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Biking


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I like to ride. I hate cancer. And that pretty much sums up my riding.

I averaged around 2,000 miles per year until I was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. Then I found peace on my bike. And I have been averaging more than 5,000 miles per year since.

I have biked in France, Italy, and Switzerland. I have done Ride the Rockies and RAGBRAI. I have ridden up Mt. Evans, Colorado and raced in the Mt. Washington (NH) Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb seven straight years.

I try to use my cycling for good. I have ridden in a number of LIVESTRONG Challenges. I've ridden in a number of other charity rides as well.

To read about my cycling, visit my cycling blog.


 


I don't remember when I learned to ride. Well, it was long ago. I think my first bike was a 26 inch black bike that I used to deliver newspapers in Lockington, Ohio when I was 10-12 years old. My brother, Bernie, and I would ride our bikes to the Piqua Country Club to caddy. Occasionally we would ride five miles into town to golf, with our golf clubs on our back.


Times were different. A six-day home delivery of the Piqua Daily Call cost $0.40. The paper kept $0.27 and I made $0.13. That was 2 cents per day per customer. Multiply that by 50 customer and I made $1 per day. Golf was different too. At the public course in Piqua a yearly youth membership cost $5.

Living near Ligonier, Pa., in my teenage years, I bought a 20" spider bike with the banana seat and high handlebars. It was my first geared bike -- a 5 speed. What I did with those bikes I cannot remember. And I surely owned a Murray or Huffy or two afterwards that mostly collected dust. Later I owned a Giant (stolen), Trek Navigator, Mongoose mountain bike (almost stolen but chased the thief, tackled him, and held him for police), a Trek Pilot, and a Trek Domane.


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I have been fortunate enough to ride with some pros and to simply meet them. In Maryland, October, 2013, I was waiting to talk to Jens Voigt and Ben King when someone told me to jump in between them. That someone was former pro cyclist, Robbie Ventura.