SUN CITY – Alan Boyle didn’t bike at all until he joined CyclePaths. When he first started, it took a while to pick up on biking.
“He was in the back and couldn’t keep up with anybody,” said Bob Kling, current president of CyclePaths. “Now he’s way ahead of everybody.”
Over the past seven years that Boyle has been riding with the club, he’s improved his biking abilities and fallen in love with his two-wheeled passion.
Members of Sun City’s CyclePaths group meet on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. They usually end their bike trips with a stop at a restaurant. (Photo by Marek Makowski/Sun Day)
“There are some very good riders here and they push you,” Boyle said. “I used to play ball, [but] I quit everything. I bike four days a week. I love to get out there and exercise.”
CyclePaths is Sun City’s bicycle club that meets up at Meadow View Lodge at 8 on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for group rides. The club is separated into three groups: A, B and C. Group A represents the most advanced group while Group B is made up of moderate bikers and Group C is for beginners looking to improve performance.
“It’s like a team sport,” said Burl Cohn, who has been a member of the club since its inception. “You enjoy doing something with someone of your own ability.”
The rides the club goes on culminate at a destination, like a restaurant. On Wednesdays, all three groups ride together at a typical Group B level, usually to a sit-down restaurant. On Saturdays, the CyclePaths split up. Group A usually travels about 50 miles at faster speeds than group B, which rides about 30 miles at 10 to 12 miles per hour. Group C would ride 20 miles at most and at calmer speeds, but it currently does not have any members.
Kling encourages others to join the club and not only exercise, but meet new people. Although CyclePaths’ emphasis is exercise, socializing is a large aspect of it.
“When I came out here, I used to do a lot of riding,” Bob Hinkle, one of the four riders who created the group, said. “I was looking for someone to ride with and I found a group that just rode around in Sun City. I asked, ‘Why don’t you ride out farther?’ They said, ‘I don’t know the roads.’ I said, ‘I know the roads.’”
So in 2005, Hinkle and fellow riders Paul Mercer, Bob Williams, and Pat Hatton created CyclePaths. Since then, the group has stayed true its goal — riding while meeting others.
“You get there and you get to know something,” Kling said of joining the club. “Sun City is a retirement community and getting to know your neighbors is important. [CyclePaths] allowed me to get connected to other people in Sun City, and it combined that with something I enjoy doing.”
Not only do riders who join CyclePaths get to meet new people, the club helps them take their minds off of the physical challenge they may be taking on at times.
“It’s hard to do it on your own because it feels like work,” said Sue Epperson, who joined CyclePaths last year. “With the club, you socialize and forget that you’re doing work.”
The dedication to not only biking but also staying within the social group is important to members, even the ones who ride the fastest.
“A lot of the riders can ride a lot faster than their groups go,” Kling said. “It’s more sociable, and I think that’s a big thing. If someone breaks down, you have someone there to support you.”
In addition to its social aspect, CyclePaths gets its members out and exercising, which helps keep them in shape and helps them gain extra vigor in their everyday lives.
“I have a lot more energy,” said Hinkle, who has biked across the United States on camping trips. “I can eat about anything I want if I keep on riding.”
The exercise is important to people such as Bob Anderson, who has been a part of CyclePaths for six years and has participated in triathlons with his children and their spouses.
“The best thing is to stay in shape so you can do things with your grandchildren,” he said. “Life in general is just more fun.”
What’s also fun for members of CyclePaths is the scenery they pass on their rides. The group’s two different types of rides, back road and trail, allow members to see things they would never see without biking.
“There’s a lot of things that you see on the back of a bike when you’re riding that you just shoot by when you’re riding in a car,” Kling said.
But what CyclePaths brings the most to its riders is balance in life.
“I think of my life as a stool with three legs,” Kling said. “The biking takes care of me physically. I take care of my spiritual needs at church and my mental with another organization.”
For those who haven’t biked or exercised much, CyclePaths can provide that third leg. It did for Boyle and Kling, and it can for others too.
Those looking to join CyclePaths or get more information can contact Bob Kling at robklingjr@yahoo.com.
