Pacelines
By Kathy Hoke
Our regular ride program takes us all around the Columbus area, from Lancaster to Bellepoint, from New Albany to Grove City, from Hilliard to Alexandria, not to mention the fine towns (and ride leaders!) of Carroll, Groveport and Canal Winchester. That's a lot of ground to cover. Few of us can make it to most of these locations.
As bicycling activity chair, I have the privilege of getting to know all the ride and tour leaders and learning something about their events. I think one of our assets is the diversity of rides and areas we cover. We may fall a bit short in helping new riders learn the basics of cycling, but a few of us are committed to keep thinking and experimenting in that area by adding more opportunities for first-time cyclists. I'm convinced many people would embrace bicycling if they had some encouragement and training.
With our diversity of rides for people with at least some experience, we try to accommodate a wide variety of riding styles and preferences. We ride to be with friends, to get fit, to lose weight, to be tourists, to ride fast, to ride with the fastest, to ride ultra distance of 150 miles or more in a day, to train, to commute to work, to camp, to live out our conservation and environmental ideals, to have fun, to go somewhere.
How we experience the COP bicycling program has a lot to do with who we ride with and where we ride. The friendships we make and the places we go shape our perception of the organization and its value to us. What do you value in the bicycling program? What could be added, changed or improved? Write me or call me about this when you get a chance.
Whatever Happened To Pete?
By Tom Steckert
Maybe you
remember him from GOBA in years gone by; the low-slung recumbent bike; the somewhat jerky movements; the impaired
speech; and most of all, that big grin that spoke of the sheer joy of freedom, of charging down the open road in a
manner denied him on foot. Whatever happened to Pete?
Peter Zeidner, or "Pete," as he came to be known, afflicted by cerebral palsy his entire life, became a friend and inspiration to countless bikers. How could you quit on that hill hen Pete kept plugging away? And how could you not feel the infectious warmth that came from that smile? Pete quickly became a fixture on GOBA.
The jerky movements and nearly unintelligible speech are characteristic of CP, an affliction to the spinal cord that traps a normal mind in a body that just won't cooperated. Biking was a great challenge to Pete, but also his greatest joy, a physical activity he could undertake nearly on a par with others.
That joy was all but extinguished three years ago, when an accident on GOBA caused further injury to Pete's spinal cord and ended his solo biking. He can ride, after a fashion, with his brother on a tandem recumbent, but that feeling of freedom, of doing something by himself, now eludes Pete.
Nine years ago, after riding around Ohio raising funds for CP research, Peter Zeidner established a non-profit organization called Pedal-with-Pete (www.pedalwithpete.org). That volunteer organization has raised over one hundred thousand dollars in support of CP research through benefit rides in the Kent, Ohio area. And with the inaugural Central Ohio ride scheduled for August 17, Pedal-with-Pete looks to break new ground in fighting CP. Pete hopes to ride with his brother on a portion of that route out of Hilliard. He'd certainly love to see his old friends from GOBA.
Photo from www.pedalwithpete.org