By Brian Johnson

Independent Newspapers

¬Ý¬ÝTwo decades ago when Sun Laker Lowell Crabb was diagnosed with heart angina, the doctor gave him a bottle of pills and sug-gested bypass surgery was the next step.

¬Ý¬ÝMr. Crabb, now 90, had a different idea of what step two would be: bicycling.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI took one bottle and it didn’Äôt do any good so I decided I could beat it on the bicy-cle,’Äù he said.

¬Ý¬ÝThat was 1981. Since then, Mr. Crabb has gone through bike tires ’Äî and bikes ’Äî and has pedaled an amazing 70,000 miles.

¬Ý¬ÝAnd he did it all on your basic three-speed and having never really ridden a bike until he was 65 years old.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI tell everybody who will listen to this story,’Äô said Mr. Crabb who lives in Phase II. ’ÄúIt isn’Äôt necessarily riding a bike. I say goad health is 50 percent exercise and 50 percent nutrition.’Äù

¬Ý¬ÝAlthough Mr. Crabb, who calls Iowa home during the summer, was blessed with excellent genes (he said he has lost no pounds, maintaining his 5 feet, 9-inch frame at 170 pounds), the miles of bike work has made a noticeable improvement in how he feels ’Äî and looks.

¬Ý’ÄúI haven’Äôt had cold in 15 years,’Äù said Mr. Crabb. ’ÄúI used to get colds like anybody else. With this adequate exercise it keeps me healthy.’Äù

¬Ý¬ÝAnd in shape.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúJust last year or two I’Äôve begun to be a little stiff,’Äù he said about his overall health. ’Äú(But) I’Äôm not humped over. Most people say they wouldn’Äôt believe I’Äôm a day over 70.’Äù

¬Ý¬ÝHe said he had his blood pressure taken recently at a local grocery store: 98 over 65.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI don’Äôt go to a doctor very often,’Äù he said.

Mr. Crabb, formerly a farmer and busi-nessman, said Sun Lakes is an ideal spot for bicycle riding. It’Äôs flat, not too windy, and of course there’Äôs very little precipitation to worry about.

¬Ý¬ÝAlthough Mr. Crabb spends his summer’Äôs back home in Iowa (he owns a home on Spirit Lake), he said summertime riding is as simple as getting up a little earlier in the day. His older brother, a walker, hits Sun Lakes’Äô streets around 5 a.m.

¬Ý¬ÝFor the rest of the year, Mr. Crabb makes a habit of venturing out daily for a two-hour ride in the morning and a shorter, follow-up spin in the afternoon.

¬Ý¬ÝHe estimates he rides about a dozen miles each day.

¬Ý¬ÝHe also sandwiches in a walk with his wife of 67 years, Edith.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI wouldn’Äôt be where I am without the love and support of her,’Äù he said.

¬Ý¬ÝMr. Crabb urges others to take up his sport, or at least improve their diets and get in some kind of exercise.

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI have concluded bicycle riding is the best exercise,’Äù he said. ’ÄúYou can monitor your body. Walking is good too. Biking is even easier, it’Äôs not hard on your legs, your knees, and you could monitor your breathing better.’Äù

¬Ý¬ÝBut are the thousands of miles really worth it?

¬Ý¬Ý’ÄúI know I wouldn’Äôt he this old if it would-n’Äôt have been for it,’Äù Mr. Crabb said.

70,000 miles and still pedaling

’ÄúI have concluded bicycle riding is the best exercise,’Äù said Sun Laker Lowell Crabb. He’Äôs For the rest of the year, Mr. Crabb makes proved his point, having ridden 70,000 miles in the past two decades since his doctor prescribed heart pills and forecast a date with a bypass surgeon.

Sun Laker chooses his bicycle over doc’Äôs bottle of pills

Photo by Tommy Acosta/Independent Newspapers