Local man authors book about biking career

For Perryville resident Bill Logan biking has always been a passion. So much so that he is now sharing it with the world.
Logan recently released a memoir titled “60 years in the Saddle.” The book chronicles Logan’s biking career as well as his stint as a duathlete.
“This is my first look and probably my last,” Logan said. “A lot of people have told me that I needed to write a book for the last few years. I finally agreed and said I would do it. It’s a one-time deal.”
Logan began riding a bike at the age of 10 in southern Indiana as a hobby with friends, and that evolved into a bike racing career at 18.
“My racing career started at Indiana University, and I rode in what was called the ‘Little 500.’” Logan said. “After that I got into what could be called serious national bicycle racing at that time it was under the Amateur Bicycle League. So we raced all over the country.”
Logan raced in that circuit from 1964-1976, when he started running along with it doing about six marathons.
“I decided to put them both together and do bike/run events or duathalons,” Logan said. “I started at the local level and moved up eventually to the world level.”
Logan noted that running and biking are two drastically different skills. The typical duthalon is a running for five kilometers and biking for 25 miles, and do another 5K run.
“You can be good at one or good at the other,” Logan said. “To be a good duathlete, you have to be great at both.”

Logan, 80, still rides his bike, but is no longer a competitive rider.
“It’s nowhere near what I used to ride, but I try to ride about four or five days per week,” Logan said. “I think it’s important for me to keep riding. It’s more of a lifestyle thing for me. If I keep riding the bike, I can keep doing a lot of the other things that I couldn’t do otherwise.”
Being a duathlete was also tough on family life for Logan.
“There’s a balance that you have to have,” he said. “When you’re biking racing it take a lot of time and training. My wife and I have three children that we had to work around. We also worked full time during that too.”
The title of the memoir is one that refers to saddle of a horse, but has another meaning.
“Saddle is another name for the seat on a bike,” Logan said.
He enjoyed writing about his life, even though it will be his only novel.
“The book is about the relationships that I have built over the years with the people that I have raced over the years.” Logan said.
Logan’s book is available on Amazon.