{"id":116300,"date":"2026-01-01T15:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/116300\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T15:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:11:19","slug":"a-long-beach-bicyclist-rode-every-single-day-for-nearly-18-years-at-79-hes-now-pedaling-again-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/116300\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Beach bicyclist rode every single day for nearly 18 years; at 79, he’s now pedaling again \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ron Rand didn\u2019t intend to undertake a decades-long cycling streak. But once he got in the saddle, he rode through cancer treatment, an appendectomy, a vacation in torrential rain and 10 days aboard a cruise ship \u2014 without a day off.<\/p>\n

The now 79-year-old Long Beach resident begins each day on the bike, usually well before sunrise. For years, his alarm would ring at 2:45 a.m., and he would ride 10 miles, return for a walk with his wife along the shore and arrive at his Morgan Stanley office by the time markets opened at 6:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Rand has always had an appetite for the extreme and the perseverance to see his endeavors through, his daughter Courtney Stammerjohan said. When she was in elementary school, she agreed to join her dad for a 75-mile bike ride in Mexico.<\/p>\n

After weeks of preparation (Rand bribed her with Abba-Zaba candy), they began the race in Tecate, Mexico, in 100-degree heat, Stammerjohan remembered. In the first five minutes, \u201cI locked handlebars with him and took us both down.\u201d Stammerjohan wanted to quit, her hair a sweaty mess, a monstrous hill ahead on the course. But her dad was a problem solver: he \u201ctook a piece of Velcro and tied my hair back,\u201d she said. Hours later, they both finished, Rand in last place, Stammerjohan\u2019s hair so tangled she thought they would have to chop it off.<\/p>\n

For that race, and many to follow, Rand rode a heavy brown Peugeot bicycle. For his 61st birthday, Stammerjohan and her two siblings took Rand to Jones Bicycles, a since-closed, beloved bicycle shop on Second Street, and bought him a new model. Rand protested that he already had a working bike, which \u201cdeflated all three of us,\u201d Stammerjohan said.<\/p>\n

But when he rode the bike home, it changed everything: \u201cHe instantly fell in love with that bike,\u201d Stammerjohan said. The streak started that day in 2007, and didn\u2019t stop for nearly 18 years.<\/p>\n

To hear Rand tell it, if his kids were going to buy him an expensive bike, \u201cI wasn\u2019t just going to let it sit around in the garage and collect dust.\u201d He fell into a routine of cycling daily.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ron Rand, 79, takes a few laps on his bike while at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Soon, Rand saw his first goal on the horizon: breaking baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr.\u2019s \u201cIron Man Streak\u201d of 2,632 games played in a row. Rand blew through that milestone, but not without obstacles.<\/p>\n

One early morning, he went in for an appendectomy. On waking from surgery, he executed a plan to \u201ctrick the doctors into releasing\u201d him early. \u201cI said, \u2018You know, I feel really good. Can I just go ahead and go home?\u2019\u201d The doctors agreed but told him to take it easy; Rand hopped on his bike.<\/p>\n

Another year, Rand and his family were leaving the Kentucky Derby when Rand spotted something outside his car window: \u201cStop the limo. I\u2019ll be right back,\u201d he said. He jumped out and approached a man sitting on a porch next to a child\u2019s bike with pink streamers. \u201cI\u2019ll give you $20 if I can ride that bike down to the end of the block and back,\u201d Rand remembered saying. The streak survived.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ron Rand, 79, at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Rand proved himself unrelentingly creative, charming and unflappable in his quest to ride every day. He carried a folding bike aboard a cruise and rode it on the exercise track. He took a trip \u2014 sans bike \u2014 to a coastal northern California town and knocked on doors in a torrential rainstorm until one woman relented: If he was crazy enough to ride in the downpour, he could borrow her bike, Rand remembered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels natural to me,\u201d Rand said of his dedication to riding, rare time free from screens and the interruptions of daily life. The wind whooshing past as he peddles \u201cturbo-charges me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That feeling has powered Rand through some of his most challenging moments. He cycled through the grief of his wife\u2019s death due to COVID-19. (\u201cMy foil with the bike riding,\u201d Rand described her. \u201cShe was always supportive. She just thought I was crazy.\u201d) He cycled as he underwent treatment for prostate cancer this year. (A recent test showed his cancer was now undetectable.)<\/p>\n

But when he felt a piercing pain in his hip earlier this year, imaging revealed the cartilage in his socket had worn away. His hip joint was bone on bone, and the streak was at stake.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ron Rand, 79, talks about his biking adventures while at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Rand went under the knife in June. His surgeon, Dr. Michael Hunter of Hoag Orthopedic Institute, completed the surgery in under an hour, using the newest joint technology available, reducing the need to cut muscle and allowing patients to go home sooner. When Rand woke up, pumped full of pain medication, \u201che really wanted to cycle the next day,\u201d Hunter said \u2014 not medically advisable.<\/p>\n

But the next day, his leg swelled \u201cabsolutely huge,\u201d so large Rand couldn\u2019t move, he said. He sat next to his daughter, Stammerjohan, who was helping him recover. \u201cShe said, \u2018You know, this is going to break the streak.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I don\u2019t look at it as breaking the streak. I look at it as enabling me to continue biking,\u2019\u201d Rand remembered.<\/p>\n

One November morning, Rand wheeled his lightweight bicycle (\u201cjust a feather,\u201d he said) from his home in Belmont Park to the water and carefully mounted, using a curb for assistance, as his doctor instructed. He looped around the parking lot, youthful and almost giddy as he blew past a couple waterfowl in Alamitos Bay. Then he rounded a corner and briefly disappeared from view, emerging again to dismount, beaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ron Rand didn\u2019t intend to undertake a decades-long cycling streak. But once he got in the saddle, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-116300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}