A Ride with Gunner
‘Wahoo!’ ‘It was so epic.’ ‘The undertaking was crazy ambitious.’ ‘This has never been done before.’ Our language about adventure trips tends to contrive boldness, a sense of novelty, and extremism. We see this depiction regularly in adventure sports and travel; lauded in film festivals; and paraded in beer and car commercials. It’s fun, entertaining, and inspiring even when I am watching from the audience. I enjoy it most when I am part of it. I can regularly be found consulting maps, searching for remote areas, exploring challenging terrain, and pushing my body and skillset to their boundaries by bike, boat, ski, or climb. Many of these adventures have been chronicled in Salsa blog posts and storysites for the past decade or so.
As I rode the well-traveled bike path with cars flying by my left side, I began to think about how much this differed from our typical representation of adventure. I began to think about it all with different terms. Words like consistent, dependable, and steady came to mind. Those are also words I would use to describe my adventure partner, who happened to be my 78-year-old dad, Gunner. This was his trip, and I was fortunate to be a part of it.
Gunner has inspired me with his daily dedication to riding his bike. He has a 10.5-mile bike route that he rides nearly every day and twice on the weekends. He is a retired military officer, and his regimented nature is evident and admirable in his drive to ride as far as he can for as long as he can.
This trip began just like any other: with an idea and an objective. Years ago, Gunner mentioned to me that he always wanted to ride the length of the Florida Keys. Initially, I hesitated in committing to the ride as there were few established bike lanes or paths along U.S. Highway 1, the main thoroughfare to the Keys. Over time, though, the state of Florida has been working to create the Florida Keys Heritage Trail, a multi-use paved path that provides a safe alternative for cyclists and other recreational users to travel through the Keys without riding on the highway. Ninety miles of trail have been completed, with more in the works. Even the expansive bridges between the Keys now have wide shoulders and provide a feeling of relative safety when riding among the heavy traffic.
Having lived in Florida previously, my dad had ridden portions of the trail, but never its entire length in one push. In planning my winter adventure calendar, his desire kept coming into my head. Maybe it was the fact that the trail was 80 to 90% complete and thus a safer endeavor than it had been in the past. Or maybe the opportunity to escape winter in Colorado for a tropical respite sounded attractive. If I am honest, the main motivation for helping him complete this goal was that it was beginning to sink in that we didn’t have many trips left together as father and son. The shadow of Father Time is always inching towards us, but it seems to accelerate, to engulf us, the more times we have gone around the sun.
Though always driven to keep moving, Gunner’s physical capabilities are beginning to wane. Movements that were once second nature now have to be adapted or attempted with more thoughtfulness. I know this is all part of the aging process and, if lucky enough, I will experience much the same. My dad and family are fortunate that he is extremely healthy and fit for his age. Nonetheless, watching him negotiate the lifecycle has forced me to come to terms with my own mortality and what lies ahead. Neither of us have infinite miles to pedal, and thus, I seized the opportunity to join him in riding from Key Largo to Key West.
Regardless of the world of social media and its influenced vision of what it means to have a ‘one-of-a-kind’ and ‘high-adrenaline’ adventure, riding 120 miles or so along a busy highway was an adventure by bike for my dad. In his younger years, he may not have thought much about doing such a ride. But at 78 years young, perspectives change and our confidence in our capabilities is tested in ways that we never expected. Doubt creeps in and doing what we once took for granted becomes a worthy aspiration.
Gunner and I took three days to ride to the southernmost point of the continental U.S. We took our time, stopping when we wanted to explore whatever caught our attention — a tourist trap to feed tarpon; an oceanside restaurant to drink margaritas and swim in their pool; a local air museum to wander into the past; or a white sand beach to swim and watch the clouds go by. The ride will be one of the most memorable for me, as the easy pace allowed me to connect with him and learn more about his past and the life choices he made that eventually brought us to this trip. Traveling always with a camera to capture moments in time, I made my first foray into the world of video. What follows below is a raw, first film attempt that showcases my dad, who embodies the power of consistently training, setting goals, and pursuing something from an internal drive rather than for ‘one-upmanship’ or comparison to others. This is a great lesson for me, as I feel time slipping by faster and faster with each passing day. Having moved beyond my athletic prime, it is good to know that meaningful adventure can be found at any age. It may look different, but it will still illicit the same emotional and physical responses.
What’s our next ride, Gunner?