Started talking to this guy about the weather and his RSVP jersey along the Burke-Gilman on Tuesday and discovered that he was taking a very special bike ride.
His name is Bill Glaeser and his 70th birthday is Wednesday. Thanks to Tuesday's break in the chilly “liquid sunshine” that's been inundating the Seattle area the past week or so, he chose to celebrate his birthday with a 70-mile ride a day early. It's a ride he's been taking for the past four years.
I've read about people doing this over the years, so I started my own tradition by riding 60 miles on my birthday back in January. An old college friend who lives in Portland saw what I did, and so knocked out his own birthday ride this spring.
It's a ride that's just going to get longer every year, and I hope I'm up to it at Bill's age.
That jersey, by the way, is from the 2005 Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP). It's a two-day ride that covers 188 miles and is offered every August by the Cascade Bicycle Club.
This birthday ride also serves as a training ride for the 200-mile Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic on July 12 and 13 that he's riding with his son, whose wife is expecting. Bill's long-range goal is to ride the STP with his son and this new grandchild when he's 85.
At the rate he's going, I bet he'll be able to do it.
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