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Bicycle Billy’s Simplicity Travels a Long Way By Hannah Lathan
Billy Griggs, known as “Bicycle Billy”
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f you have driven around Boaz within the last four years, it is likely that you have seen resident Billy Griggs out pedaling his bike at some point. Moving here from Louisville, Kentucky in August 2015, Billy did not have a vehicle when he settled into the small town of Boaz. “I drove a small U-Haul truck all the way here with all of my stuff, and then used my bike as my way around for the next two years,” Billy explains. In September 2017 Billy purchased a Volvo for $1,500 and paid for it in full. Since then, he has only put a little over 4,000 miles on the Volvo, driving it only to make trips to the grocery store or doctor appointments, and traveling in the rain. Billy explains that a typical day for him begins with waking early each morning and eating
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his cornflakes and orange juice. Then he travels to the gym by car or, weather permitting, rides his bike 4.5 miles to Therapy Plus Fitness Center near the hospital and joins the morning crowd for a short workout. “I go inside, and I go to each machine in there and set the weight to about 50-60 pounds and I do 50 reps each on every machine and leave.” Billy says that he keeps it short and sweet in the gym but exercising at Therapy Plus is helpful for his muscle tone and makes him feel stronger. “It helps with this right here!” he laughs as he pulls his wrinkles up on his forearm. After his morning workouts, he returns home and gets ready to hit the road on his bike. A normal riding day for Billy consists of covering anywhere from 12-20 miles a day! Billy said he doesn’t ride his bike on Sundays at all. One of Billy’s favorite routes to ride begins at his residence at the Manor House and continues into the residential downtown area of Boaz. He follows a pretty steady routine, with his days consisting of breakfast, morning workout, his daily ride, and then ends the day with cooking a cheeseburger for himself on his George Foreman grill at home. “I eat out about three times a week. Usually Friday night, Saturday night, and then Sundays after church,” Billy says. In November 2016, Billy took a fall in his home that resulted in his needing a hip replacement. After surgery he was required to go to therapy and be released from a physician before returning to riding his bike again. The surgery
may have put a damper on Billy’s riding for a short time, but he was right back to his normal routine sooner than later. “It slowed me down a little bit, but after a week of physical therapy I started riding my bike again anyway!” Billy laughs, “I’ve been riding my bike for exercise to help me stay healthy for the last 20 years. I don’t believe there is anything I enjoy more for staying healthy than riding my bike,” Billy says. Throughout the interview, Billy laughed a lot and talked about how he loves to joke and smile “You just never know what someone may be going through, they could be having a really bad day. It costs nothing for you to smile at them. I think we should all smile more and laugh more. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you can’t laugh at anything!” he says. Billy explained several incidents in which people have yelled at him to get off the road, or even blew the horn at him, trying to scare him. In another instance, a lady passing by was pointing and mouthing for him to move onto the sidewalk. In September 2015 he was clipped by a car passing by, and it could’ve been deadly. “I had one incident, on 431, I was going to run an errand and rode my bike. This car ran by me so close, his right view mirror hit my handlebar, and I just held on as solid as I could to try not to fall. His mirror came off and bruised my elbow,” he continues “It scared the daylights out of me, and I said something I hadn’t said in 40!” He since has avoided riding on US Highway 431. “In www.alabamaliving.coop