Meet Randie Polidori

I am 76 years old and a retired District Court Judge. While I was working full time I never had time to train for a ride like Ride the Rockies. I’d taken a few bicycle trips with groups like Backroads, but those rides in no way had either the mileage or the elevation gain of Ride the Rockies. So when I became a part time senior judge, one of the first things I did was sign up for Ride the Rockies. I loved it. The way the towns in Colorado roll out the red carpet for the bike riders is really amazing. No commercial riding experience can compare. I’ve done a few more Ride the Rockies since and still love it. My biking experiences started late in life. At age 65 I decided to try bicycle racing and competed in a women’s 65+ category. I even won a few races. However, when the 65+ category was eliminated I was over 70 and just couldn’t compete with the younger generation. I still do the Bob Cook Memorial Mount Evans Hill Climb and am the oldest woman competing in that event. Now I am doing more endurance rides. I have done a 1250 mile ride in North and South Dakota. Just last fall I did over 1000 miles in New England. However, my greatest cycling passion is Eyecycle, a non-profit organization, which gives blind or visually impaired persons the opportunity to ride on tandem bicycles with a sighted rider on the front of the tandem. I founded this organization after presiding over a case in my courtroom where a woman who had lost her sight due to diabetes was testifying that she hoped to be able to continue bicycle riding even though she had lost her sight. Eyecyle is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. (Eyecycle is always in need volunteers to ride on the front of a tandem with a visually impaired person on the back. You don’t need to have a tandem to participate as Eyecyle has its own fleet of tandems. If you are interested in being a volunteer, check Eyecycle out at eyecyclecolorado.org.) This year I am only able to do the one day Ride the Rockies as I will be traveling in Israel and Jordan for most of the month of May and won’t have the opportunity to train for the full ride. I am glad that Ride the Rockies has the one day option so I can get to participate in at least some of the fun. I think that the one day option is a great addition to Ride the Rockies. It not only is suited to people like me who don’t have time to train for a long ride, but it gives people who have never done Ride the Rockies the opportunity to experience the fun of the ride and inspire them to do the full ride in later years.