Who could say it better? "Cycling is a great, non-impact sport—until you fall." This inimitable observation by our very own Vice President Glenn Moore derives from his theory involving the inverse relationship between speed at time of crash and severity of injury, i.e., the slower you’re going when you fall, the more serious the resultant injuries. His research sample is small—well, it’s one: statistically insignificant, perhaps, but personally meaningful.

While being regaled by Glenn on the quirky circumstances surrounding his recent fall and broken elbow, Mary warned me to not fall victim to the fake blood he likes to catch people off guard with. But more about his perversity later. Several weeks ago Glenn and Mary left their home in Woodlake for a bike ride. They were about a half block down the street when he decided it was safe to adjust his heart monitor since Mary was quite far in front of him. When he looked up he was on her back wheel and, upon swerving, the bike slid, quickly dumping him smack onto his elbow. He was traveling about 3-5 mph. "When you’re going slowly your body takes the brunt, whereas if you’re going fast you tend to slide more." Uh-huh. The real lesson here, perhaps, is that the status of your heart monitor may be the least of your concerns. Bones break whether or not it’s programmed.

The freakishness of this accident is made more so because Glenn is an avid mountain bike racer who has suffered no comparable injuries during these rough and tumble events. He is passionate about the sport, which he got involved in while still living in San Jose. He developed a close group of like-minded friends and got great pleasure from the abundance of good trails in that area. He continues to blossom in this arena, participating in the summer Prairie City Series (where he usually wins in his age group, he says, because the "field is small"), taking 5th place in the Sea Otter (held at Laguna Seca in Monterey) and 3rd place in the World Cup (50 and up age group). He leads mountain bike rides for the Wheelmen and hopes to spread his enthusiasm to the burgeoning participants.

Glenn retired in 1998 after more than 32 years with IBM. After a two year stint in the army’s 101st Airborne Division as a paratrooper, he was hired at IBM as a $2/hour assembler of keypunch machines in Poughkeepsie, New York. From this humble beginning he rose to positions in test engineering, manufacturing management and marketing, becoming an advisory level nonexempt employee, a position he never dreamed he would get to in those early days.

Always competitive, Glenn has played football and baseball, likes to ski and became an avid runner while at IBM. "I was addicted to 10K races," he says. "When I was 38-40 yrs. old I would run about two 10K races per month. My goal at age 40 was to break 40 minutes, which I did three times, once coming under 39 minutes." He clearly relishes the achievement and his countenance takes on that competitive glow while he talks, demonstrative of the personality change he acknowledges undergoing while competing. This spirit was transferred to his next challenge of mountain biking, which became an easy and natural transition for him with the well conditioned leg muscles gained from hill running.

His first road bike was a $200 "red" one, which had an auspicious debut. Feeling pretty cocky, Glenn was headed south toward Morgan Hill for a thirty mile ride when he made eye contact with a female cyclist at a stoplight. They began to chat and it turned out to be Shawna Hogan, the world champion of Race Across America. She asked him how far he was going. "How far are you going?’ he responded. "300 miles," she said, indicating the loop she’d be doing which was Glenn’s loop, except she was doing it ten times. He waved good-bye to her, chagrined but impressed. The next day he received a friendly office e-mail from her—she too worked at IBM—in which she admitted to only doing 260 miles, having developed a cough during the ride. He realized he had some work to do.

His goals include mountain biking at least once a week to keep his skills honed, the Sea Otter in March 2001, the World Cup in April 2001 and the Prairie City Series next summer. He also wants to continue fostering the interest in others. He would love to do a mountain bike circuit, just to see how good he could be. The travel and preparation involved are the two challenges he will need to address.

Glenn’s daughter Jennifer and her six-year-old son live near Anchorage, Alaska and consequently Grandpa sees them "not enough". His son Jeremy, 21, lives in Bellingham, Washington where he will transfer from community college to a tech school in January. Jeremy has cerebral palsy but seems to be imbued with the same determination and diligence as his father. Glenn hopes to have him visit so that he can meet and hear Alejandro Albor speak at the club meeting next April.

He and Mary describe his "off the field" nature as easy-going, kind and considerate. He’s also very meticulous and determined. And there’s also that slightly off-plumb bent. When Mary first met him, on "March 13, 1993, a Friday", he and other cowboy hat clad IBM guys were participating in a "bare chested" contest while on a company ski trip. This fascinating event took place in what they describe as a "sleazy" bar at North Shore and, although he didn’t win the contest, he won Mary’s heart.

They had a long-distance relationship until 1998 when Glenn sold his San Jose home and moved to Sacramento to be with Mary. "It was a difficult time," she said. Glenn had just retired, sold his house, and moved away from his friends and activities to a new city. "I was a little depressed when I first got here," he admits. At the recommendation of one of Mary’s friends he joined the Wheelmen and quickly became a breakfast ride devotee. The SW gave him a new start and he feels extremely indebted and grateful to the club members.

Mary has that resolute deportment which tells the observer much about her personality. The CEO of Capital Power Federal Credit Union for the past 13 years, she is currently completing her education for the designation Certified Financial Planner (CFP) in the UC Davis Extension program. The two year course, which she will have completed by this newsletter’s publication time, has clearly been the source of some consternation but, as with other tasks set before her, she put her nose to the grindstone and vowed to cross the finish line.

She is diligent and organized, designating a time and place for most everything. She does strength training in their home gym, rides about 100 miles per week, does 700 sit-ups and 25 push-ups per week, "cleans this, that and the other thing every weekend" according to Glen, and cooks a very fine meal. It is, however, a tad different from Glenn’s previous diet. "Everything’s low or nonfat. I lost 10 lbs. when I first moved in."

She and Glenn were also active in local politics this past year and hosted a couple of open houses for Rob Kerth, their city councilman who ran for Mayor. Mary loves their Woodlake neighborhood and patronizes the local art galleries and shops on the revitalized Del Paso Blvd.

Mary had been doing some road biking with friends prior to meeting Glenn. After they met they began to do more of it to-gether, and eventually completed their first century out of Gilroy. Her goals are to do the Davis Double and complete the 5th pass of the Death Ride. "I’ve done 3 and 4 passes but have yet to make that 5th one." If she says she’ll do it, my money’s on it getting done.

At one point they decided to try a tandem. The results were greater than terrible. "He’d start on one side, I’d start on the other; nothing was coordinated," she said. "I’d wonder why the bike was leaning to the left." said Glenn. I’d feel this pull and compensate by leaning to the right. It finally occurred to me she was leaning to the left as she was riding." Nothing seemed to be in rhythm and about this time they even stopped seeing each other for a while, although both deny that the tandem was the cause.

Mary is a fervent fan of the Zodiac rides. She waxes eloquent about the great friendships she is establishing with other club members. "They are truly a great bunch of people. There is such a lack of self-centeredness and so much camaraderie. And if you have to sleep in the same room with Tom Goodwin all you do is clap once and he stops snoring. And if you run into someone like the Iron Lady at a motel you can have all kinds of fun." Apparently there are all kinds of secrets and inside jokes to be gleaned from the Zodiacs.

These two have quickly become well known in the club, and if you’re wondering about Glenn’s meteoric rise to office, he explains it this way. "We actually met Geno on the 1998 RAGBRAI and, for some reason, he took a liking to me. When I moved to Sacramento a few months later and joined the club Geno was being asked to run for president, and he said the only way he’d do it is if I ran for Vice President." Aha.

Glenn has a handyman business which has suffered recently because of his chronic hip pain. He is basically without cartilage, having felt the last of it fall away during a race. The pain was excruciating as bone met bone, but in true athletic fashion he has found that riding actually helps because it essentially "polishes" the juxtaposed bones to a smoothness. Unfortunately, the physicality involved in doing sheetrock, carpentry, electrical and plumbing work is not as forgiving.

But there are other ways to stay occupied. It has come to my attention that the guy plays a mean accordion and I, for one, am looking forward to a lollapalooza of a polka party.