Ode to Ian Hibell, a global cycling hero (via The Economist)

November 7, 3:25 PMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

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Gary Noe and his wife Betty Jordan are living their dream. The have residences in California, but the couple, masters division competitors with a lifetime of endurance accomplishments, also live in Belgium.

They’re immersed in the cycling lifestyle, train hard, ride in the Alps and to other notable cycling locales, and they’re particularly fond of the cyclo-cross community.

Gary, who many years ago owned a bicycle retail shop in Sacramento, is also a long-distance runner. I’ve known him for several years and we often share stories from the peloton and talk about who’s doing what in the pro cycling world.

I can’t always relate to Gary’s periodic emails about all-day rides and his competitive ways in the 60-older category. But I respect what he does.

The other day, I got an email from Gary and it’s stuck with me. It had nothing to do with Belgian cyclo cross, the pro peloton’s drug mess or any other “hot-button” cycling topic. Rather, it was about Ian Hibell, a cycling hero.

Gary forwarded an article from The Economist, and it brought me to tears. Hibell, who died last August, devoted his life to helping others. He did it with great personal sacrifice and he did it with a “companion” — a bicycle.

Here’s an excerpt:

"In the course of his 40-year traveling life he went the equivalent of ten times round the equator, covering 6,000 miles or so a year. He (Hibell) became the first man to cycle the Darien Gap in Panama, and the first to cycle from the top to the bottom of the American continent. He went from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope and from Bangkok to Vladivostok, wheeling or walking every inch of the way."