John Ferguson, who, with his distinctive white beard, can often be seen cycling on local roads as he leads a tour group or commutes from his West Bay home, recently completed the ride of his life.
Ferguson was one of more than 25,000 cyclists from 17 countries who covered 424 miles over six days across the US state of Iowa last month in the annual RAGBRAI ride.
“I don’t know why I waited until I was 65 years old to do this bike ride, because it was absolutely magic,” he told the Compass.
During the epic cycle, he rode for six to seven hours a day and, throughout the entire ride, covered 18,000 feet of elevation.
“They say Iowa is flat, but I call BS on that,” Ferguson said, as he recalled the many uphill trails RAGBRAI took him on. “My legs felt it every single day.”