Beyond 50: Interview With BF Superwomen

Beverley Anderson gets ready to board the bus for the 60-100 miles-a-day Cycle Oregon 2003

Beyond 50 is a Portland OR area radio program dedicated to showcasing movers and shakers who are on the sunnier side of 50. Bike Friday superwomen Beverley Anderson and Janet Fogel were interviewed by the station and here's their tale ...

Air Date: Saturday, May 8, 2004 Hosts: Daniel Davis & Tayna Wylder Guests: Bike Friday Riders, Beverly Anderson & Janet Fogel

Daniel: As I said before the break, we're going to be joined with a fantastic person, Beverly Anderson. She is going to be joining us by phone. And what she does, along with Janet Fogel, is go long distances on their foldable Bike Friday bikes, and they're going to be talking to us about that. What do you think about that? Do you do any marathon rides Tayna yourself?

Tayna: Well, I'm actually training for a walking marathon, a half-marathon. It is incredible. It takes so much commitment and perseverance, especially doing it for a cause, but there's something that really keeps you going. I was really struck by that foldable bike.

Daniel: Yeah, well that's amazing because I guess what you do with these things is when you're in areas that you can't use your bike anywhere, you fold it up and throw it into a backpack. For any of you who have ever trekked into Nepal, I guess you'll understand the viability of something like that. And as I said, joining us today is Beverly Anderson. She on the phone. Apparently, we've got somebody hanging out too. But first of all, we want to thank you Beverly Anderson for taking the time to come on Beyond 50 and tell us about your trek on foldable Bike Fridays. Thank you for joining us on the show.

Beverly: Oh, it's my pleasure.

Daniel: Now give us an idea of who you are and how you got involved in Bike Fridays.

Beverly: Well, I've been biking for years and years and years and I knew a couple of people who got Bike Fridays and I got real irritated at the hassle and expense of taking my bike with me on the airplane. And so, I decided to get a Bike Friday because if it didn't fold and travel free, it would still be a wonderful bike to ride. A year ago, I rode it from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida.

Tayna: Wow! (quietly)

Daniel: That sounds like quite a trek there. Did you run into any tornadoes? What time of year were you doing this?

Beverly: We started in March and I went with a commercial touring company that does tours for women. There was one day in Florida when they didn't let us bike because there were tornadoes in the area.

Daniel: They let you take a movie camera or pictures or anything like that? (some laughs). I guess not.

Beverly: No, I don't think so.

Tayna: Beverly, hi, this is Tayna. I'm so impressed with your ability to do this. I'm curious, what is it that keeps you going from San Diego to Florida? That's a tremendous ride.

Daniel: Good slurpees at 7-11 probably.

Beverly: Well, you know. I just enjoy it.

Tayna: You just enjoy. You mean just enjoyment keeps you going on those long treks?!

Beverly: Yeah. Well, there were a couple of times it was a little tough. But I just really love to bike.

Tayna: What is it about biking that you love, specifically?

Beverly: One thing I love about it is the speed. It's so much faster than walking or even running, which are also things I've done and still do sometimes. But in the course of a day, you can go a distance on a bike and you are totally using just your own power, and yet, you can see on an ordinary map, the distance that you're gone. There's something about that that really excites me (Tayna hums in agreement).

Tayna: It sounds like you also can get some benefits from that, like health and wellness. Can you speak a little about that?

Beverly: You do get health and wellness benefits. But you know what, I'd probably do it if it were bad for me. (Tayna laughs)

Tayna: You really are passionate about riding, aren you?

Beverly: Yes.

Tayna: Excellent. Excellent.

Daniel: Well, one thing I wanted to ask you, Beverly, I understand that you were saying earlier that you are part of a group of women that do this. Obviously, you ladies are Beyond 50. I guess what Tayna is trying to ask you is, What compelled you? Is it to get out of the house to stay fit, stay healthy, stay actively involved. You don't even get kids who want to ride a bike a couple of blocks just to go to the grocery store for a can of pop. But here, youe going like from West to East coast. That's pretty amazing, but it also keeps you in a really unique social group of people who are just active. Now, how did you get involved with that? How did you hear about it?

Beverly: Well, the group I went (phone conversation got cut off. Studio error)

Daniel: Oh well. We kind of lost her there for a minute. I believe we're joined by Janet Fogel. Are you on the air?

Janet: Yes.

Daniel: Okay good. We were just talking with Beverly, I was trying to take the other call and get you both involved there and I think she got swooped away by a tornado there, but what I was asking her is that she was enjoyed by a group of women that you all got together and you were doing long-distance bicycling. What got her and you guys involved in something like this?

Janet: Right. And she was about to answer that question. (laughing)

Daniel: Exactly (more laughs) Janet: I was kind of interested. So, do you want me to take it from there?

Daniel: If you could please.

Janet: Well I can't answer for Beverly. I don't know what she got involved with, but I can tell you how I got involved with a group. I use to be a surfer in Hawaii, and when I came back to the mainland, I had a back injury and wasn't able to do something that was really unpredictable in movement and surfing is. And cycling offered me that opportunity to have sort of the thrill of the downhill, and yet be more stable - an activity that would still have some of the excitement and risk that I was attracted to in surfing, but be very stable. And so when I got to the point in my career where I could go part-time and get more involved in cycling, then I took up with a group here called the Santa Fe County Cycling Club and started riding just distance rides with them and then built friendships through that and ended up actually being president of the club for a couple of years. I loved the group. I think Beverly was saying something wonderful being connected with people that are active and involved in a sport. They're such healthy, vital human beings, and fun to be with.

Tayna: Wow, excellent. Janet, you are such an inspiration to so many of us. Several things that I've heard that you and Beverly say is there's an enjoyment, there's an excitement, there's adventure and risk, there's connection, there's a sense of having your own power and speed and the activity - just keeping the thrill of the activity going as well as the benefits of health. Is there anything else I'm missing there that keeps you going?

Janet: I wish I had been able to hear all of the things that she shared with you. I just came on the air just a few minutes ago. But one of the things a lot of us that are over 50, and I'm very, very soon going to turn 60. Our finding is that at this point in life, if you keep doing it, there's this thing about if you use it, you don't lose it - the old expression. (Tayna agrees by humming) We find that a lot of our friends that didn't stay active are wanting to become more active and it's incredibly difficult for them now because they haven't developed that habit and that way of being

Tayna: I love what you just said Janet, If you don't use it, you lose it. What kind of advice would you have for people who are inspired by your story about who want start off with baby steps - maybe not want to take the trek from one coast to the next coast? How would tell them to start beginning?

Janet: Oh I think that one of the best things to do is to join a cycling club because of all the cycling clubs that I know of have groups for beginners and sometimes for people that are wanting to get back and take it up again (Tayna agrees) and our club. I know we have a Wednesday morning ride for starters, you know we started people off with about 10-miles with ride and now a lot of those people are up to 25-mile rides. But the thing that's nice about joining up with a group of friends or a club like that is the support.

Tayna: Yes, the support, the friendship, the connection

Daniel: Well, the most important thing to is to be involved in a community so you're not just sitting in a lounge chair you know with a remote control and waiting, you know, for the day to pass before you but to be out there and be active and doing those kinds of things. Now you probably have some great stories about your adventure. We've been trying to get Beverly back in, but apparently modern technology just isn't warranting us for that, so hopefully she'll accept our apologies.

Daniel: But now, tell us some unique things that have happened along your treks, you know, a unique story along the way and some of the friendships that you've created.

Betsy '100 countries and still pedaling' Schwartz, world traveler and another Bike Friday Superwoman!.

Janet: I think one of our most fun adventures recently has been a trek that my husband and I did on a Bike Friday tandem along with Betsy Schwartz who is a Bike Friday enthusiast across the three Baltic countries: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. And those are countries that were occupied by the Soviet Union and we went across, just a couple of years ago. What was so wonderful about being on a bike in those countries was how open and accessible we were to the people. We were invited to homes. When I was a kid I hear about people going to Europe and you know people would invite them home and feed them and invite them to sleep there that night. That happened to us and that was because we were on bikes you know (Tayna hums). It just makes us much more, I guess, vulnerable in some ways and safer for people to approach. We weren't safe in our cars, on our little tour buses. We were just out there, and so we put ourselves at risk. We went on by-roads that we had no idea of where they were going to lead to, and when we got to the end and if there was no place to sleep, we'd ask people, 'where do we go now? And they'd take us in. So, to put us on the edge like that at this age in life, it's harder to do than when you're young because your experience tells you ooh, don't go there. But doing it keeps you alive, I think.

Daniel: Well, that sounds like a really, really unique story that encourages people out there who are Beyond 50. Don't just sit around and just let life pass you by. If you get a hold of a Bike Friday, join this wonderful group because it sounds like they're out moving and shaking and doing things and we want to thank you very much for being on the show.

Janet: My pleasure.

Tayna: One question. If we wanted to contact you. If our listeners were interested in joining your Bike Friday group, how would we get in touch with you?

Janet: The easiest way is through the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club.

Tayna: Santa Cruz County Cycling Club.

Janet: And we have a website, Santacruzcyling.org. Santa Cruz Cyling, one word, dot org.

Tayna: Excellent, excellent.

Janet: So if anyone wants, there's several of us that have Bike Fridays that venture off. There are three of us, four of us that are going to leave in a few weeks for Bulgaria and the Crimea on our Bike Fridays.

Daniel: Thank you very much again. That was Janet Fogel with Bike Fridays. An interesting group out there that are taking the Beyond 50 crowd and exploring the world. So that sounds like a great thing. It looks like that we may have Beverly back on the line. Beverly, are you there?

Beverly: Yes Daniel: Okay, good. We're sorry about the little thing there. We figured maybe there was a storm on that southern highway that were...Sorry we have to wrap things up - getting back to what you were saying about how you came together to get this started. How was that for you?

Beverly: Oh, I have just been biking ever since I was a kid and I sort of never stopped. So when my kids were young, I didn't do very much, but then I got back into it after the kids were grown and joined the bike club and found out more about bikes and about cycling.

Daniel: Sounds good. Do you have any contact information for people maybe in Oregon how they can get in contact with bike riding groups of Bike Fridays? Maybe you can share that with us before we

Beverly: Well Bike Friday has a website, which I think is just bikefriday.com, if I remember correctly. And another organization that I would recommend is Adventure Cycling.

Daniel: Sounds good.

Beverly: Oh again, and that is a dot org, cause theye a nonprofit and they have developed a series of bike routes all over the country so that almost anyplace that you want to go and bike, you can buy a map from them that'll you know, show you what's the best cycling route. They have routes down both coasts; three routes across the country, east to west. A route down the Mississippi, up the rocky mountain. Great, great stuff.

Daniel: Sounds like you've had a lot of great adventures and that'll encourage for our Beyond 50 listeners out there to get out there. Get a Bike Friday, just get a bicycle in general and start connecting with this group and get active. We want to thank you for sharing this information again. Sorry about that little trouble we had there earlier, but we're sure we're going to have you back on Beyond 50 again.

Beverly: Okay.

Daniel: Okay, thank you for joining us and that was Beverly Anderson, Bike Friday owner, who joined us finally back on the show again. It sounds like a great group to get in touch with, even if you're below 50.

Tayna: Absolutely.

Daniel: Thanks again very much Beverly for joining us on the show.

Tayna: Thank you

Daniel: Again, that was Beverly and Janet and they are with Bike Friday, sharing with the Beyond 50 crowd is out there doing on bicycles. Sounds like some great stuff. I think I might want to get out there and do that myself.

Tayna: Excellent, excellent representation for living and leading an active lifestyle, regardless of your age.

Daniel: Absolutely, exactly, plus you feel good so you get to experience a lot of great things.

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Beverley Anderson describes her neat visor for biking with spectacles at the 2003 BF Homecoming /Cycle Oregon 2003.

Read about Beverley Anderson and other Beyond 50 BF owners who rode with the best of them at the BF Homecoming /Cycle Oregon 2003

Emailable link to this article: http://tinyurl.com/4xvwj

For more information, follow this link http://www.bikefriday.com/bf/seniors.