Riding with Bill Walton
I'm here to ride my bike. I'm just here to ride my bike.
There have been many remembrances of NBA All-Star Bill Walton, who recently left us at age 71. He touched the lives of many people. Known primarily for his legendary career on the basketball court, Walton dedicated his retirement to championing the cause of cycling. It was hard to miss Bill Walton on his custom extra-large-framed bicycle painted with a Grateful Dead-inspired theme, and he wore Grateful Dead riding gear.
He's known for being an eccentric broadcaster, an NBA Hall of Famer, and one of the top 50 and 75 NBA players of all time, but his statues are with bicycles, and he wants to be remembered as a bicycle enthusiast. He was a peculiar man known to veer off onto seemingly unrelated tangents. I appreciated his oddball broadcasting style. Basketball was good for Walton, but it also ruined his body. In response, he turned to biking to stay active and get around. He spoke with love and passion about how bicycling brings joy and so much more. In one of the most eloquent tributes to cycling I've ever seen, Walton elaborated on how important his bicycle was to him in this brief clip:
“I love my bike. My bike is everything to me. My bike is my gym, my church, and my wheelchair. My bike is everything that is going on in the Biosphere. It's science, its technology, it's the future, engineering, metallurgy - you name it, it's right there on my bike. My bike is the most important and valuable thing that I have."
Bill Walton was also quoted saying:
"I am the luckiest guy in the world because I am alive, and I can ride my bike. It is the ultimate celebration of life when you go out there and can do what you can do. I have not been able to play basketball for 34 years. I have been unable to walk for enjoyment, pleasure, or exercise for 41 years, but I can ride my bike."
Bill Walton, Las Vegas Cycling, and 3-Feet-For-Peet
He was special. Walton was active among grassroots bicycling groups, regularly participating in bike rides in Las Vegas with his friends Bob McCall and Keely Brooks, who were a big part of the Allegiant Cycling Team, running the bicycle advocacy non-profit Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition, and operating the bicycle tour company https://www.cyclevegas.com. Bill initially reached out to Bob and Keely because he wanted locals to accompany him on some long bike rides in Vegas. Bill became a regular on Cycle Vegas bike tours. Bob and Keely remember Bill "as a really smart, fun, enthusiastic person to know." He was instrumental in having Bob and Keely use bike lights even during the day.
3-Feet-For-Pete Memorial Ride
Bill was already in Las Vegas for a basketball commitment and contacted Bob and Keely about riding. They invited him to the 3-Feet-For-Pete memorial ride. Pete Makowski was an aspiring Vegas bicycle racer and avid motocross racer (much like myself). Unfortunately, Pete lost his life riding his bike to Jean, Nevada, in 2013 when a passing semi-truck struck him. 3-Feet-For-Pete has engendered safer riding habits among the many cyclists in Southern Nevada. The Nevada cycling laws changed to require a minimum of 3 feet of clearance when overtaking a cyclist.
My Day With Bill Walton
I was one of the lucky few who met Bill Walton on his bicycle, and I reminisced when I read about Bill Walton's passing. For me, it meant different things. Sure, he was a legendary basketball star, but Bill lived to ride bikes. That's what he told me during our chilly morning meeting in Las Vegas during the 3-Feet-For-Pete ride. My friend Bob McCall, whom I've cycled and suffered with for years, told me Bill was coming to the ride.
It was a 630 a.m. bike meet-up near the Las Vegas / Jean Nevada bike ride. I arrived at the meeting point and unknowingly parked next to Bill Walton's truck. I said, "Hello, my name is Dr. Johnathan Edwards. How are you? Bob McCall is a friend of mine and mentioned you would ride with us today.
Bill's first words were, "Bob McCall is my friend, and I am here to ride my bike."
I thought, "What a peculiar way to greet a stranger," but I was okay with it.
He kept repeating the mantra, "Where's Bob? Bob McCall is my friend and he said to be here at 630 am, and here I am. I want to ride my bike. I am here to ride my bike. I like riding my bike." Almost saying it as if I were not present. He reiterated the above quote: "I am the luckiest guy in the world because I can ride my bike. I haven't been able to play basketball for many years. I can't walk, my knees are shot, but I can ride my bike. I want to ride my bike." He went into a near rant about how his knees and ankles were destroyed, but he could still ride his bike; he was suffering from pain, but he could still ride his bike.
We spoke about trivial things, some of the cycling friends we knew together, but it was obvious that cycling was Bill Walton's life. He kept repeating the mantra. I wasn't sure if he was annoyed with me. This is honestly how the meeting went. It was impossible at first to converse with him. A brief time later, more people showed up, and he seemed to relax and become more at ease. Then he got into Bill Walton mode and started talking, cycling, and making jokes.
But I saw him in a moment of vulnerability when he wasn't sure if he was in the right place. I reassured him that he was indeed in the right place, that Bob was coming, and that the rest of the Allegiant cycling team would be in tow. The ride was planned to go to Jean, Nevada, and back in honor of Pete Makowski.
His words were slightly out of context at the time, but I now understand what he was trying to achieve with his repeated phases. Keely mentioned that Bill's delivery sometimes seems a little off, as if his repetition was meant to remind the people around him how lucky we are to be able to ride our bikes and to remind himself, given all the physical pain and challenges he endured daily.
It was like repeating those catch phrases and mantras was his way of positive visualization and affirmation. He perhaps recognized that I was a doctor and burned the phrases into my mind that he could still enjoy cycling despite his severe ankle, knee, and back pain. He must have repeated this ten times during my conversation with him. The whole thing seems like a blur now, but it all makes sense now.
He knew our paths would likely never cross again, and his goal was to instill riding the bike is always possible. Keep riding the bike; never stop just because you have debilitating osteoarthritis; just ride your bike because you want to ride your bike. It's almost David Goggin's like for runners. However, I did see him again at the Amgen Tour of California when I was the team doctor for Ag2r Pro Cycling Team and Fly V Australia. You couldn't miss that giant top tube frame custom-made for his 6-foot-11 frame. It was obvious that he was always so freaking happy to be there; he rode the course at every stage.
A man who stood by his Principles and Passions
Walton challenged and transformed stuffy conventions and institutions. He marched in the streets to bring home our troops stuck in the Vietnam quagmire. And he was a huge cycling advocate, so much so that he opened his house to the 2015 California Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors in-person meeting. He was super charismatic and likable. One person described that he had drums and Grateful Dead stuff everywhere! He later signed a letter to Paul Koretz supporting the protection of bike lanes from the Purple Line Extension at UCLA. Through his non-profit, Bikes for Humanity, Walton demonstrated his unwavering commitment to making bicycles accessible to those who might not otherwise afford them. His work in adaptive bike advocacy opened the joy of cycling to countless individuals in California and beyond. His career and activism after his time on the basketball court profoundly impacted many people's lives. He will be missed.
A San Diego Icon
Bill Walton resided in San Diego, and many San Diegans saw that Bill loved biking around town. He was just a guy who rode bikes, a public citizen, and deeply cared about the cyclists. He advocated for challenged athletes, for the YMCA, for bike paths, and for being able to bike where you want. Many who saw him surely thought that if this guy was cycling around town as a conspicuous, famous person, I could bike around town too.
What about biking draws Bill and so many others to cycling?
Cycling is a great sporting activity because you move around fast and reasonably safely. A person on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than a pedestrian but uses five times less energy. The bicycle is the perfect transducer to match man's metabolic energy to the impedance of locomotion. Equipped with this tool, a person outstrips the efficiency of all machines and other animals. You can cycle to work if you want. Getting from place to place, you remember being a kid riding your bike; it was that first taste of mobile freedom that you would have, and it's hard to recapture that when you're an adult. It's tough to recapture it when you're in your 60s or 70s. Bill Walton was able to maintain that through all those years.
Yet we have all these public debates where people are mad about cycling, but we forget that what we're pushing is fun and a form of play, and we as adults have forgotten how to play. That's what Bill Walton represented. Only a few things are easier besides riding around on a bike. Walton once said, "Protected bike lanes are fantastic. They give us the sense of safety and security that we must have. Your routes and style will vary, but always think safety and security, know and follow the laws/rules, and find the best routes with the least traffic, safety, and protection."
Godspeed Bill Walton." He wants it put out in the universe: Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike! Tailwinds and smooth asphalt forever, buddy."
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The following photos of Bill are courtesy of Bob McCall and Keely Brooks / Vegas Cycling Tours.
Great read. Thank you very much for sharing that memory and day with us. Listening to the story of that day with Bill Walton and how much he loved his bike and riding. Your description of riding and what it means helped me to have a better understanding and appreciation for all of my friends who are decades long, avid bicyclists.