74-year-old cycling veteran in Tour de Scottsdale: 'It’s fantastic to have it back again'
There are no punch cards for any or all Perimeter Bicycling events, but if there were Doug Nering would have most of them.
Tour of the Tucson Mountains. Tour de Phoenix. El Tour de Mesa. Cochise County Classic. El Tour de Tucson … check, check, check, check and check!
The HonorHealth Tour de Scottsdale ride is another one. He’s seen it all and ridden them all. It all started in 1989 with the Tour of the Tucson Mountains and now Scottsdale.
Doug Nering
f“I just do it to do it,” said Nering, 74. “I really like riding and I enjoy the somewhat competitive nature of the Perimeter rides.”
He finished ninth in his age group of 70 and older. He finished in two hours, 14.56 minutes.
He really liked Saturday’s ride, where he rode – and he called it – “the short one” of 35 miles.
“I’ve ridden it before, but I enjoyed it more than in the past,” he said. “The course was more organized, and I appreciated the consistency of having Scottsdale Road coned off. It was good not to go all the way to go to Cave Creek Road like we used to.”
Nice shrine to Nering's cycling exploits.
Nering returned to the ride - again - after it's five-year hiatus. He rode for GoDaddy back then and has since retired but sported their kit on Saturday.
“It’s fantastic to have it back again,” he said.