First to register, Wilson is ready to ride in his 10th El Tour

Syd Wilson was so ready to ride in his 10^th El Tour de Tucson, he just happened to be the first person to sign up for the ride when registration opened on Thursday.

He saw the email “popup” alerting riders that registration was opening and thought “here it is and I’ll just do it,” said Wilson, who happens to be in San Diego this weekend for a scheduled bike ride there. “So, I did.”

At 74 years old, he’s as active as he can be, riding in many bike rides throughout the year. He’s been riding for more than 25 years. He rides with the GABA group.

El Tour is one of his favorites, given it’s in his backyard. And he gets to enjoy it with his daughter, Daryl, who will make her second consecutive appearance in the ride in November.

Syd and Daryl

She lives in Detroit but often visits Tucson to see the family and to ride. When she’d go back to Detroit, her friends would ask if she road in El Tour? Well, last year she did.

“She rode the Tour and got the t-shirt,” he said. “She got jersey and went back and showed her friends. She had a great time.”

He took advantage of the special discount for the two of them so now he’ll prepare for the ride, which is almost seven months away.

We’ll be ready for them and so many more in November when we expect to see more than 10,000 cyclists at the event. We had nearly 700 sign up on the first day.