Sunday, August 19, 2012

R.I.P. Frank Angelucci


 19 August 2012

In his own words, from the April 2011 Freewheel:

I didn’t exercise much in the 70’s and 80’s, for I was working hard at my business as a mason. I was then 225 lbs & smoking a pack + a half of cigarettes a day. Then after moving to my new home in Chesterfield I decided to quit the cigarettes & started thinking of my health. So I started to exercise which helped me to quit smoking & lose weight. The Huffy I bought didn't last long before it was given to my younger son when I bought a Schwinn. A good friend, Rich Agabiti, said why don’t you try cycling more seriously & join the Free Wheelers. I did & that changed my outlook on exercising from then on.
 
When I started to ride with the club one of my favorite rides was on Tuesday evening from Peter Muschal School, and the pizza party afterwards at the Take It Easy bar in Yardville. We also did time trials outside of Allentown back then. I did a few but lacked experience. The trials didn’t last too long after that. Alot of weekend rides got done, many with older members no longer with the club, but alot still are Joe Miller, Ed Post, Chris Cook, John Powers, to name a few. We did alot of rides out of [the then called] Trenton State College, out to the Sourlands and beyond. I also did many rides with Norm (God rest his soul) who taught me alot about endurance, he just kept going & going. Cranbury rides are another favorite of mine.

I like to do centuries, my longest ones were The Beast of the East events, which they don't have anymore. The one I liked the most was the Livestrong Challenge, very challenging, but very organized. I like doing the event, but because of health issues, the timing has to be right. I’ll miss doing centuries & rides to the shore with Joe McBride, may he RIP, a really great guy who knew how to make you laugh.

I don't ride as much and as hard as I used to. Because of the cancer I was diagnosed with four years ago, I am fighting the battle of my life. As Lance once said "as long as your moving, you’re still alive," and Jack Lalanne once said "the best way to hurt your body is to not use it". I did do a triathlon in 2010, at Seaside, NJ tho.  The ocean was rough & I learned alot about swimming in the ocean: you have to be in shape! I hope to do more in 2011, but it takes alot of training. I still get a lot of miles in, because of forced retirement, and I just pick my days. I try to ride as much as I can now, & hope to get 3 to 4 Thousand miles in a year. On M W F I ride with Dennis & the mature gang, a great bunch of guys & gals. 

When not riding here, I spend as much time as I can in Florida, with my son, his wife & my beautiful grand-daughter. She’s nine now & very active. She runs 5K races, swims distance, rides her bike, plus plays soccer all year round, except for in the summer when they are in New Jersey. She will be doing the kids triathlon in September, while my son does the full IRONMAN 140.6 in Panama City, Florida. While I’m in Florida, my old bike is down there and I try to ride 25-40 miles a day, with rest days here and there. Then I stop at the beach to swim, weather permitting and I run a little bit to break it up. I stay down there as long as I can but have to come back to Philadelphia every three to four weeks for treatments The greatest bike race I've ever seen was last years Tour de France. Our children gave my wife Susan and I the trip to France, where we watched three stages, an experience that will never be forgotten.

I'm glad I became a member of PFW many years ago, I met a lot of wise, knowledgeable, and good people. God willing I hope to meet many more good people and do many more rides. Ride on. . . .

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