[Saw this wonderful story circulated by WinnipegBikeAlerts and had to share! -Beth]
With a bike and an oxygen tank, 88-year-old Calgarian credits long life to daily cycling routine
Photograph by: Colleen De Neve , Calgary Herald
CALGARY - There’s nothing that will stop 88-year-old Ken Johnson from riding his bicycle. Not a wheelchair. Not an oxygen tank. Not Calgary’s cold winters.Every day, the octogenarian uses a wheelchair to get from his northwest apartment to the building’s parkade, where he stores his bicycle.
He uses a bungee cord to strap his metal oxygen tank onto a shelf on the back of his bike.
Then he puts on a blue helmet, trades his wheelchair for his bicycle and pedals, for at least one hour a day.
“I’m probably healthier now than I was 20 years ago, and the only reason that I’m still able to do things is because of bike riding,” Johnson said. “If it wasn’t for bike riding, I probably wouldn’t be here now.”
When the mercury drops below zero, Johnson rides inside, up and down the seven floors of his apartment building’s parkade.
The great-great grandfather started cycling when he was in his 60s, after he was diagnosed with emphysema.
“I quit smoking and started to ride,” he said.
While he initially struggled to keep his balance, Johnson, who learned to bike as a child but never owned a bicycle of his own, kept pedalling because he knew it was good for his health. Recent health struggles haven’t caused the senior to slow down.
When the widower started using oxygen about four years ago, after being diagnosed with colon cancer, he continued to cycle.
“Once I went on oxygen, I didn’t want to quit riding and I couldn’t ride very far without the oxygen,” Johnson said.
Riding with his oxygen tank, a move that elicits stares from the people he passes on Calgary’s bike paths, was the logical next move for the senior.
“I’ve got to have my oxygen on all the time because my lungs are really, really bad,” he said.
When his legs began to slow down last year, Johnson visited a Canadian Tire sale and picked up an electric bicycle for half price.
“I still pedal a lot but I use the electric bike to go up the hills and against the wind,” he said.
Six months ago, Johnson began using a wheelchair when he was forced to stop four or five times to catch his breath, even with oxygen, on the short walk from his apartment to his bicycle.
“It’s far easier for me to ride than it is to walk,” Johnson said. “I can ride for hours and hours and hours. I usually cut my oxygen down when I’m riding.”
The retired salesman always rides solo and typically cycles in the afternoon to places accessible on the city’s bike paths, such as the zoo and Bowness Park.
Johnson, a Second World War veteran who rode motorcycles in the army, drove a motorcycle, with his oxygen tank strapped to the back, until last year when his license was taken away.
He’s yet to let anything stop him from riding his bicycle and is determined to keep it that way.
“As long as I can get down to my bike, I’m going to ride,” he said.