http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2011/09/22/age_has_no_season/doc4e7b8fc0ac447861105781.txt
Published: Thursday, September 22, 2011
By Caitlin Burns
For the Old Spokes Cycle Club at Normandy Farms Estates, 9000 Twin Silo Drive, bicycling is not just an activity - it’s a social gathering. The 23 members of Old Spokes ride every Monday, weather permitting, and enjoy each other’s company.
“This is 50 percent a social club,” member Pete Torello said. “We leave in the morning so we can eat together.”
Members are not required to do all the rides, so they say each ride is different because the group changes and it is a new opportunity to meet people.
On Mondays, the group drives to a trail they’ve chosen, leaving between 9:30 and 10 a.m.; they bike for about an hour and then sets up a picnic or go to lunch. The favorite trail of the Old Spokes is the Perkiomen Trail but they’ve traveled as far as Frenchtown, New Jersey and the Lehigh Gorge State Park.
The Old Spokes ride in the spring, summer and fall as long as the weather permits.
“It keeps people young,” member Joan Torello said. “It makes you feel like a kid again.”
Many of the members said they’ve been biking for years and enjoy the exercise and socializing the Old Spokes gives them.
“I biked regularly before I came,” member Polly Bromm said. “I love to exercise out of doors.”
Member Roberta Taylor said that the group started out as only a few people in 2006 when she moved in and saw Ben “Uncle Ben” Morelli with his bike, Bermuda shorts, knee high socks and suspenders.
“I knew there was at least one bike rider,” Taylor said. “There weren’t many [riders] the first year.”
Since then the group has only grown and inspired others to take up bike riding. As people moved in, more began to join.
Now 92 years old, Uncle Ben no longer rides with the group, but they dedicate much of the cycle club to him. Taylor said that even the group name came from Uncle Ben.
“It was mostly Ben,” Taylor said. “He asked me if I’d be insulted if he called it Old Spokes. I said ‘Why would I be insulted?’”
Some people that moved in were even inspired by the group and Uncle Ben to go out and buy their own bicycles and equipment when they joined.
“We’ve been here two years,” Lynda Basham said. “We went out and bought the whole thing.”
Anne Collins said the group inspired her to buy a bicycle for her 80th birthday.
“They were having way too much fun,” Collins said.
“It started off small,” member Bonnie Sanfield said. “It’s just mushroomed off. It’s a good group.”
While the Old Spokes enjoy their rides and each others company, most of them follow certain rules: only riding on paved paths, staying off highways and, above all, always wear a helmet.
“We’ve had a lot of fun together,” Joan Torello said. “We’re very fortunate.”