Tretter Bikes 5,000 Miles in Past Year

Most likely you have seen biking through Westborough. The avid cyclist logged 5,000 miles in the past year, and that was not a record-setting year for him.

“A few years ago, I did 7,000 miles,” he said. “That was unusual.”

Tretter, 53, has been biking as long as he can remember. But taking up the sport more seriously happened for him just after graduating high school in 1976. “We took a bike trip in France…It was one of those ‘sleep under the stars’ trips.”

Always an avid rider, he never thought about how far he was biking until receiving a bike computer as a gift. “I was reluctant to use it. I really had no interest in it,” he said. “I got like three of them before I finally strapped one onto the bike.”

After that, he was hooked. “I think the thing I like most is watching it when I bike in the wind. You can be working really hard, and hardly moving on the bike.”

It was the computer that showed him how far and long he had been riding.

His favorite local destinations include riding out West Main Street to Glen Street; riding into Upton on Westborough Road and looping onto Route 140 in Grafton; heading out to Marborough by the airport and then on to Stow, Sudbury and Maynard; riding to the Wayside Inn; and riding Ruggles Street to Upton.

“The roads are quiet regarding traffic,” he said. “I do get to see a part of the world that others don’t get to see.”

His average ride is about 20 miles, he said, but he ranges from 15 to 40 miles at a clip.

Tretter said he would love to see bike trails in Westborough, but he doesn’t see that becoming a reality any time soon. “There was talk about maybe on going through Cedar Swamp off of Flanders,” he said. “But it would be a big project, and it would have to be an environmentally sensitive project.”

Tretter recommends that anyone interested in taking up the sport start out slow and get a professional to help find a bike that is the right fit. He also said it is important to pick the right time and place to ride.

“The worst place in town to ride is Main Street during traffic,” he said. “Pick the right time to ride. Not when there is high traffic.”

He said he has collided with cars on a few occasions in the past, but he has never been seriously hurt. “Bikes have the right of way. But that doesn’t stop drivers from doing unsafe maneuvers, like passing a bike on the left to then turn right — in front of the moving bike.”

Tretter said that there are days when he doesn’t feel the motivation. “I can walk by the bedroom and see the bed and think that looks good, but then I get on the bike and remind myself, ‘Where else would I rather be?’”

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