A very devoted donut rider has moved up to the higher riding grounds shortly after her 80th birthday.

Gail Ferat was quite a cyclist right up to her passing recently.  We heard she had dropped her bicycle off for a tune up but passed very shortly after that so she was never able to pick it up.  But clearly she felt well enough to be riding again this year.

Since conversation was not her strong suit, many of us did not know much about her.  She retired from Bristol we think almost 20 years ago.  She was an OSC and OCC member, perhaps even a founding member of OCC, and was a regular rider.  I am told in her younger days she would do time trials regularly and entered a lot of races, almost always winning her age group.  She was in the Senior games quite a few times, again usually winning her age class.  She was a regular on the OCC vacation ride.  I remember on one vacation ride in Pennsylvania, she had separated from the group and we saw her arriving back at the hotel as a passenger in a farmer’s pickup with her bike in the back – she was quite resourceful and also very independent.  As one of her donut ride friends said, she lived life on her own terms.  She was a rugged individual, living in the country, working with firewood. 

She was also a cross country skier and entered the Tug Hill ski tourathon many times.  She was a member of a senior hiking group for at least a couple of years.

She had musical interests and owned an organ.  She had been a member of the Oasis chorus for at least 7 years since her retirement, most recently about a year and a half ago.  She also took piano lessons off and on since at least 2004, again most recently less than 2 years ago. Gail was also learning to play the clarinet at Oasis!

I know Jack Lancette had told me he used to go up to her place to help with various projects when she needed help.

As one of our donut riders said, she could picture Gail in the church parking lot pumping up her tires, getting ready to do one of her favorite things.

Thanks Gail for riding with us for so many years.