GREAT OUTDOORS: GV cyclist back in the saddle

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You must do the things you think you cannot do.”

Although she had a little help from her friends, a very feisty Fran Licciardiello decided she was one of those who needed to overcome some pretty powerful bad memories to get “back in the saddle.”

Falling off your bike can be just as scary as falling off your horse, but getting back up there after a serious accident can be scarier.

“I was always falling off it, it seemed,” said Licciardiello, 73, recalling her frequent tumbles as a kid, a little bit reckless from the start. “I always had a road bike, and I tried to ride every day.”

Growing up near the Delaware Water Gap in northern New Jersey, Licciardiello taught physical education in Philadelphia and Maryland for 38 years. She tackled the Pennsylvania hills on a regular basis, riding about 40 miles a day with no incidents, even though she can still recall the times as a girl she used to dare her friends she could barrel down the boat dock without flying into the water.

There was also that big bump she hit once that threw her into a canal.

Another time she strapped her bike to the back of a horse and got thrown off. Later, her mom had to stop her from attaching her little sister in the stroller to the back of her bike.

Whether it was flying hot air balloons, jumping out of a plane four times, doing her small-plane pilot lessons, or popping off a few fingernails as a fast-pitch softball catcher, Licciardiello has always had a little bit of daredevil in her.

That changed after a nasty accident at age 58 left her lying in the road with a fractured hip.

“Thank God I was wearing a helmet,” she said, remembering the smashed one she left there as she was taken to the hospital.

Some pins and screws and she was okay, but it left her terrified.

“From that day, I never got on a bike again.”

Taking up jogging to stay in shape, it took some determination with her newfound fear to even get on her stationary bike in the basement.

“I started to develop foot problems, though,” she said.

Of course, when her doctor, an avid cyclist, suggested biking instead, she immediately shot back, “No way!”

A winter visitor here, she was getting support from cycling friends Sandy Sprinkle and Lore Dana McCarthy to get back out there. She borrowed theirs and tried, but the demons didn’t go away.

“I went three times in a circle and couldn’t get back on it,” she remembers. “I was really petrified.”

She moved here in 2004 and they kept after her util she was able to find the courage to ride around her neighborhood.

“I owe a lot to Damian,” Licciardiello said, referring to Damian Leuck, owner of Green Valley Bike and Hike, who encouraged her and helped her pick out a bike that would give her confidence.

She told him, “I want the fattest tires you have.”

It took some soul-searching and persistence, but ultimately she conquered it, and today she gets up each morning and automatically dons her riding clothes.

By 2005, she was logging 4,000 miles, lost 15 pounds, lowered her blood pressure, was back in shape, and found it helped her cope with the arthritis in her feet.

“I average almost 3,000 miles a year now,” she said proudly.

Leuck helped her start a winter cycling group that goes out a couple days a week from Abrego South Recreation Center. She feels safer, it keeps her busy and active, and she gets lots of social contact that way.

“That’s important to me.”

When she isn’t on the bike or playing golf, Licciardiello has been working for Leuck at Bike and Hike for the past four-and-a-half years, greeting customers and encouraging them to keep their bikes maintained and wear helmets.

“I have to thank Damian for being there to motivate me,” she says. “I have learned so much about bikes from him.”

Averaging about 20-25 miles a day, Licciardiello has progressed from a comfort bike to a hybrid, and has come full circle, now back to a road bike, knowing she has to stick with it to reap the benefits.

“There are days when I don’t feel like doing this, but I would miss it if I didn’t.”

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.