Globetrotter

Joe Rodriguez has suffered through his fair share of health problems.

But the 72-year-old Sun City West man hasn't let a bad back, tremors from a brain injury or a torn rotator cuff inhibit him from accomplishing an impressive feat of bicycling 25,000 miles in little more than four years.

And with the completion of the goal April 4, Rodriguez can now claim something that few others can - he's biked enough miles to circle the globe.

Always an athlete and an active cyclist for more than 20 years, Rodriguez said he needed a challenge to overcome declining health several years ago due to complications from a brainstem injury he sustained playing football in the Marines in the 1950s. The injury prevents Rodriguez from using his hands normally and causing tremors in his arms and hands.

In 2004 he decided to take on the 25,000 mile trek as a personal test.

"I'm not the type of person who can sit home and read a book," he said "I have to be active. Goals are very important. I had to have something to motivate me."

He began slowly, logging about 87 miles a week during the first year. Gradually, he said he felt better and became more conditioned for longer rides. In 2006 and 2007 he was tallying 120 miles a week with an estimated 1 hour, 45 minute trip time.

Originally, Rodriguez gave himself a five-year time frame to accomplish the feat. As he edged closer each week he became more obsessed, eventually traveling more than 33 miles a trip for the final three months of the quest.

He finished well ahead of schedule in four years, three months and four days.

"When you get closer to a goal you become more possessive of it," he said. "It became such a drive for me."

"People my age should be aware that they can do a lot more than they think they are capable of. That's the thing that I realized," he added.

Rodriguez estimated he biked about 19,000 of the total miles in and around Sun City West, The remaining miles were pounded out in Utah, where he visits in the summers. His daily course - usually atop his Softride bicycle and clad in one of many bright cycling outfits - was dependent upon where he felt like riding. Generally, he would ride alongside walls within the community to steer clear of traffic, he said.

"When you live in a retirement community you can't take anything for granted," he joked, recalling several close calls with distracted motorists. "Biking, you have to be alert."

The former high school teacher and coach said he knows the importance of exercise and staying active.

"I'm not worried about how long I live, I'm worried about quality of life," he said. "It's helped me. It's given me a goal to do every morning. It doesn't matter how long you live if you can't enjoy it."

"If you use age as an excuse you're using it as a crutch. And if you don't use it, you lose it."

Rodriguez enjoyed the sense of accomplishment he felt after completing each leg of his journey, he said.

"It's not done for anyone else," he said. "The satisfaction I get is my own. If I have a goal, I'm the one who gets the satisfaction. (I) don't do it to impress anyone because most people don't give a hoot."

Rodriguez estimated that he's ridden more than 70,000 miles in his lifetime and he doesn't have any intentions of slowing down.

And now that his 25,000 mile challenge is complete he's got a new goal.

"I'm going to continue riding," he said. "Fifty thousand miles is on the horizon."