California's 95-year-old 'Bicycle Bob' rides his 100,000th mile (weather, celebration, retired)

[JD59]

A 95-year-old California man known to neighbors as "Bicycle Bob" was treated to a celebration after he logged his 100,000th mile of cycling.

Bob Mettauer, known as "Bicycle Bob" to locals, said he took up cycling when he retired in the 1990s and has been logging his miles ever since.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/08...1081597349371/

[ybgrnle]

Originally Posted by JD59

A 95-year-old California man known to neighbors as "Bicycle Bob" was treated to a celebration after he logged his 100,000th mile of cycling.

Bob Mettauer, known as "Bicycle Bob" to locals, said he took up cycling when he retired in the 1990s and has been logging his miles ever since.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/08...1081597349371/

Cool. I need to look him up. I would like to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a tricycle, but I don't want to go alone. Maybe he'd be interested? We take small roads and wear fluorescent orange jackets, should take about a month. Would be fun, wouldn't it? Could add 400 miles to his log, give or take...

[odanny]

It says he started riding "in the 1990's", and assuming he started in 1990, that would be an average of 3,333.3 miles a year. In 30 years he would hit the 100K mark. In the story he mentions that he rides 9 miles a day, no matter the weather, and if factoring in every month for 30 years at 30 days each, it comes out to average 9 miles a day.

That kind of single minded determination is impressive, and he started riding at 65. I'm 54 and ride with someone who is 68, and I can barely keep up with him. Many people into their 70's can outride people 20 to 30 years younger.

This story reminds me of something similar, although it does not have a happy ending. A local man recently passed, he was the same age as me, our birthday's were only months apart, and I didn't know him, but I did know he was an obsessive runner. Said he worked in sales in his obituary, but I would always see him running on weekdays, oftentimes for many hours of the day (morning in one part of town, the afternoon I might see him on the other side of town) and it also said that he had just passed the 100,000 mile mark in running. He was around 6'2" and thin as a rail. He died in his home, and his son made no mention of any physical problems or illnesses. I had just seen him running a month prior to his death. I'm sad I'll no longer see him jogging anymore, perhaps the stress of Covid or maybe even losing his job was too much for him to handle.

[Happy retiree 16]

95 and still riding bicycle. Gives me a lot of hope! Hope I will be riding past my 90s also.