80-year-old Montezuma cyclist tackles tough climbs
Loehr took up cycling in his 50s and continues to ride almost every day
MONTEZUMA — Every other day, John Loehr rides his bike into rugged Gallinas Canyon, about five miles northwest of Las Vegas, N.M.
The first 2.3 miles is all uphill — a 700-foot elevation gain to High Point, an overlook at 7,200 feet.
Since 1995, the Montezuma man has ridden more than 23,000 miles on N.M. 65, the Gallinas Canyon road. It has steep climbs, high rock walls, no berms in places and hairpin curves that leave no margin for error.
He took up cycling in his early 50s and now, at age 80, continues to challenge himself.
“When I started riding, I thought, ‘If I could do this until I was 60, I would consider it a real opportunity realized,’ ” said Loehr, a retired business management consultant. “Then I hit 60.”
He recalled thinking, “Maybe I can do this until 65.” He turned 70 and then 75 and thought, “This can’t go on much longer. If it stops tomorrow, if I fall off and break a bone tomorrow, I will have had a good run.”
He said, “Now I’m 80 and still doing it.”
His son, Edward Loehr, gave him a secondhand bike because of his love for rehabilitation projects.
“He reconditioned it, and the rest is 28 years of riding since that time,” said 56-year-old Edward Loehr, a software engineer from Monument, Colo., who accompanies his dad on the Gallinas Canyon rides when he visits. “It’s definitely impressive that he’s kept it up.”
Loehr now splits his rides between two custom-made titanium bikes he personalized with wheels, tires, shifting mechanisms, seats and handlebars. He has a folding bike for trips.
Loehr has done self-supported rides in France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Scotland, Lichtenstein and Spain.
“I rode my bike from one end of New Zealand to the other, and down Paris’ Champs-Élysées,” where an estimated 3,000 vehicles per hour drive along its eight lanes and around the historic Arc de Triomphe monument.
Loehr estimates he’s ridden 40,000 miles over the years.
He also competed four times on winning teams in the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, which ends at an 11,301-foot summit. Loehr was 67 the last time he rode in the ultimate high-altitude
endurance race out of Grants.
A native of Yonkers, N.Y., who, at age 13, moved to Farmington to live with his father after his parents divorced, Loehr said he always enjoys his 8- to 12-mile Gallinas Canyon rides.
“This is my favorite ride,” he said. “It’s scenic. The road is good and the exercise is good. I love to climb hills.”
A graduate and former regent of New Mexico Highlands University, Loehr has encountered mountain lions, bears, deer and elk.
“I saw a large cinnamon-colored bear about three weeks ago standing up in the river in the sunlight,” he said.
Twice Loehr crashed after drunken drivers forced him off the road, and once an attack by two dogs left him with a head injury.
He still considers the mountain road safe because there’s little traffic, particularly if he rides between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and avoids holiday weekends.
“You can’t use cellphones” — because there’s no service — “and you can hear speeding cars coming,” he said.
For safety, he no longer travels downhill at 42 mph but keeps it at 25 mph.
The 6-foot-2 Loehr has had two hip and two knee replacements due to injuries from accidents and athletics, and arthritis.
“The orthopedic surgeons said if I fall going downhill and hit the ground at those speeds, I will not damage my artificial hip joints, but the bones around the hip will shatter,” he said.
When he took up cycling, his initial rides were to the United World College-USA, an international high school a half-mile from his home. Then he tried the Gallinas Canyon road. He lives at the bottom.
“I added 100 feet per day,” he said.
Alex Curtiss, a 35-year-old residential coordinator for UWCUSA, finds Loehr “incredibly inspirational.” A long-distance adventure cyclist, Curtiss has ridden Gallinas Canyon hundreds of times to train for 14,000-foot peaks.
“The first time I saw him, I had to stop and talk to him,” said Curtiss, who also oversees the Montezuma Cycling Club at UWC-USA. “If you see another cyclist on that road, you know they are dedicated.”
On days he can’t ride, Loehr gets agitated.
“He just doesn’t feel right if he doesn’t get his bicycle ride in,” said his wife, Meg Loehr.
To keep warm in winter, John Loehr wears five pairs of gloves, warm socks, a down jacket and a wool cap, and he puts chemical hand warmers in his gloves and shoes when it’s really cold.
His wife’s passion is skiing; Loehr brings his bike when the couple travel to resorts.
“When Meg skis in Taos, I do a route from San Luis Valley,” he said. “It’s a beautiful road. I’ve done that when it was about 5 degrees.”
Today, his rides last 60 to 75 minutes.
“I enjoy riding a good bike, driving a good car or flying a good airplane,” said Loehr, a former pilot.