MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — At 83 years old, Bob Blanchard finally achieved his seemingly impossible goal.
Earlier this month, the Bradenton man reached an unfathomable milestone: 200,000 miles ridden on a bicycle.
He had completed cross-country bike trips over most of his adult life but needed one more ride to achieve his goal.
He set off from Bradenton in May and reached Houghton Lake, Michigan, a few weeks later. The roughly 1,500 mile was just enough to reach the 200,000-mile mark.
However, the celebration and jubilation were short-lived. His trip ended in tragedy.
“I guess because of the tragedy — the suddenness of it — that it’s just been really hard for me to — excuse me,” said Bob’s girlfriend, Judi Windle of Parrish.
Last Thursday morning around 8:30, a driver struck and killed Blanchard as he was riding his bike through Bay City, a small city north of Saginaw. According to family members, Blanchard was leaving his son’s house en route for his daughter’s home.
“I felt anger. I felt shock. I felt disbelief,” said his son, Tommy Blanchard.
There are still questions about how the collision happened to a cyclist who practiced safety first, according to his kids.
“You don’t do 200,000 miles on a pedal bike and make it all those miles being unsafe,” said Scott Blanchard, another of Bob’s children.
Meanwhile, in Manatee County, Windle is struggling.
“I expect those morning texts,” she said through tears. “Those afternoon texts.”
She lost her dear husband of 53 years in 2016 and never wanted to love again.
Then, she met Blanchard in 2020. The two bonded over picnics along the Braden River during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We just clicked,” Windle said.
Now, her heart is broken again.
If there’s any consolation, she knows her late boyfriend died doing something he loved to do.
“As hard as it is to lose Bob, I said, ‘God bless him.’ He did what he loved to do. Not many people can die saying, ‘I did what I love to do and did it ‘til my last breath.’ And yes, that’s comforting,” she said.
According to reporting by WJRT-TV, the driver who hit Blanchard is a former officer who claims he was looking down at alert in his car before the collision.
Authorities in Michigan are investigating.
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