I just learned that an old biking friend of mine, Ed Noonan, passed away last Friday, Feb 19. He suffered a heart attack after routine shoulder surgery.
Ed was a life long bicyclist. His website used to documents many of his bike adventures, with the longest being a 6011 mile trip from Alaska to Florida in 1996. I first met Ed when I moved to Michigan and joined the Tri County Bicycle Association (TCBA) bicycling club. I believe that he was president at the time. He was a peerless raconteur, with a huge store of bicycling stories, as well as odd facts about practically everything else. On any given day, during a long ride, you might hear about his enthusiasm for his latest bicycling widget, or civic issues in the local burg of Williamston, or issues with distributing WiFi in rural areas.
Although he had done his Alaska trip on a Cannondale touring bike, by the time I met him, he had started riding recumbents, with his first being a Trek R200. In later years, he switched to a RANS V-Rex. In typical Ed fashion, he would tirelessly promote the advantages of recumbency, and I finally caved and got a P-38.
I rode with him for three days straight during DALMAC in 2003, and a typical Ed story would start (in the middle of rural Michigan, miles away from any village) “You see that field there? It belongs to an ex-client of mine. He used to grow cucumbers for half of Vlasic’s annual pickle production……”. Since he was an attorney, he also had the quirk that on group rides, he would absolutely not call out “clear” at intersections because of liability issues.
We had lost touch a bit when I moved away, but he called me up out of the blue when he happened to be in Toronto just a little while ago on a visit. Unfortunately I was at work at my desk, but we chatted for a while, and he filled me in the latest: his excitement about working with law students at Michigan State University, his plans to erect an inukshuk as a grave marker for his beloved JoAnn to commemorate her abiding interest in Inuit Art, and his interest in all things Canadian, etc.
He was a good man, and I’m sure that he will be missed by all who had the privilege to have known him.
Tailwinds old buddy.
The journal that Ed wrote on his epic journey from Alaska to Key West was one of my first significant reads online. He was a terrific story teller. I recall from his journal a description of native american recreation on the Dakota reservations being racing cars in reverse down the highway.
His experience with off and on companions on his journey was real and one to be thoughtful about in planning a long bicycle trip.
I’ve had a whole different assessment of french toast since then. Those who’ve read his journal will know of what I speak.
Thanks for the memories Ed….!!!
Thanks Jun…
Sad to have to meet again on this occasion. Ed prompted the township police to take action on the hit and run driver in my 1999 bike crash. He was an advocate on so many levels. It is sad to think of the streets without him there. See ya later Ed…
I’m sad to read about Ed as his site was one of the first that inspired me to make plans to ride in reverse of his trip, from Key West to Prudhoe Bay Alaska. Does anyone know how to get tailwinds.org to show active or has a record of his trip?