SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Some retirees play golf. Some meet at McDonald’s before sunrise to solve the world’s problems and drink too much coffee.
And then there are the Bikin’ Brothers. They meet every Tuesday morning and go on 55-kilometer bike rides.
I’m a year younger than the youngest member of the Bikin’ Brothers, but that didn’t stop me from going for a ride with them this week.
The Bikin’ Brothers rode the full 34 miles on Tuesday morning. This reporter only rode about 13 miles. But it was a lot of fun hanging out with these guys on the LaSalle Trail between South Bend and the Michigan state line.
“Our wives always went shopping on Tuesdays and we decided to do something different,” said Lynn Kauffman, co-founder of Bikin’ Brothers. “And we were just starting out, it was just the two of us, me and Bill Kercher.”
The two Bikin’ Brothers now have almost 20 members. On the summer morning when I rode with them, they were 11 men strong.
When you ride with the Bikin’ Brothers, you get lost in conversations about training, fitness and nutrition. But what comes out of those conversations is what is really important to this club: camaraderie.
Gary Miller, a Bikin’ Brother, loves riding bikes with friends.
“I was always a loner,” Miller said. “And until I met her, what I enjoyed most was the community. We stick together, we help each other, especially when there’s a problem.”
Miller said that you’re safer in a group. I mean, who between the ages of 65 and 80 wouldn’t see a bright line of fluorescent bike lights?
Some of the brothers have e-bikes, i.e. bicycles with electric drives, and there is some speculation about this.
Jim Marks, a Bikin’ Brother, said everyone enjoyed the banter.
“Sometimes I can beat an e-bike uphill, sometimes I can’t,” Marks said. “I’m what they call a non. Non in the sense of not electric, and then there are the e-bikes.”
Marks is sure that one day he will get an e-bike because he knows that his Bikin’ Brothers will have no problem with it.
Whatever it takes to be on the track on Tuesday morning.
All rights reserved.
