Showing posts with label cross-country tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cross-country tour. Show all posts

15 April 2023

It Didn't Stop Them. It Won't Stop Him.

In the 1980s, two celebrities--Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox--used their own struggles with Parkinson's Disease to raise awareness of the affliction.  Moreover, they helped people to realize that Parkinson's wasn't an "old people's disease"--Ali's diagnosis came in his early 40s and Fox's before he turned 30--and that people can live more or less normal lives after a diagnosis and treatment. 

Somehow I don't think Brue Closser's life is more or less normal--or less of anything.  

The 78-year-old resident of Marquette County, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, has been cycling since the 1970s.  There has been one ride on his "bucket list," he says, and it will commence on 5 May.  On that day, he plans to get on his bike in Yorktown, Virginia and pedal to Astoria, Oregon--in other words, across the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.





I give "props" to anyone who undertakes such a ride. But the journey Closser has planned is especially notable for two other reasons.  One is that he is riding from east to west:  the opposite direction from that taken by most transcontinental cyclists.  The reason for that is that while there are local and daily variations, the prevailing wind is from west to east.  (That's why a flight from New York to Paris is about an hour shorter than one in the other direction.)  But, perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of his trip will be that when he completes it, he will be, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest cyclist to complete such a trip.

But the record isn't the reason he's taking the trip, he says.  "I learned a long time ago, don't put off your dreams, because I think I can do it this year, but who knows what next year will bring."  

Whatever it brings, I doubt Parkinson's Disease will stop him.

18 August 2021

Shepherding His Father To The Statue Of Liberty

 What did you convince your parents to do when you were 9 years old?

Whatever it was, it probably can't hold a candle to what Shepherd Colver got his dad to do--with him. (With a name like "Shepherd," what do you expect from such a kid?)  The Washington State native managed to influence his father, James, to go on a bike ride with him.

But it wasn't just a ride around the park.  You see, Shepherd and James have just completed a tour that culminated with a trip to the Statue of Liberty. 

Visiting the Lady of New York Harbor was Shepherd's overriding dream.  When they finally arrived--after pedaling 3300 over 18 weeks--in New York City and took the ferry to the island, Shepherd offered this assessment:  "It was definitely worth it,"  he declared.  "It's pretty cool."


Shepherd Colver (r) and his father James look toward the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park, New York City (Photo from CBS News)

A CBS reporter asked whether his legs hurt at the end of a ride.  "Not as bad as my dad's do when were done," he said, laughing. James described the trip as "a wonderful bonding experience" and believes "I invested my time as a dad really well here."

That investment didn't include only this year's ride.  Two years ago, they started their journey but had to bail when Shepherd, then 7 years old, kept on getting headaches.  He was diagnosed with diabetes.  This year, though, neither he nor his father would allow it, or anything else to deter them.


James and Shepherd Colver.  Family handout.

Now he's reunited with his mother, who now has a son who's done something not many other kids his age can claim.  That just might be enough to convince her to increase his allowance!