Jerry Byers, 70, will participate in his 10th 100% Solution Bike Ride, a 308-mile trek from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando that benefits Tuesday’s Angels. (Photo by Juan Carlos Rodriguez)
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By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Thursday, March 20, 2008
At 70 years of age, Jerry Byers just can’t quit. He’s one of those people who truly enjoy hard work. When he commits to a project, be it rebuilding a kitchen or pedaling 300 miles for a good cause, you can bet he’ll finish it.
Byers, a retired engineer and skilled handy man, never met a power tool he didn’t like. With 60-year-old Norris Wildhagen, Byers runs a small home repair and renovation business. He never advertises but he has a client list that he says “will keep me busy the rest of my life.”
Thorough, methodical and never frazzled by stress, Byers ticks off each project one completed job at a time.
“I work every day,” Byers said from his home, which he shares with Rudy Wengenroth, his partner of 45 years. “I like to work. It’s like having fun.”
On April 11, Byers will put his determination to the test by completing his 10th 100 Percent Solution Bike Ride for Life, a 300-mile trek that raises money for Tuesday’s Angels, a non-profit organization that provides direct help to people with AIDS and HIV. The bikers start in Fort Lauderdale and ride to Orlando.
Byers is not only the oldest rider of the group this year, but he is the one who has completed the most rides. He’s pedaled whole days — from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Pierce — in driving rain. He’s fallen on his head, cracked two bicycle helmets, suffered a nasty gash on his left shoulder and finished a ride with a bruise on his hip that he says swelled to the size of a football.
And while he will tell anyone who asks that preparation is key to successfully completing in the ride, he skips most of the group’s organized practices.
“It’s not difficult,” he says, disregarding the fact that he has arthritis and suffers from a back condition. “It’s a long ride and it takes a toll on your endurance.”
Buyer cuts a sturdy figure. He has broad, square shoulders, bulging biceps. His taut stature contradict his age, but for Byers age is relative.
“You can be an old 50, or you can be a young 70,” he says.
He keeps his father in mind, who upon turning 75 built a house of oak beams and wood by hand during a Connecticut winter. Byers attributes his strong disposition to his father’s Pennsylvania Dutch-German work ethic.
Byers’ drive has moved his top donor to give him a bronze sculpture of a bicyclist in motion. Byers displays prominently on the coffee table of his Florida room.
Raoul Pinho, the co-chair of the 100 percent ride, said he been awed by the Byers’ performance.
“He almost never trains,” Pinho said. “But when he rides it consumes him. He is pure will power — that’s what drives him.”
Since 1998, the ride has raised more than $800,000, which goes directly to Tuesday’s Angels clients. The group helps clients pay for things that government programs or other organizations don’t help with — things such as veterinary bills for pets of PWAs or rent. Each year Tuesday’s Angels sends 50 children who have AIDS to summer camp. The bike ride is the organization’s primary fund-raising activity.
Byers says he keeps riding to be sure that the ride continues. In recent years, he says it’s been difficult to bring in new riders. So he keeps doing his part.
“Somebody’s got to go out there and put things together,” he says.
“It’s just important that we do our share and contribute back to the community.”
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