A 420-mile bicycle trip from northern Indiana to Grove City may seem daunting to even the most-fit of athletes, but it’s old hat for 78-year-old Doyle Putman.

Putman and his son, Brent, put pedal to the metal this past week, traveling from their home state to Grove City on their old, reliable – and gas-free – bicycles.

The Putmans came to visit Gaye Welton, who has lived in Grove City for the past 17 years.

“We hadn’t done a long bike trip in a while, so I suggested to Dad that we ride out here to see my sister,” Brent Putman explained.

The pair made the same journey 15 years ago – although Putman admitted this trek involved walking his bicycle on some steep hills.

“We’ve traveled (the route) before so we knew what to expect,” he said. “There is one really bad hill by Wooster (Ohio). I made it up 15 years ago but I told myself I was not going to even try it this year.”

“My dad told me, ‘I’m sorry you ever asked me on this trip,’” Brent grinned. “But we had a great time.”

The father-and-son-duo began their trek to Grove City last Tuesday afternoon. They biked about 45 miles the first day before stopping to rest for the night, according to Brent Putman.

“For the next two days, we rode about 97 miles each day, which is more than my dad wanted to do,” he laughed. “I guess I was worried about getting here on time.”

The Putmans arrived in Grove City last Sunday, traveling 420 miles in five-and-a-half days.

“We started biking around 7, 8 a.m. in the morning and quit around 4:30 to 6 p.m.,” Brent Putman said. “We would take a lot of breaks and stop at many places.”

According to Brent, the pair traveled on mostly highways through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, although they did pedal on county roads as well. The pair wore florescent shirts to alert motorists they were sharing the road with them.

“Ohio has maps with road routes chosen for bicyclists, so that’s what we followed somewhat,” he said. “Sometimes, we got off for various reasons and chose our own route. For Indiana and Pennsylvania, we just looked at state maps and went from there.”

According to Brent Putman, motor vehicle traffic wasn’t very heavy on their journey.

“Most of the time, traffic was not so bad,” he said. “I remember we rode 15 miles on a state road in western Ohio that was as smooth as could be. Maybe a dozen cars passed us either way. It was a great ride.”