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Senior beats heat to bike 100 miles

by CYNTHIA MAGNUS/cmagnus@cdapress.com
| July 18, 2014 9:00 PM

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<p>Jeannette Hill, 87, leads a group of friends and family during a 100-mile bike ride from Wallace to Harrison Thursday on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes near Bull Run Lake.</p>

Jeannette Hill, accompanied by her son and a small group of close friends, rode her bicycle more than 100 miles on Thursday because she wanted an adventure.

"I made it," Hill said by phone from Wallace after the ride. "Now I can hang up my bike and forget about it!"

Hill had said a day earlier, "The reason I'm doing it is that I'm 87 and I needed a challenge, so this is it."

Hill said most of the riders planned to spend the night in Wallace after a dinner and dessert celebration.

The precise distance for the round-trip ride was 100.25 miles according to Hill's odometer. When they stopped for lunch in Harrison, Hill said, she and some others did a bit more riding around, to ensure she accomplished her 100-mile goal.

The nine riders - including the orthopedic surgeon who performed replacements on Hill's knee and hip a few years ago - completed the centennial ride in just less than 11 hours, Hill's friend and fellow rider Jackie McNeel reported.

"Everybody did great," McNeel said. "We had a tailwind on the way back from Harrison and came in much earlier than we expected." McNeel also said the smoky sky - caused by wildfires in Washington and Canada - actually helped mitigate the impact of the sun's rays, but caused no breathing problems for the riders.

Douglas P. McInnis, M.D., Hill's surgeon, said he joined the ride for moral support, rather than to serve as the team physician.

"I was the least experienced rider of all, and so if anyone was going to get in trouble, it would have been me," McInnis said. "I just stayed in her shadow where I belong."

McInnis said the temperature on several of the riders' thermometers reached 97 degrees, but that the group had prepared well for the trip and stayed hydrated. Many also cooled off with dips in the stream along the route.

Hill said the plan for the ambitious bike ride came about during a brainstorming session one night with her older sister, Dottie Maley, with whom she shares a Coeur d'Alene home.

"I had the idea sometime in midwinter," Hill had said the day before the ride. "We were talking about bucket lists and I wanted to come up with something goofy."

Hill, a retired physical education and English teacher, moved to Coeur d'Alene in 1993 from California, and continued her active lifestyle here.

"When I moved up here, I got into cross-country skiing but never really mastered it," said the grandmother of four and great-grandmother of one. "I got tired of picking myself up off the snow so I got into snow-shoeing and hiking."

In addition to cycling, Hill has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity on and off since 1995, she said, and helped to build a house. Until recently she also delivered meals to other volunteers on the building sites.

"I enjoy minor building," Hill said. "I can handle a screwdriver, a hammer, a wrench, and I like to paint."

Hill said she was also an instructor for seven years for a fitness and fall prevention course that was run by Panhandle Health at Golden Spike Estates, a residential community in Rathdrum for active adults older than 55.

Hill said she has been a member of the scenic riders section of the Spokane Bicycle Club, and the group rides together every Tuesday.

"Bicycling is part of my way of life. It's just very satisfying," Hill said. "Part of it is, it's something you can do on your own but at the same time I've enjoyed the many friends I've made along the way.

"It's very relaxing as long as you're not in traffic. It gives me a sense of well-being."

Hill said she and friends began training in earnest in late May or early June.

"We started doing 20 miles, then 30, then 50, then 63," Hill said. "Most of the longer ones have been on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. The last training ride we did was last Friday, and we did 80 miles." She said her group's approach to training was to try to do a long ride every week, with a shorter one added whenever they could.

Thursday's round-trip along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes covered some beautiful, if sun-drenched ground, from Wallace to Harrison during what has been a prolonged hot spell in the area.

Friend and bicycling companion Judy Waring said the group was determined to proceed with the ride rain or shine.

"What a privilege to accompany this woman on her epic journey," Waring said Wednesday. "If we postponed two days we might have better weather, but we're going to tweak it - any body of water we see, we're going into. We'll splash around for three or four minutes to get the core temperature down, and then press on, man!"

Waring, 76, who shares Hill's penchant for adventure, and enjoys backpacking, said she, like Hill, did no cross-training for Thursday's 100-mile ride. Her "main armament" for the ride, she said, is candy, specifically Tootsie Rolls, along with electrolyte drinks, bananas, and sunscreen. In 2000, Waring also joined Hill on a 2,400-mile ride from California to Georgia.

Hill said the two friends had been trying to think of something special to do to mark the turn of the millennium, and the 40-day ride "was better than going out and getting drunk."

In addition to sharing a zest for outdoors sports, Hill and Waring also recovered from surgeries for joint replacements in recent years. Hill had her right knee replaced in 2005 and her left hip in 2007. Waring had a knee replaced six years ago, and the other two years ago. Both women undertook strict physical therapy programs after surgery by the same orthopedic surgeon at Kootenai Health.

Hill said before the ride that she was not sure how long she would continue bicycling.

"Last year I was about ready to give it up," she said. "I think I might get a recumbent. It's better for stability."

Hill said she has no problems with stability, but is becoming less resistant to the idea of one day giving up cycling. She tries to keep a balanced approach to health and beauty.

"I don't do anything special. I try to keep my hair and body clean. I'm pretty good about wearing sunscreen on my face," said Hill. Though, she added, her sleep habits can be erratic.

Jon Hill said it was a great day, and he was impressed that his mother kept up the lead pace of 15-16 miles per hour on the return loop.

Hill said her plan for the next few days is to rest, and that she has no intention to undertake another marathon ride. "I'll take it easy, and when a club ride comes up, I'll do that."

Is Jon Hill convinced that his mother will retire after Thursday's ride?

"Well this was her farewell century ride, so when she turns 90 she only has to ride 90 miles."