SUE WOLFSON: CYCLIST

by Katie Butler Johnson

I just met someone who, over a thirty-year time frame, rode her bike 75,000 miles on our Texas roads. She’s an active, bright and energetic senior. Her name - Sue Wolfson.

Growing up in Southern Oklahoma, Sue lettered in basketball - first in 7th and 8th grade at Eldorado Elementary school then for four years at Altus High School high. The fact that she’s short and weighs around 100 lbs didn’t stop her. She may be mini in stature and girth, but when she stepped on the basketball court as a forward or guard, she proved her worth.

Sue graduated from Oklahoma State University, married and had two boys: Scott and Brett. She earned a Professional Human Resources Certification while she and her family lived in Austin. Eventually she settled in the Dallas area and worked at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Sue joined a team of cyclists from Digital Equipment who called themselves the D.E.C. Pacers. They won a trophy in the 1991 EDS/MS best Bike 150 for being the most senior team in the contest. She’s also a founding member of the Richardson Bicycling Club and has ridden with the Greater Dallas Cycling Club and Plano Cycling and Fitness. While cycling on all the roads in North Texas, she often peddled over 100 miles a week.

According to Sue: “There are three rules for long rides are: “Eat before you’re hungry; Rest before you’re tired and Drink before your thirsty.” On long rides, she carries 40 ounces of water in a container on her back with a tube accessible for her to drink from while peddling along.

One annual ride Sue’s done many times that’s particularly challenging is the Hotter’N Hell Hundred. When searching for a way to celebrate the Wichita Falls Centennial in 1982, the Wichita Falls Bicycle Club’s Roby Christie proposed a bicycle ride the last Saturday in August for both professional and amateur cyclists: 100 miles in 100degree heat with rest stops at each 10 miles (and closer towards the end of ride) to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Wichita Falls. Since that inaugural ride in ‘82, as many as 14,000 riders have participated in subsequent yearly rides making the Hotter’N Hell Hundred one of the largest sanctioned group rides. And Sue has done the ride a whooping 15 times!

There was another ride that went through Waco that she recalls as specifically enjoyable because of the what a church congregation did for the riders. They hosted a rest stop. The parishioners had removed some of their pews and carried them outside to create a sitting area at a designated rest stop along the bike route. The church woman also provided cold wet wash towels to cool down the riders before they resumed their ride.

There were beautiful rides like the one she had along a Guadalaupe River tributary where when she looked to the left and saw a vast grape orchard and to the right a beautiful cornfield, and another ride near Enchated Rock with bluebonnets blooming as far as the eye could see. Sue also remembers challenging times such as when she “bonked” - a cycling term for “hitting the wall.” She’d used up all her strength and energy and couldn’t peddle another inch. When it happened, her fellow riders came to her aide and helped her make it over the finish line.

These days you’re likely to find Sue at the Plano Senior Center ballroom dancing. Her cycling days are just a memory away, but her dancing moves are on full display for all who frequent the senior centers’ dances. (But, if you run into her - don’t goad her into a planking contest. You’ll lose. Though she’s nearing 80, she can plank for 45 seconds!)