Biker celebrates 82 years by riding 46 miles

Talk about dedication, inspiring story about grandpa rider:

Eighty-two years, two hip replacements and a bout with cancer have not stopped Harry Landry from long-distance biking.

Landry, a Thibodaux resident, credits the menu his wife, Nobie, offers up each day. His friends say he's just determined.

“He always comes back. He's like the Energizer bunny,” said Alan Kelly, treasurer of Bayou Country Cyclists, a local bicycling club where Landry is an active member. “I hope when I achieve that age, I can simply be on the bike.”

Two years ago, Landry, a former Marine and Korean War veteran, biked 80 miles to celebrate his 80th birthday. Hip-replacement surgery interrupted his plans to do the same last year, but he was ready for his 82nd birthday this year.

He took off Saturday, his birthday, at daybreak in hopes of biking 82 miles. He and a friend made it 46 miles before they ended the trip.

“It gets hot,” said Denny Ayo, a friend and fellow bicyclist who accompanied Landry. “We were over five hours on the road.”

They left Peltier Park about 5:45 a.m. and took back roads until they hit La. 311, where they biked to Houma and back.

The distance Landry traveled, Ayo said, is “almost from Thibodaux to the Huey P. Long Bridge.”

For a long-distance ride like the one he took Saturday, Landry said he begins adjusting his diet early in the week.

“I eat pasta, vegetables and a little meat,” he said.

He eats grits or cornmeal pancakes the morning of a big trip, he said.

Landry worked as a crane operator in the oilfield for more than 50 years. He retired in 1995 after working for Gulf Island.
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