. I was impressed, too, because he was riding in heavy traffic. I'm nervous DRIVING in that afternoon rush hour as school lets out.

Roxy

[DarcyInOregon]

People of this age who continue to bike and are healthy as a consequence are a real inspiration to me. I meet the older males on the event rides, but rarely see an older female, and I've wondered why that is.

One event ride I did last summer, a century with about 5,000 feet of climbing, at one of the early rest stops there were a group of men in their 70s and 80s, all cycling the century that day. I overheard them discuss how they were going to be participating in time trials the following day in their age group. It was an oh wow moment for me, that these guys were so fit and athletic that they could do a moderately difficult century like it was nothing and still have the energy to do bicycle racing the next day. I want to be as fit as they are when I am their age.

[hebe]

My cycling instructor is well into her 60s. Admittedly she's a spring chicken compared to the gentlemen on this thread, but it did encourage me hugely that I wasn't too old to start, at 44, and made me realise that there could be many many years of cycling ahead of me.

[Bike Writer]

This is a direct copy of my blog post about my luncheon with Mr. Joe Datsko

Another inspirational day, I had the pleasure to finally meet Joe Datsko of biking fame. From an earlier post in February this year I referenced an article from Ann Arbor dot com who was featuring Mr. Datsko who was just turning 90 years old and had logged in 120,000 miles with the Ann Arbor Bicycling Society Club. This does not even count his miles logged in riding the perimiter of the USA and rides in other countries. From the photo in the article about him you see a map behind him that outlines his route all around the country.

I saw a small copy that he unfolded from within his wallet that was a small replica of that map. What a great inspiration it was to meet this man. I had the pleasure of lunching with him and a mutual friend who is the director of a retirement community in the Ann Arbor area where Joe lives at Glacier Hills. My friend and I were chatting about bike riding and she told me of this amazing gentleman who lived where she worked and who rode a bike nearly daily on very long rides, later when his story was published I noted it on my facebook page and, what a coincidence ,my friend told me it was the very same person!

We've planned the luncheon for a couple of months now and Joe is a very busy and active senior and it's taken this long to pin him down!

About the luncheon, what an amazing and gentle man. Joe is a retired mechanical engineer from the University of Michigan and a served as a Navy SeaBee during World War Two. He talked about a different era and a culture that existed of extreme patriotism after the Pearl Harbor attack and what a honor it was to serve his country. He spoke of the stigma and sting of disspointment a young man would suffer if he were ranked a 4F and how young men could not sign up quickly enough in their rush to duty after that historic event. Most young men of that era were anxious to see combat duty. I noted to him how much this differed from the era I grew up in where many young people sought to avoid service in Vietnam. We talked wistfully of a different time in our history.

That subject arose from another article about Joe in the Ann Arbor dot com that outlined his labor of love as he chose to retype all the letters he and his late wife exchanged while he was stationed over seas. Joe is in the process (up to letter number 500 of 728) of committing the letters to posterity for his children and grandchildren by retyping all of them. I asked Joe about these letters and as he spoke the love this man had for his wife of nearly 64 years shined through. It was clearly evident that Doris was the love of his life and that he was devoted to her. He spoke about their written communications throughout his time overseas, how he and Doris shared a love of travel and bike riding together. Together they traveled to over 30 countries. He spoke of bike rides in foreign lands as exotic as New Zeeland. Well that would be exotic to us here in the States.

Story after story revealed a zest for life and adventure and his passion for bike riding. When asked what kept him so motivated he spoke of comraderie he enjoyed with his bicycling club and how they inspired each other. When he undertook the first cross country ride he was 70. That was followed by his perimiter of the USA rides. His story inspired another club member, a woman who took up bike riding very late in life and committed to riding 70 miles on her 70th birthday. After completing that feat she committed to ride across the USA having been inspired by Joe and is somewhere near New Mexico now in her ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic. I was awe struck by the vigor of these seniors and somewhat shamed over my own meager biking accomplishments, one thing for sure - these stories will serve as a HUGE inspiration to me and I am certain to others.

I can only begin to sort out all the stories of love, inspiration, dedication and honor that Joe shared with me today. I hope to have more time to spend listening to his stories in the future and he is certainly a man I will never forget.

If you want to read more about Joe and the details of the articles at Ann Arbor dot com check out these links.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/90-year...rough-letters/

http://www.annarbor.com/news/at-near...f-bike-riding/

[Mr. Bloom]

Wow! That's 7.2million calories and about 2,400 pounds

He must have a voracious appetite!