Riverside Cyclist, 73, Gears Up for 23rd California Coast Classic, Seeks Local Riders

Pete Staylor was diagnosed with severe arthritis in his knees in 2001. His doctor told him he could swim or ride a bike. He chose the bike, and has never stopped.

This September, the 73-year-old Riverside resident will participate in his 23rd California Coast Classic, an eight-day, 525-mile ride that benefits the Arthritis Foundation. The event has run every year since 2001 and raises more than $1 million annually.

Staylor is hoping to recruit other Riverside-area riders to join him on the Sept. 26 start.

"I'd go so far as to say this ride has saved my life, or at least added to the length and quality of my life," Staylor told The Raincross Gazette. "Each year I train to stay in shape to be able to ride the distance."

His first year did not go smoothly. He completed the ride on a donated bike with fewer than three months of training, and promptly said he would never do it again. Then a friend stepped in.

"The following year he bribed me into doing the ride by paying my entrance fees with the rule that I do it the following year as well and raise my own funds to participate," Staylor said. "You meet so many really nice people doing this ride and I have made many lifelong friends participating in this event."

Two knee replacements later, Staylor is still going. He turns 73 just before the September ride and expects nine grandchildren to be waiting at the finish line.

The Arthritis Foundation now provides training schedules, fundraising templates, travel planners and well-marked daily routes with stocked rest stops, resources Staylor said make the ride more accessible to first-timers.

"After having done this so many times I know just what I need to do in order to complete each day of the ride and finish with a smile on my face," he said.

The foundation describes its mission as educating, informing and connecting arthritis patients to therapies, treatments and research, and working to shape public policy on their behalf.

For anyone in the Riverside area considering the challenge, Staylor said the ride is more achievable than it sounds.

"How many people can tell their kids, grandkids and friends that they rode a bicycle 525 miles from San Francisco all the way to Los Angeles? It almost sounds impossible, but it is NOT," he said. "The Arthritis Foundation has put together every tool one would need in order to accomplish this ride. You just have to want to do it."

Staylor said he is happy to walk interested riders through the process of signing up and training.

More information: Details on the California Coast Classic, including registration and fundraising resources, are available at arthritis.org. The ride begins Sept. 26, 2026, in San Francisco.