Dick Meyer, 82, rode more than 500,000 miles on his motorcycle during the past decade.
This octogenarian easy rider has traveled the highways and byways of Mexico, the United States and Canada and there’s one place he urges all drivers to beware: The Villages.
Meyer, who lives in Collier, won’t call Villagers bad drivers but claims there are “too many uneducated drivers here.”
“You’ve got to be careful here,” said Meyer, wearing blue jeans, a denim shirt and sunglasses while sitting near his bike. “I avoid the round-a-bouts and I always keep my eyes open.”
The sun was bright on a recent afternoon and his white Honda Gold Wing motorcycle was virtually glistening in the Eisenhower Recreation Center parking lot.
Meyer, tall, lanky and percolating with energy, recently completed an 8,400-mile journey on his motorcycle. It was part of what is called The Three Flags Classic Tour. First, Meyer drove his bike to Tucson, Az. for the start of the four-day event. Then the tour took him to Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Finally, he drove back home to The Villages.
Just another jaunt in the country for Meyer, who belongs to a couple of Villages’ motorcycle clubs: the Nomads and the Goldwingers.
“I love being on a motorcycle,” Meyer said. But isn’t 82 a little old to be boppin’ around the country on two wheels?
“I’m sure some people question my sanity – especially when it’s raining,” Meyer said. “But I feel good and why not? For me, it’s a way to release my adrenaline.”
It’s more than that if you listen to Elfriede Meyer, Dick’s wife.
“Dick and I both feel you have to live life to the fullest,” she said. “He has a great passion for riding his motorcycle. I have a passion for tennis and golf. We both feel we should do what we love to do.”
Both have been physically active all their lives. She said they participated in water sports and snow skiing, among other activities. The couple moved to The Villages about four years ago.
Despite his riding skill, Elfriede sometimes worries when Dick is out on the road on long trips.
“I worry about him, but Dick never worries. He tells me to keep calm because he knows what he’s doing. I have faith in him.”
Meyer admits to some close calls on the road. He said his bike crashed to the pavement twice. Both times he escaped without major injury. Many times, he said, he has been cut off and forced to off the side of the road by large trucks.
“You always have to watch for the other guy and you always try to be as safe as you can,” said Meyer, a member of the national Iron Butt Association, meaning he has driven a motorcycle more than 1,000 miles in 24 hours.
Meyer is a firm believer in helmets for motorcycle riders, although Florida law does not require them.
“Anybody who gets on a motorcycle would be well advised to wear a helmet,” he said. “I wear a full-face helmet and I would recommend that kind of helmet to anyone. There is enough risk without going out on the road bare-headed.”
Meyer had a motorcycle in his 20s but somehow gave up driving for nearly a half century, until the late 1990s. Then he got a bike and has been on the road ever since.
Motorcycle clubs and riders sometimes get a bad rap for being wild and rowdy. Meyer thinks the stereotype is unfair but the biker gangster image still persists.
“It’s an ego thing,” he said. “Some people get a bike and they think it makes them tough. I think that’s one reason for Harley’s success: they (sell) a tough image.”
Meyer adds the vast majority of bikers and clubs, like those in The Villages, do charity work, community service and obey the law.
“Motorcycle people are good people,” he said.
Back home in Collier, Meyer has a car and golf cart but can usually be spotted riding his motorcycle around The Villages.
“We’ve got a nice golf cart but I don’t use it much,” he said. “I like my bike. It’s quicker and more fun.”
