I was going to write about how awful I felt this morning, how it was absolutely the worst-day-ever as far as my breathing is concerned, how Kevin and Marcus just “rode casual” and quickly distanced me up Kings. And then, after getting to the shop and even coffee isn’t doing anything for me… then Bob P comes in to pick up his bike.

That’s Bob, in the picture. And that’s his computer, showing 11,138 miles on it, his total for the past three years (since he last installed a battery). Quite a few miles for an older guy, right? 3,712 miles/year. In general, he’s riding about 100 miles/week. Gets out on a regular basis and rides “The Loop.”

3,712 miles per year. I should feel really good about doing roughly twice that. Of course, his bike is set up differently than mine; more for comfort than for speed. Not the way I’d ride, for sure! In fact, Bob’s riding a converted mountain bike, which is going to be way slower than my machine. He’s probably doing 30% more work than I do. What could he do on a bike like mine?

Well, it’s not too likely a bike like mine would make sense for a guy like Bob; a little bit more stability might not be so bad, because, here’s the thing, Bob is… get ready for this… in two months, he’ll be 94. He’s not acting like any 94 year old I’ve ever known. If he were on Strava, he’d kill his age group. And he’d do it with respectable times too! His average speed, including stops, is about 12 miles per hour.

When I grow up, I want to be like Bob.