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Longtime friends and cycling buddies Bob Hale and Dutch Vanderkuyp surveyed the scene last Sunday before the start of the Tour de Cape and figured everything was healthy with their favorite recreational sport.
The two cycling activists, daily riders as members of the Caloosa Riders, know their sport never has an offseason. Popularity continues to climb, and Hale and Vanderkuyp enjoy seeing a strong turnout on special cycling days.
"I continue to see more newcomers attending events like the Tour de Cape," said Hale, 73. "When Dutch and I take our daily rides more and more folks pop up along the various routes."
Hale has never missed a Tour de Cape and completed the 30-mile segment.
"I took a light ride of 30 miles - usually I go 60 miles," said Hale, who meets Vanderkuyp during the week at Coral Oaks Golf Course for a long ride up to Pine Island.
Hale got his initial cycling urge while taking a recreational ride alone on his mountain bike and encountered another cyclist.
"I usually went no more than 9 or 10 miles, but I met an 85-year-old man around Trafalgar Middle School and he took me on a 62-mile ride," Hale said.
Vanderkuyp, who volunteered at the Tour de Cape while recovering from a battle with vertigo, should be considered an expert on distance cycling.
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The 62-year-old native of Holland has cycled from Seattle to Bar Harbour, Maine, Cape Coral to Toronto and San Diego to St. Augustine on his recumbent bicycle.
"Since the Tour de France starts this year in my native Holland, I'll probably watch the start and then return later in the summer for my final leg of crossing the United States, Seattle to San Diego," Vanderkuyp said.
Vanderkuyp was pleased with the turnout Sunday at
Cape Harbour.
"Cape Harbour is a perfect staging site with so many amenities available," Vanderkuyp said. "I think in a few years we'll get back to the 500-600 totals of riders that were normal a decade ago."
He said he saw a lot of parents with their children.
"They soon understand the best part of this event is the camaraderie," Vanderkuyp said.
He said he loves cycling because of the close contact with nature.
"I explain to folks all you do is alternate pushing your right and left legs and once you have a bike, no costs are involved."
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