Anita's Incredible Perseverance

Tom Butler: 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 Podcast, season 2, episode 23,. Anita's Incredible Perseverance and I'm your host, tom Butler. I have started out this year with a fizzle. I've been sick so I haven't been out this week at all. That means when tomorrow comes I will need to do 50 miles, just again top of my goal of 10 miles per day average. I feel like I'm still recovering a bit, so I don't think I'm going to make up for it all in one day. I will try to put in 30 miles tomorrow and then 20 miles the next two days. They will most likely be pretty slow miles.

Tom Butler: 0:50

I want to mention a couple things from last episode. At one point I mentioned my goal for 2019. I am not sure why my brain stepped back in time for a moment, but I'm hoping that everybody was able to figure out that I was talking about 2024 when I was talking about goals. A second adjustment from last episode is that I did find some more information on fasting insulin levels. Now I'm going to be targeting under 10 microunits per milliliter. One of the discussions I heard that helped me determine that was with Robert Lustig, who I find to be a primary source for information on metabolic health. He cautions that lab value evaluations have been tainted by the fact that the normal population is far from healthy. Fasting insulin is an example of this. While 15 microunits per milliliter is considered the high end of normal, lustig thinks that research shows that a value over 10 shows compromised function and people should be striving for a value of 5. Hearing this just makes me more curious about what my results are going to be out of the gate.

Tom Butler: 2:01

One of the things that is a problem in many areas of my life is that I am so incompetent when it comes to anything mechanical or anything related to crafting something. For some reason, I have the hardest time conceptualizing how things fit together. I have to be very careful with anything that I am trying to build or fix. If I am not really careful, I make really simple mistakes. But with my bike I want to do as much work myself as I can, so this week I am going to attempt to change the Future Shock spring on my specialized Roubaix by myself.

Tom Butler: 2:34

Future Shock is a specialized feature that comes on a few models. The Roubaix is an endurance bike and the Future Shock provides a way of absorbing bumps while maintaining a rigid connection between the wheels and the frame. The Future Shock is positioned under the stem and allows for 20mm of travel. I have really come to love the smooth feeling of the Future Shock. However, I am on the heavy side of what the bike was designed for, so the spring that is at the heart of the Future Shock flexes too much, just simply under my body weight. The bike came with a stiffer spring and that should work better for me, so I need to remove the stem, undo a cap that holds the spring in place and then put it back together. This doesn't sound too bad, but I have a tendency to turn things that are easy into complicated things routinely. I will have to let you know how this goes.

Tom Butler: 3:24

Final thing I will mention is that I purchased a pair of Belief leggings. I have a pair of Belief cold weather pants that are exceptional, but they are a little too warm. These new leggings are waterproof and the perfect weight for rides in cold weather with just a little rain, and this is the condition of almost every ride this time of year. If you have never checked out Belief before, it is worth going to their website. Belief is spelled B-A-L-E-A-F. One big plus for me is that the Belief supply chain is Global Recycling Standard certified. Check them out.

Tom Butler: 4:06

I spent New Year's Eve with maybe the worst sore throat I've ever had. In this week's interview, you can hear that I wasn't 100%. What was 100% is how much I enjoyed talking to my guest, anita Elder. I have been watching Anita's Instagram for a while now and I'm so impressed with her journey. I'm just blown away by her incredible perseverance when it comes to getting healthy through cycling. She is such a vibrant member of the local cycling community and I'm thrilled to share her story with you. Here is our conversation. I am joined today by one of the most inspirational people I have come across since joining the local bicycle community here. Happy New Year and thank you, anita Elder, for coming on the podcast.

Anita Elder: 4:46

Glad to be here.

Tom Butler: 4:47

Now, anita, you are an active member of Cascade Bicycle Club and have given at least one talk in an event. You serve as an ambassador for the club as well. You post your adventures on Instagram and you have a website that gives really great information on your journey. I think it's safe to say that you have inspired thousands of people, and I am one of those people.

Anita Elder: 5:09

Makes me feel good, because that's what I've been trying to do.

Tom Butler: 5:13

Well, you're being successful at it for sure, and I'm so glad that listeners of this podcast get to hear your story. Let's start out with give me a memory you have of biking as a kid.

Anita Elder: 5:27

One of my first memories. I did get a bike for Christmas when I was in second grade. I just vaguely remember it because I have a picture from that time. But the bike I remember most from my childhood was this yellow banana seat bike. I used to ride it all over town unsupervised and I didn't wear a helmet. Most kids didn't wear them back then. I would also do these long 20-mile bike rides with the Girl Scout troop that I belonged to.

Tom Butler: 6:02

I remember those days of no helmets. We didn't even think about it, our parents didn't think about it. Those were days that they let us do a lot of fairly dangerous things.

Anita Elder: 6:14

Yeah, like running around town unsupervised when you're only seven.

Tom Butler: 6:17

Right Now you are very physically active. Now Did you develop the desire to pursue physical activity as a team?

Anita Elder: 6:28

A little bit. I was very active in gymnastics and my specialty was the uneven bars. I did like some other sports but you know I came from a poor background and my mom and dad relied on me to watch my little brothers when I got off, got out of school in the afternoon. Sometimes I'd have to cook dinner. So I didn't really pursue any other sports because it would have taken time away, it would have made a burden on them. We lived in a rural town and there was not a lot to do, so our entertainment a lot of the times was hiking through the mountains.

Tom Butler: 7:09

Now, what mountains would that have been?

Anita Elder: 7:12

That would be in Pennsylvania. So nothing like the elevation you have here in Washington. You might have 3000 feet, might have been the highest one, and we never went up that high. We were just going through mostly deer trails and swinging on monkey vines, things like that.

Tom Butler: 7:31

Right Now. Currently, you are, like I said, very active, physically active. I think that discussions we've had on other podcasts. You're not typical. You're more physically active than the typical American and I think you're more physically active than people in our age group typically are. I think that COVID played a role in that journey about getting on a bike and being more active. Is that correct?

Anita Elder: 8:00

Yeah, certainly the catalyst that started my biking again. I was actually on a hiking tour down in Tasmania when I got COVID the end of February of 2020. And when I returned home, everything was shutting down in the hiking trails. Everybody was wanting to get outside, away from others, but the hiking trails were too crowded and I certainly didn't want to get COVID again, so I decided to look into e-bikes. I had checked it out probably five years earlier, but it was just out of my price range. This time when I checked, I found rad power bikes, which is based out of Seattle, but they ship everywhere. And then the timing was right with the first pandemic relief check, so it pretty much paid for the majority of that bike. It was a cargo e bike, but it got me around and got me out, and that was the start of it.

Tom Butler: 8:52

You mentioned going for the e-bike. That, I think, is a response to maybe some health challenges that you've had or some physical obstacles that you've had, but you don't let those physical obstacles throw you down. Can you talk a bit about your obstacles and then why you don't let that stop?

Anita Elder: 9:11

Sure. So I was inactive for probably a couple of decades due to bone-on-bone knees. I had a lot of sports injuries while I was in the Air Force. The worst one was when I tore my ACL playing racquetball and they never fixed it, they never did anything about it. They just kept saying, oh, you just sprained it and from there it just kept getting worse, and then I can't remember what I was doing. Then I tore the meniscus in the other knee and just it just kept getting worse and as it got worse I kept getting heavier, which you know. Just it was kind of like a vicious circle. I couldn't get a lot of exercise.

Anita Elder: 9:54

I've always loved the outdoors. You know growing up poor and you know spending all my time outdoors. I've done a lot of camping, a lot of hiking. You know. I thought to myself I could either sit and wallow in my pain or I could get outside and enjoy what I could. So most of the time I would drive to a location, walk us around as much as I could, taking photos, which is another hobby that I like to do.

Anita Elder: 10:20

So I had both my knees replaced six years ago and to do that I had to jump through hoops. First I had to be over 55. And I had to get my weight down some as close to 200 as I could, which was hard when you're in pain. I was on insulin, which also makes it very hard to lose weight, and then the final thing was getting my insulin under control. So I really pushed on that.

Anita Elder: 10:47

I guess it was 2016,. That late spring, early summer, I really did a push and finally met the criteria. I was well over 55 at that point, got my knees replaced and once that was done, I knew it was my chance to improve my health. Two months after my second knee was replaced, I hiked up the rattlesnake ledge, which was a pretty big deal for me. I hadn't done that in a very, very long time. And then, five months after that second knee, I did an eight mile hike at Mount Rainier, which had a lot of elevation. So, bit by bit, I got healthier and more active. Last February I was taken off insulin. That made it even easier to lose weight and I've lost about 100 pounds since my knees have been replaced. Today I started my final push to lose that last 35, 40 pounds to reach my goal weight.

Anita Elder: 11:49

So it's just trying to keep a positive attitude and I see a lot of people in chronic pain which I was and they give up. I wanted to see too much of this world and do too much to just give up.

Tom Butler: 12:04

And it sounds like there was kind of a reward mechanism. I'm guessing at this. You'll have to tell me if I'm right, but when you're going out to try to capture a great picture, it seems like if you're successful at doing that, you kind of hike to a place and you get a beautiful thing. It's almost it's like a reward for putting up a team to get out there.

Anita Elder: 12:23

Yeah, I stayed an active member of the Mountaineers, primarily leading photography hikes, which we're short in nature, but it was still getting out and having fun and taking my mind off of pain and other troubles.

Tom Butler: 12:40

Now, when you were looking at getting your knees replaced, did you have a lot of confidence that that was going to be a game changer? And you know, and other people that had the procedure, what was your thought process as far as what life was going to be like after the knee replacement?

Anita Elder: 12:55

Well, I do a lot of research and I know a lot of people who have had knee replacements. Most of them had problems with their after their knee replacements because one they either didn't keep up with the physical therapy like the doctor told them they needed to do, or they just had other reasons to not go out and try to improve things. They just thought, oh, my knees are replaced, so things will be better, and just left it at that. They didn't try to to improve what their life was. It was more like a status quo to them. So anyhow.

Anita Elder: 13:30

I did a bunch of research, including watching a surgery on YouTube, and so I knew what to expect. So after they were done, I did every bit of physical therapy where they came to my house three days a week for the first month and then the second month I went to the VA twice a month, or twice a week for another month and then from there I just started doing more walking and I did try an analog bike, but that was just a little bit too much in the Seattle area with the hills and I, sorry to say, that thing sat in my garage after only riding it once. But but yeah, so I kind of knew that I could be better after doing all the research.

Tom Butler: 14:18

Another thing that it seems like how did the influence on you is an organization, and I don't know if the organization is called this, but I think that the I see the hashtag all bodies on bikes. Is that the name of an organization?

Anita Elder: 14:35

Yeah, yeah, it's started by Marlee Bronsky and I can't remember the other woman's name. I happened upon a little short video of them where they got together and they rode, I guess, somewhere across Oregon to the coast, which was a big thing. It was a multi-day ride and that interests me and so I started checking it out more. I found she was local. In fact, one day I was outside and she happened to be riding by with her dogs and I got the wave and and I got to meet her at an STP that I was volunteering at, and the Facebook group and her posts and stuff really encouraged people that it doesn't matter what shape you are, what you look like or how physically fit you are. If you want to ride a bike. Don't let others stop you. Don't let others tell you that, oh, you're not thin enough to be riding a bike, you're too heavy, things like that. So her inspiration got me more interested in joining a bike club like Cascade.

Anita Elder: 15:42

Now, I knew about Cascade because I had done some design work for them on a brochure, like probably around 2008. So you know, I reached out to them and joined a couple of the free group rides, which there weren't that many that first year of COVID but I did go and I was the only one on an e-bike at the time and they were just so welcoming and supportive of me. You know I was heavier than what I am now and, like I said, I was on a cargo e-bike trying to ride with them and it didn't have gears. But I kept up and just started to get more and more involved. Now when I go on free group rides with Cascade, there's so many e-bikes these days so I'm really glad that they support that community as well.

Anita Elder: 16:30

My first event with Cascade I did the Lake Shland tour and that was on the cargo e-bike and I didn't look like a lot of the other riders on that, but I didn't let it stop me. I didn't care if I was too slow, I just wanted to have fun. Nobody gave me any crap about being like I was, you know, riding with them. Everybody was great and not everybody was a Cascade member. There was people from out of state too. So they're just that nice feeling of being accepted for who I was just gave me more encouragement to do more and more with Cascade and other bike clubs around the area. So everybody in the bike community has been so supportive and encouraging and because of that feeling, I'm now a long-distance bike rider, which I never, thought I would ever say that.

Anita Elder: 17:24

I never thought I'd ride 100 miles at my age. But there I go to my STP this past year that's back to back 100 monolers. So these days I try to be an inspiration for others. A lot of people if they see me on an e-bike, if they're out walking on a trail and they'll ask me questions and I answer them or I tell other people that I see riding e-bikes, I'm like you know. Join one of the bike clubs because they are welcoming and you'll be surprised at how far you'll start riding.

Tom Butler: 17:56

This message of all bodies on bikes. I think that's valuable and I think you're kind of living, you know, when you talk about going with a group of people and you don't feel like you're getting bad looks or you're not getting comments, you're not getting judged. It seems like that's such a door opener for you to be comfortable getting out with other people, which is such a huge part of it.

Anita Elder: 18:18

Yeah, so it's great that you're not only.

Tom Butler: 18:21

You know that message is not only out there, but you're living the benefit from people embracing Others. That's fantastic.

Anita Elder: 18:28

Yes.

Tom Butler: 18:28

There is this different pace. You talk about being a hiker and Obviously you go out and there's kind of a pace of exploring the wilderness, and to me there's, you know, a different case of exploring when you're on a bicycle. Does that resonate with you? How would you describe, like, what it's like exploring things at the pace of a bison?

Anita Elder: 18:49

Well, but I'm riding my bike. It my mind just clears of all the junk. I'm able to really be in the moment. I can pick out the sounds around me and the smell, the environment. I see birds at animals I would miss if I was in a car. And I've discovered a lot of really nice trails paved trails usually that I wouldn't have hiked, because to me that's just a walk. I think it's a little bit different than a hike. So I wouldn't never discovered some of these really nice places if I had not gotten on a bike.

Tom Butler: 19:24

And when you talk about that, you do have this website and you have done quite a bit of traveling around on a bike. Do you think about this aspect of you? Know, this is different. I'm on a bike here and that makes it different. But do you have that thought when you're kind of out and about in a place, like did you do a trip at Niagara Falls?

Anita Elder: 19:43

I guess it was 2021, my mother-in-law and I we did a one month 16 state road trip. My family, primarily, is in Pennsylvania and her only living relative lives in Lancaster, so we spent a week there. But in between, you know, going there and coming back, we went different places and I took my e-bike along with me, and so when we stopped at Niagara Falls, instead of walking around like the typical tourist, I did it by bike, which was such a better experience because I wasn't in the crowds and I got to really see the beauty of everything. I also rode it at the battlefields of Gettysburg, and that's a place that I explored a lot as a kid.

Anita Elder: 20:30

It was cheap entertainment, so we would go there and check out the sites all the time, but usually by car. So seeing it from a bike perspective, it was amazing. You get a better feel for what it felt like being a soldier back then and in the war. My current car I bought right before that road trip and the biggest selling point was it already had a hitch. All I had to do was slap my bike rack onto it. I didn't have to get everything reinstalled, that's great.

Tom Butler: 21:02

You've mentioned Cascade Bicycle Club a couple times and you've described it as your tribe. I think I saw it in one post. Can you talk a little bit about what that means, that you've kind of found a tribe?

Anita Elder: 21:15

I have made so many friends in the bike community, mostly from Cascade, and it's not just from riding events. I volunteer a lot there and so I've really gotten to know all the staff. And I start seeing other volunteers, so I've gotten to know them, and then you start seeing the same riders all the time and it's like if I want to go for a bike ride, I don't want to go by myself, I just post on the Facebook group and say, hey, anybody want to ride with me, and there's usually somebody. I may not have ever met them, but we're both having fun on a bike and I think that's great, you know, just having friends that you can go do things with. For the moment, that's awesome.

Tom Butler: 21:57

You had reached out to me. I don't know if you remember that, but if I did me to do I think it's Reach the Beach. I had something going on that weekend. I can't remember what it was, but it was like oh man, that's pretty awesome. So I think I'm going to try to do Reach the Beach this year.

Anita Elder: 22:13

I plan on volunteering as a photographer for them this year.

Tom Butler: 22:17

Okay, okay, nice. Well, I'll try to wear something snazzy or something so good for pictures, I don't know.

Anita Elder: 22:23

Well, I know what you raised? I think it's $250. Maybe it's more. You get a free jersey.

Tom Butler: 22:30

Okay, that's a good goal. What are some of the things that you like about Cascade by Soco Club? Listeners of this podcast are from all over and I like Cascade a lot. I've done different episodes highlighting Cascade. I like to have some things about Cascade that maybe other people with bike clubs in other areas can look at and I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you like about Cascade, kind of as an organization. You know the people, whatever that draws you to that organization.

Anita Elder: 22:58

Well, besides being very welcoming of everybody, and they also, you know, they do the free group rides and they have a lot of events during the year. But what a lot of people don't know is, hey, if you volunteer, you get volunteer hours and you can use those hours to register free for one of the events that you want to ride. So that's very cool. But Cascade also does a lot of other stuff besides these events and free group rides. They are educating our children. They're going into the schools and teaching them how to ride safely with helmets. They take teens actually out on rides.

Anita Elder: 23:41

So they do a lot with the community. They were originally just focusing on schools in the Seattle area but now it's spread across the state. I can't remember how many places, but it's a lot. Now. They do other things, like the peddling relief program which started during the pandemic and then on Sundays, which I usually volunteer for is we take trailers and we go to the PCC in Ballard, in Fremont. We rescue food that they have to get rid of because new stuff has come in and we ride that food the whole way down below Soto to a pop-up food bank that really serves a population that doesn't have access to a normal food bank. So you know just all those things. They really work with the community and I just feel like I fit there.

Tom Butler: 24:36

As you're talking. What I'm thinking is that there's two sides of Cascade. One is that they do great events that you can participate and enjoy, but there's also this opportunity to give back to the community.

Anita Elder: 24:47

Yes.

Tom Butler: 24:48

To facilitate, so I think that's wonderful. You served as an ambassador for Seattle to Portland Ride.

Anita Elder: 24:54

And.

Tom Butler: 24:55

I'm wondering what that is like to be an ambassador.

Anita Elder: 24:58

Well, it's really not too different from what I'm already doing, because I'm already talking up the club and different events to others. For instance, I was volunteering I can't remember which event but some not all of the riders, like I said, are not all of them are members. Some come from out of state and when you're at these rest stops and you get the talking to them, you know, you say, by the way, did you know about this event or did you know Cascade does this, and so you know they're very interested and so I could spread the word word that way. I also, you know, let them know about volunteer opportunities and the other things that Cascade does. And so really the only difference about being an ambassador is I post more social media about it?

Tom Butler: 25:49

Do you have people reaching out to you and asking questions as an ambassador?

Anita Elder: 25:54

Sometimes, sometimes, yep. Now for STP. Not only was I an ambassador, but I happen to be the number one bib, which I earned from being one of the top volunteers of the year for 2022. So a lot of the riders they have this little game that they play to kind of take their mind off the distance. They try to see who can find the lowest bib number. So a lot of people did stop me wanting to picture as proof that they found the lowest number. And then, you know, they asked me how I got it and that really opens up a door to say, hey, you know, you can always volunteer and ride for free next time, things like that.

Tom Butler: 26:35

Isn't that fantastic. I mean, to me that says a lot about Cascade events. You know, it's not the fastest rider that's getting the number one bib, it's someone who is contributing in a great way to keep the community going. That's awesome. You did something that I thought was really fun and you made an ambassador flag.

Anita Elder: 26:56

Yeah, it was technically a bandana Okay.

Anita Elder: 27:00

But, I sewed up the one side and put it on a stick and attached to the bike, so it was a flag hanging off my bike. And then I also rode the STP with a tutu and a unicorn horn and that was to support the Trevor Project. I have a grandchild who is transgendered and lives in Texas, which I don't even want to get into that Also a friend. His daughter was transgendered and committed suicide and he, him and his wife, were riding with unicorn horns and tutus and we were doing it to show support for that group.

Tom Butler: 27:40

I'm so glad you said that, because I had noticed the tutus and the unicorn horns and I didn't know until just now what that was. So that's great to hear. What are some of your favorite ride experiences? You've been on a number of them and you kind of ranked them, or is it possible to tell?

Anita Elder: 27:57

you. Oh God, it's hard to rank them. I mean, I love riding up in BC. I've done three events up there and then some riding on my own. But I did tour the Victoria, which is very, very hilly and has almost as many people as STP participating in that. And it was fun because I went with a friend and we took our bikes on the Victoria Clipper and went up and made a weekend of it.

Tom Butler: 28:24

Because for people that don't know, the Victoria Clipper is like a fast ferry.

Anita Elder: 28:27

Yes, Another one that I did up there was the Albo Valley Grand Fondo around Fort Langley. That was very pretty and the whole community comes out and cheers you on. And then I went to Cranbrook and did the Kootenai Grand Fondo. That had me into some mountains that I'd never explored and after that I drove up the band that did some of my own riding.

Anita Elder: 28:52

But the nice thing about events in BC is that all the intersections on the route there's people stopping traffic, so you don't have to constantly stop and look to make sure nothing's coming. Like a lot of the stuff here in Washington. I don't know, they just have, I think, a better system. But I also I really love going down the Tour de Palm Springs last February. The Tour de Palm Springs is a fundraiser for first responders in military and retirees retired military, I should say the whole community turns out. You have marching bands and cheerleaders at the beginning and the finish, but then each food stop you have different high school bands playing.

Anita Elder: 29:37

I can't really eat a big breakfast before I start riding. I just can't eat that early. So at mile 20, at that food stop. Oh, it's the best breakfast I could have thought of at that moment, but they had home made mini chicken tamales and oh my god, they really did it well with food the whole ride. And then at the end they had like a big party type thing with more food and beer and drawings for bike and bike gear and we had a lot of fun in that and the STP was really fun, but it was like a bit of a blur. So you know I am going to do it again. I did get very emotional when I crossed the finish line and I ended up crying on Lee Lambert's shoulder. He's the executive director for Cascade, so it really meant a lot that he was waiting for me to cross. Yeah, I got very emotional. Start crying.

Tom Butler: 30:41

Well, that's really cool and, if you're okay, I'd like to explore that a little bit, because when I finished the STP, I think we are similar in this way that I didn't think I would ever do the STP. I had wanted to do it when I was younger. But, you know, I felt like those days were past. I'm not going to ride 100 miles, you know, two days in a row, and my wife and my daughter, where I had ridden with my son-in-law, so my wife and my daughter were at the finish line as they were congratulating me. I got emotional, it surprised me, it was very meaningful, and so can you talk a bit about the deep meaning of that for you?

Anita Elder: 31:21

Well, it was very unexpected. I did not think that I would feel that way because I had done some other milestones. You know, I can remember, about a decade ago, a friend her husband who had been overweight and then started biking and lost weight, and he did the STP and I thought, oh, my god, he's crazy, who would want to ride 100 miles on a bike? And so for me to do it for the first time and then do it two days in a row at that, I don't know, I guess it just really got to me and, like I said, having Lee actually waiting for me, somebody I really knew it, just made me break down. I'm a pretty emotional person anyhow, but yeah, I wasn't expecting that level of emotion when I crossed.

Tom Butler: 32:09

I think that's cool, that there's someone there recognizing you know what you just did.

Anita Elder: 32:14

So good, yeah, well there's something I did after STP, just like a couple of weeks after. That was another milestone for me and I also got emotional on that, and I had some friends join me, and that was the girlfriend's triathlon. I had never done a triathlon in my life and this was a sprint triathlon. So it started with a half a mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and then a 5k run and you know, my timing sucked. I was like in the bottom 20% of finishers. But I finished and I'm like, oh my god, I'm 64. And I did a triathlon for the first time. How cool is that.

Tom Butler: 32:58

This is so cool. I want to know, though, how does that come about, did you?

Anita Elder: 33:04

Again, I can thank Marley and All Bodies on Bikes. I was listening to their podcast and one of their guests was talking about the girlfriend's triathlon and I thought, well, you know what, these ladies are not your typical athlete and if they can do it, I'm going to try it and I don't care what my time is, as long as I finish, that's fine. And I'll tell you. When I went there, there were other women there. They asked me if it was my first time and they had done it a couple of times and they just like, embraced me like a sister and, you know, took me under their wing, telling me you know what the procedures were and everything, and. But I would have never done it if I had not listened to that podcast.

Tom Butler: 33:48

Now, you did not use an e-bike on that event.

Anita Elder: 33:51

No, no, I used a regular analog bike. I had found one that I could afford through Facebook Marketplace and as soon as I went to look at the bike I got on a road. It was just like perfect fit, perfect comfort, good saddle. I primarily bought it just for the triathlon. I kept it a little bit after that. But you know my e-bike has me spoiled because I can ride farther and you know I'm not that interested in just, you know, riding down the street. On a bike I want to go out and explore and on an analog bike I with these hills in Seattle I just can't do that.

Tom Butler: 34:31

They're biking, swimming and running. I'm wondering which one of those was the most difficult for you on the triathlon.

Anita Elder: 34:39

The running. I've always hated the run. As a kid I could run short distances very fast and I could win races, but anything long. Like I can remember, we would have to run four laps around the football field for gym class twice a week and I hated it. So I knew that was going to be the worst part of it, and I did end up walking a lot of that 5K so, but I wasn't the only one. It was over 90 degrees by that point and it was just too hot to do too much more exertion after the swimming and the bike riding. The bike riding was the easiest part.

Tom Butler: 35:16

I was thinking so Congratulations on that. Can you talk about your participation in charitable bike events? Do they bring another level of participation for you? There's things like the great cycle challenge, which is something that I also do Tour to Cure. Can you encapsulate if those things add something special to a ride?

Anita Elder: 35:37

Well, I usually pick charities that I have a connection with for starters. But before I talk about riding bike events for charities, I've got back up a little to how I was raised. My mom. She always believed in charity work, so as a kid she was always dragging us along places to volunteer. Before doing any charity bike events, I've had volunteered at the Woodland Park Zoo. I still volunteer for Meals on Wheels. Of course.

Anita Elder: 36:07

I do a lot of volunteering for Cascade, including some graphic design work, and I do pro bono graphic design work for other charities. So it's natural that I get involved in more charity events, things that are going to support what connects to me. So, for instance, I'm diabetic, so Tour to Cure was a perfect choice because that is run by the American Diabetes Association and this coming year will be the third time that I ride. When you have diabetes and you participate in Tour to Cure, you consider it a red rider, so any of the money that I raise it's helping others like me. And there have been a lot of advances in diabetic medicine since my grandfather died from diabetic complications in 58. I never met him and I have my dad's diabetic and a lot of his siblings were diabetic, so it runs in our family and so that one's very important to me. In 2022, I rode a blitter ride and helped raise money because a dear friend had just died of cancer, and so I wanted to acknowledge that and I rode in her name and then reached the beach.

Anita Elder: 37:24

I've done twice and I mentioned earlier I'm going to be volunteering for them this year and they're important because lung disease which you know, the American Lung Association sponsors this but lung disease has touched me as well. My dad has a COPD. His wife had died of lung cancer a little over 10 years ago. I have a maternal grandfather had lung disease and then one of my friends, and he wasn't even a smoker, but he had a end up getting some lung cancer and got one lung removed. So you know, that's why I've supported those organizations. And then this coming year, I usually try to do two charity events a year, so I'm doing tour de cure again, but this year I also plan to do bike MS, because another friend has MS and she's been out there participating in those events as a walker, but this year she is going to ride a bike when she hasn't really done, so I'm hoping to be there to support her while she rides, you know, riding beside her.

Tom Butler: 38:36

That just sounds so wonderful. I mean again, it's a different layer to the experience.

Anita Elder: 38:42

Yeah, it really is, because you know you really really trying to support these organizations because they're important.

Tom Butler: 38:49

I look forward to seeing your posts on that event.

Anita Elder: 38:51

Yeah, by the way, the friend who died from cancer. I ride with a little thing of her ashes on my key chain. Every time I ride my bike she's with me.

Tom Butler: 39:01

Hmm, that's so. Yeah, it's always there. You were featured in bicycleing magazine and I'm wondering if you could talk about that.

Anita Elder: 39:09

Yeah, when they reached out to me, I was really surprised.

Anita Elder: 39:14

I was like me. Why me? It's nothing that I really did. That was, you know, that made them choose me. It's just they like to feature members of their organization whenever they can and so they asked me if I would like to, you know, be featured in there. It was a one page thing where they asked a bunch of questions, that they provided those questions ahead of time. I could fill it out and send it in. What really pleased me is that media like bike cycling magazine they're starting to realize that bike riders come in many shapes and sizes and ride different kinds of bikes. So I felt like it was my responsibility to represent e-bikes and heavier riders, to help inspire them to get out and ride a bike or do whatever just to get more active. So I think the more people like me that are in a national magazine, the more people are going to take notice and feel like, hey, I can belong too. Recently I was also mentioned in the latest adventure cyclist magazine, which is another national one.

Anita Elder: 40:22

So I guess I've had two, five minutes of fame for the past year. I don't have like a huge following on social media like other cyclists. You know, just being in these magazines. And when somebody does notice one of my social media posts, I feel like, hey, somebody noticed and what I said must have meant something. Because after I was in that bicycle magazine I did have a couple people reach out that I didn't know them but they said, hey, I saw you in this magazine and they would ask me some questions and stuff and they said that I inspired them, which I was like yay, it's like if I didn't do it, anybody can.

Tom Butler: 41:01

You said that you didn't really do anything to like warrant being interviewed by bicycle magazine, but that's not true. You have lived a great journey. I mean you've lived an incredible journey and you've overcome and I think that it's an acknowledgement that you're doing something that is an inspiration and that a lot of people need to do. I think a lot of people need to make the decision to overcome adversity and do what you're doing.

Anita Elder: 41:30

One of the things I'm trying to get better at is accepting compliments. It's really easy for women to kind of make excuses, I guess, for whenever somebody pays them a compliment, they usually try to say something negative about themselves, and I've been trying to really work on that.

Tom Butler: 41:48

Fantastic, it's silent.

Anita Elder: 41:51

It's like oh well, I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I feel embarrassed.

Tom Butler: 41:54

Well, I'm going to make it part of my life mission to give you compliments whenever I talk to you. Give you practice, Thank you. You have mentioned your rad bike and first they are a local company and I'm wondering if you went down there and jumped on a bike when you were getting to know rad bike. Did you do a test ride?

Anita Elder: 42:16

No, I didn't. It was right when things shut down during the pandemic, so I couldn't have gone in if I wanted to. And I went online and was just looking at bikes and I ordered it sight unseen. They had a mobile service at that time so they put it together and delivered it to my door. I didn't have to go pick it up, but I mainly went with them, not just because they were local, but they were about half the price of the other e-bikes that I was looking at.

Anita Elder: 42:47

So I started off with the Rad Runner, which was a cargo e-bike, and I still laugh at myself because I was probably the only cargo bike that has ever ridden the three-day Lake Shalantor.

Anita Elder: 43:03

I made it up the hills and everything and I had that for a little over a year and I decided, since I was riding longer distances and in more events, I wanted a bike that looked more like an analog bike, and so I went with the Rad Mission, which they had stopped making much to find. Disappointment Again, it doesn't have gears, but it looks a lot more like an analog bike and it's more agile. It's a bit lighter. My Rad Runner was like 65 pounds without the batteries on and the Mission is 42 without the batteries, so big difference. The only plus side of that Rad Runner being so heavy is I really built up my arm strength because when I first got it I could not load it on my bike rack by myself, and after a while I was able to do it, and so, the Mission being a lot lighter man, it's easy to get up on my bike rack. That's an awesome awesome slide.

Anita Elder: 44:01

The other downside of having the Mission without any gears there are some steep hills that are impossible to climb. For instance Ride for Major Taylor this past spring. I was okay with all the hills, except for there was this one in around Des Moines. I think that was at 18% grade, over half a mile. I got halfway up and had to walk the rest, but I would say over 60% of all bike riders were walking up that hill. It was tough. I wish that they would make a Mission that had at least some gears.

Tom Butler: 44:34

Walking an e-bike up a hill? That's no, it's not fun.

Anita Elder: 44:38

It's heavy. It's heavy Now because it doesn't have gears. It does have a throttle, and so you can actually throttle a little little to help push it up the hill. So that's better than nothing. And a lot of people think well, if it doesn't have gears and you got a throttle, you're not really getting any exercise. That may be true of some e-bike riders who do Class 2, which is what my Mission is as a Class 2 e-bike and when I see these, usually it's dudes. They're out there riding these Class 2 e-bikes and they're just throttling. They're not peddling at all To me.

Anita Elder: 45:14

Why didn't you just get a scooter if that's what you wanted to do? When I'm riding my bike, the only time I use my throttle is going up hills, otherwise I'm in either no assist or the lowest setting. My dream bike, the one that I just can't afford, is the Specialized Turbo Creo. It's half the weight of my current e-bike, I think it's like 28 pounds. It has gears, has a range between 80 to 120 miles, depending if you add the battery extender, but it's like six times what I paid for the Mission. So you know it's kind of out of my price range for a while. The other drawback is short and need a small frame, and they're very, very hard to find.

Tom Butler: 46:00

So if anybody from Specialized is hearing this, if you want to have your EO bike with a really good use, you can just send Anita a new bike. Living in the Seattle area. It makes a big difference having that pedal assist and I'm wondering if you can talk about, you know, is it? Has it made all the difference? Do you think if you didn't have that you would have struggled really to get out as much as you have?

Anita Elder: 46:25

I think I would have stuck more with the hiking instead of the biking, and because I get altitude sickness, I can't hike up some of the places that I really wanted to hike to. But yeah, I had an analog bike after my knees were replaced, but with the hills it was just too challenging for me and it wasn't fun. It was. It was. It was like okay, I'm exercising just because I need to exercise, not because, oh, I'm really having fun doing this. E-bike has really made it a lot of fun for me and I've been able to go longer distances and ride more than if I ever had an. You know I had it. I think I had an analog bike when I was in the military station in Germany getting back and forth to work and that's really the most I rode a bike before now, distance wise.

Tom Butler: 47:18

That's a major difference. I mean to enjoy it.

Anita Elder: 47:21

Yeah, yeah, I mean, why do something if you don't enjoy it, right?

Tom Butler: 47:26

Yeah.

Anita Elder: 47:27

I'm running. I know I'm not ever going to do a triathlon again, because everybody hated their body.

Tom Butler: 47:32

Okay Okay. At one point you had a bike crash and I think it was a somewhat serious bike crash. Did you question getting back on the bike again after that?

Anita Elder: 47:44

Not at all. Not at all. So it was a bad crash that it left me with a concussion. I had deviated septum, a crack, maxillary bone above my teeth. Several of my teeth have hairline fractures now. I had a big hematoma and stitches in my forehead, bruised ribs and massive road rash. That left me with some bad scarring on my face. If I was younger and had the money, I'd probably have some cosmetic work. But after the accident it's like my mom said or asked me she goes what would you have done if you had died? I'm like what has sucked for everybody else, but for me. That's the way I want to go. I didn't know nothing and I was having fun. So a couple of weeks after my accident I was back doing some free group rides and then, I think three weeks after the accident, I did tour the lavender and did my first metric century.

Tom Butler: 48:46

Fantastic.

Anita Elder: 48:47

Yeah, so it did leave me a little bit cherry going down hills these days, like if there's a downhill and I could see way far ahead and it's straight, then I'm going to kind of let loose and go fast. But if it's turns in it or it has a stop sign at the bottom or I can't really see where the road's going, then I'm breaking a lot, I go through brake pads a lot, but other than that that's about the only change in my riding habits that and I'm getting a better fitting helmet.

Tom Butler: 49:17

I think I know the answer to this question, but do you feel like you gained a lot of physical vitality at your age because of biking?

Anita Elder: 49:25

Oh, most definitely. I used to get monthly massages and I had the same massage therapist for like 15 years and before I started biking she was telling me that I had lost a lot of muscle tone just about all my muscle tone in my legs and since then I built back up and she could tell where, which areas I needed to focus on, and the biking has really, really helped with that. I don't get out of breath when I climb stairs anymore. As I mentioned earlier, my arms are stronger because I can lift things heavier now. When I first started riding my e-bike, I would have to put it in an assistance level or two or three on flat surfaces, and these days I'm riding a zero or one assist, except for hills, and that also has the advantage of having a longer battery range. But I just feel healthier. My doctor at the VA says that I'm like the poster child of how life can improve if you are proactive with your health. Riding has contributed a lot to that.

Tom Butler: 50:36

And it sounds like you've reversed some of your insulin sensitivity. Are you type 2 diabetic? Is that right?

Anita Elder: 50:42

Yes, I'm type 2.

Tom Butler: 50:43

So it sounds like you've had you've seen some gains as far as your insulin sensitivity as well.

Anita Elder: 50:49

I'm all insulin and my A1C has been at gold for the past year and I don't have really bad highs or lows anymore. Yeah, I just feel so much better.

Tom Butler: 51:04

And what about emotional well-being? Has that been impacted as well?

Anita Elder: 51:07

Most definitely. It's like when I get stressed or upset these days, my first thing to do is hop on the bike and go for a ride, because it just really clears my head of all the crap and it kind of resets me so that I can face whatever challenges come up. But yeah, it's one of the best things for mental health in my opinion.

Tom Butler: 51:32

I agree. Sure, you are a graphic designer and so you think about design and colors and layout and all that stuff. So I want to get your professional perspective on something. Can you talk about what makes an artfully designed jersey in your opinion?

Anita Elder: 51:49

Well, I don't like boring jerseys that are just like a color with a logo slapped on. I like things that have a lot of bright colors and has a theme more or less. For instance, I didn't ride RSVP this past year, I volunteered for it, but their anniversary jersey was just so cool looking because it was an anniversary thing and it used not only the US colors of red, white, blue, but you know, canada has red and white, so those were the main colors and I don't know, they were just very striking. I really, really liked it. The other one that I really liked from this year was right around Washington. They've gone more to a tour light model. Instead of spending a week just riding in one area, they're doing like four mini tours, like three day tours in different areas of the state. And so this year, the Jersey it had Washington state on the back and it had like dots of all the places that we were having tours and I know we're only doing four for 2024, 2023. I think we did six but, like I said, they had the map on the back and then on the front I think it's right around Washington.

Anita Elder: 53:14

And the colors Well, they weren't like bright, right, they weren't. It wasn't a solid color, it was a mix of colors. I'm trying to remember what the front of it looked like, but I don't know. I like those. Some of my least favorite ones the CDA Fondo, that's the Cordeleum Fondo. I rode that two years ago and it has like maybe three colors in the logo. But it's very plain looking. But it's in the stash with a. I've got a grown up, I've gotten smaller, so I have a lot of really large event jerseys now that I've been stacking up and I'm going to save them and make a quilt out of them.

Tom Butler: 53:52

I think making a quilt out of cycling jerseys that are too big for you because you achieved some goals, that's like I don't know, that's like a trophy.

Anita Elder: 54:02

Yeah, yeah, that's how I'm looking at it. It's not just going to be jerseys, because sometimes at events you get a free t-shirt. So I have a lot of really large t-shirts that I'm going to kind of combine them.

Tom Butler: 54:14

Now the ride around Washington. Is that a cascade thing?

Anita Elder: 54:18

Yes, yes, I'm sorry, it is a cascade thing.

Tom Butler: 54:20

I talked to Paul Tomei on December 14th on the podcast and so we go through all of the 2024 tours. So if anybody's interested in checking that out, I would recommend it. Did that episode. I want to do it as early as possible so that people can plan.

Anita Elder: 54:39

So those tours are fun because you're based in one spot and each day you're on a different route. They explore a different area and then the first two days in the evening we kind of get together for a social. There is, you have a sag driver and you also have rest stops with food and lunch things like that, but nobody's dragging your gear around, you can leave that wherever you're staying. And when I did the Winthrop one and I've been doing this more because of finances I camp. I usually will find a campsite that has power for like an RV site, pitch my tent and then I can recharge my batteries overnight, and that's what I did for Winthrop this year Fantastic.

Tom Butler: 55:28

You've achieved a lot, obviously, and some things that you looked at as big challenges, like STP and other things. What are you looking forward to next? What's something that you still want to achieve?

Anita Elder: 55:42

Well, I'm really looking forward to June. My husband and I are going to be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year. We're doing a tour in June. It's going to be an eight day e-bike tour of Croatia, montenegro and Bosnia, so I'm really looking forward to that. And then I also plan on running both the STP and the RSVP this year. I guess the other thing I'm looking forward to.

Anita Elder: 56:06

Formally it's not going to be a cascade led thing, but I've asked some people on my. I belong to a group on Facebook called the PNW Cycling System. It's one of the biggest cycling sisters and that includes, like Washington, oregon and British Columbia, and I say, hey, anybody want to do a one night bike packing, try out with me. It's not so much where we're going out in the wilderness, but we're going to ride from Seattle down to my in-laws in Lakewood, which is about 65 miles camp and we're going to take our tent and our sleeping bag. We're going to camp overnight, my in-laws are going to feed us dinner and breakfast and then we'll ride back. So it's a double metric century, right? Or? You know, things heat up for for like flying wheels and some of the other longer events that cascade does?

Tom Butler: 57:01

That sounds awesome. If people want to follow your journey, how would they do that?

Anita Elder: 57:05

Well, on my website is Anita Eldercom, or an Instagram. It's see Anita out. No, see Anita Adventures. And see is SEA for Seattle, anita Adventures.

Tom Butler: 57:21

And I'll put a link to both of those in the show notes so it's easy to find them yeah. Anita, thank you so much for sharing with me, for being willing to do this again. I think you've inspired thousands. I think you will inspire thousands more. I look forward to talking to you in person one of these days, one of these events, if I can catch you, and just look forward to following what you're doing and just so appreciative with all that you do to inspire people and also your volunteer work for cascade.

Anita Elder: 57:55

Thank you.

Tom Butler: 57:56

Again, thank you so much and happy New Year. We'll see you later.

Anita Elder: 58:00

Yep, happy New Year to you too. I'm hoping 2024 is a good one.

Tom Butler: 58:06

We need it. That's right. Bye-bye now Bye-bye. It is awesome to me that Anita just keeps rolling along, no matter what. It is so impressive the work she has put into achieve such great results and accomplish all that she has accomplished and with two artificial knees on top of everything. Her story is one that really illustrates the benefit of having the e-bike as an option. It allowed her to progressively dial up the resistance as she got stronger. For many reasons she is such an inspiration to me. I put a few links in the episode notes. Anita's website and Instagram are there. Also, you can find links to a couple of jerseys she mentioned and finally, there is a link to the outfit that Anita wore for Seattle to Portland. I hope your year has started better than mine and you're already making progress towards your 2024 goals. At least we have started moving towards longer days here in the Northern Hemisphere. May the new year be filled with new friends and new routes and maybe even some new toys. And remember age is just a gear change.