Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
Meet the Rhinestone Rockettes - Dancing for over 30 years Page 8
Health & Fitness
January 19, 2017
January Issue
Weekly bowling keeps 95-year-old on her toes By Sue Webber Contributing writer
Activity Center. “I tried Curves and an- punch operator at Minneapolis Moline other [workout location] first,” she said. and then worked at Toro before a 22-year She has been active in Hopkins aero- career at Tait’s Super Valu. Elsie Syverson’s love affair with bowl- bics classes for seven years, and also She recalls that growing up, girls were ing goes back a long time. allowed to play only half-court basket“I was on Bowlerama, on TV with Bill ball. “We played neighborhood softball and Nancy Carlson, in the 1950s,” she when I was growing up, but there were no said. “I won $875.” organized sports for girls,” Larson said. Now 95, Syverson lives at The Glenn in Minnetonka, and said she still bowls Mitzi Lindquist, a resident of Hoptwice a week. One of those outings is kins, also is a regular at Tuesday and with the bowling club every Thursday at Thursday exercise classes at the Hopkins the Hopkins Activity Center. She and her husband were longtime dancers, too, until her husband died after the two had been married 70 years. “We used to dance a lot, and I miss that a lot,” Syverson said. “We used to go to the Medina Ballroom with eight other couples.” A native of South Dakota, Syverson grew up on a ranch 100 miles north of Rapid City. “We milked cows and herded sheep, and we walked to school,” she said. Elsie Syverson, 95, of Minnetonka (left), and Later, Syverson taught school herself, Debbie Vold, (right) assistant coordinator at first in the country and then in town. the Hopkins Activity Center, are at the bowling Once she got to the Twin Cities, she alley weekly. (Submitted photo) worked at Honeywell and then at Eaton Corp. “I sold jewelry at one time, too,” has tried adult gymnastics. “It had to she said. be someplace convenient,” Larson said. “My husband was from Glenwood, “Our teacher, Ben Walker, is very innoMinnesota,” she said. “He flew 53 mis- vative. We never do the same thing twice. Mitzi Lindquist, of Hopkins, enjoys the twicesions during World War II.” weekly exercise class at the Hopkins Activity Everyone there is very friendly.” She and her husband had twin boys, Now the classes are fixed on her calen- Center. (Submitted photo) though one died three days after birth. dar, Larson said. “I work the other stuff The surviving twin lives in Seattle. around it,” she said. “Sometimes I walk Activity Center. I’m a morning person, or bike, too.” so I like the 9 a.m. workout,” she said. Nita Larson is another Minnetonka The mother of three children and She says Ben Walker, who leads the resident who is active at the Hopkins grandmother of two, Larson was a key- Fitness Focus classes on Tuesday and
Thursday, is an ex-Marine. “It’s the most fabulous class,” she said. “He changes things up. He makes us work. I really
Nita Larson, of Minnetonka, has weekly exercise classes in Hopkins on her calendar. (Submitted photo) love it.” “I just found my niche and the right place to be,” said Lindquist, who says she’s been “faithfully exercising” for three years. “I find I have a lot more energy, I sleep better and my clothes fit better. I just swear by it.” “I tried the YMCA, Curves and Snap before this,” said Lindquist, who retired eight years ago from working as a medical transcriptionist. She has five grandchildren.
Habitat 500 bike ride keeps Apple Valley man in shape By Sue Webber Contributing writer
Bike Home,” he said. “Some funds raised by the ride go toward paying for that home, usually around $30,000. Some Randy Oppelt has found a unique way years we are lucky and get to put up the to keep busy and active. wall on our build day. Other years when Oppelt, a resident of Apple Valley who retired eight years ago after 25 years as the Parks and Recreation and Public Works director in Burnsville, rides the Habitat 500. It is a seven-day, 500-mile bike ride fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, first started 25 years ago. “I wanted a challenge, and this sounded interesting to me,” said Oppelt, who will be participating in his 15th ride this year.
tires, resulting in more flat tires.” Each rider is required to fundraise a minimum of $1,000, but the average amount raised is usually two-and-onehalf times that amount, he said. “We
A three-wheel recumbent bike sometimes has been Randy Oppelt’s choice for long-distance rides. (Submitted photo) the house is already under construction, we do whatever is required at that time to move the house along.” During the ride, participants stay overnight at schools and sleep in the gym or camp outside on the grounds. Their breakfasts and dinners are usually provided by local churches. “We are provided rest stops every 15 to 20 miles,” Oppelt said. “Food and beverages are provided at these stops.”
Roadside Assistance A nurse and massage therapist accompany the group. “The ride is well supported with a SAG (Support and Gear) crew in vehicles that watches over us and is there to help if we poop out or pop a tire,” Oppelt said. “The road crew keeps track of us via a ham radio. We can contact the SAG crew via cell phone whenever we need to, as long as there is cell service.” A bike mechanic also shadows riders along the route, ready to assist when mechanical problems arise. “Last year, we had a really bad stretch of rainy weather and he ended up changing over 100 flat tires,” Oppelt said. “Road debris tends to stick to wet
The long haul The average rider is someone in his or her lower 50s, Oppelt said; the oldest is someone in his or her 70s. “When you’re with a group of 70-80 people for a week, getting up at 5 a.m. each day, barriers get broken down. Many are introverts who find they have a lot of nice conversations. When you meet again for the next year’s ride, you go right back to where you left off. It’s like no time has passed. The connections you make survive. You get a sense of family; there’s a magic to it. That’s at the heart of why I go back each year.” He estimated that about 6,500 people donate toward the ride each year, “resulting in a significant group of people who support the ride and therefore Habitat for Humanity.” Connecting the riders to a cause was found to be “very, very successful,” Oppelt said. “People understand the cause on a much more emotional level,” he said. He had his first chance to work on a Habitat home during his second ride.
Getting started He began by borrowing a recumbent bike, and then he bought his own recumbent, signed up for the Habitat ride, and started training by biking the nine miles from his Apple Valley home to his job in Burnsville. “Biking to work was key,” Oppelt said. “I enjoyed it and it was a good way to start and end the day. I started biking at the end of March and continued until October, or until the bike cables started freezing. I’d get to work before 6 a.m. fully awake, and shower. Mentally and physically, it was a good thing to do.” Now retired, Oppelt bikes and jogs in the spring and early summer and jogs, walks and works out at a gym in the fall. He started the Habitat ride when he was 53 years old. “I was looking for some way to give back, to get involved, as well as some way to combat my body getting older and very out of shape,” Oppelt said. “So, I signed up for the ride and started biking to work to get in shape. Fifteen years later I am still at it. I have ridden both the trike and the two-wheel recumbent on the ride.” The route, always in Minnesota, consists of a loop, Oppelt said. “Its starting and ending point are the same city,” he said. “Normally the route is totally within Minnesota, although occasionally the route will venture into western Wisconsin (the LaCrosse area) for a day or two.” The first and last days of the ride usually are short days of 50 to 60 miles (Sunday and the following Saturday),” he said. “Wednesday is our long day: a century ride of 100 miles. The other days are 70 to 85 miles.” On Wednesday, riders have the option of working on a Habitat for Humanity home instead of riding the 100 miles, Oppelt said. “Some older riders like myself really prefer and appreciate that,” he said. “The home we work on is called the
average about 110 riders a year, with a maximum capacity of 135 riders,” Oppelt said. “We raise around $330,000 each year.”
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