Simeon's 'Medicine' Was Stolen. Just Another Challenge He Will Take On.

Photo courtesy National Senior Games Association. 

By Ray Glier

The thief didn’t just steal Simeon Gipson’s bike March 6. He stole Simeon’s “medicine.” That bike, which is made by Specialized, helped Gipson lose 75 pounds and subdue diabetes. He would ride 50, 60, sometimes 100 miles a day. He started riding a bike about 15 years ago and hasn’t had to fill a diabetes prescription in 10 years.

“I didn’t have a nickname for the bike,” said Simeon, who is 80 years old. "I just called it my medicine.”

Before I talk about the bike theft, you need to know more about this man and the challenges he has overcome, including a Code Blue on the operating table. Please read for 3 minutes. You may identify with him.

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Simeon shared his health story at the torch lighting ceremony of the 2023 National Senior Games. He was 78 years old and had just completed a 16-day, 1,150-mile ride on that bike from Tahlequah, Oklahoma to the Senior Games in Pittsburgh. His well-publicized trip from Oklahoma to Pittsburgh was resolve for other diabetics that regular exercise could be a remedy for the disease. After Gipson spoke at the torch lighting ceremony, strangers rushed up to share stories and take pictures with him.

“I discovered my long ride meant more to others than me,” Simeon said. “I was surprised by how many people came by to see me, just to tell me how much it meant to them because they were either diabetics, or they had somebody in their family that was diabetic.

“One person told me ‘no one has ever told me that there's really life after diabetes’.”

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Is there life after the beloved bike? 

Gipson shared a pulse with that bike. The bandit not only stole Simeon’s fun, he stole some of Gipson’s ambition and drive.

“I sleep a little too much now,” he said. You could hear the despair come through the phone. 

“I guess I miss the activity as much as I miss the bike.”

Gipson rode his Specialized bike to the Tahlequah Cherokee Casino on South Seven Clans Avenue every Friday night. He doesn’t own a car. Eight weeks ago, on a mild night of 76 degrees, Simeon chained up the bike outside the casino doors. When he came out, it was gone.

Casino security video captured the robbery. The casino knew the man and his last known address, Gipson said. When authorities showed up at the address, the alleged thief was gone. 

“He dropped off the scope,” said Simeon, who is an ex-Navy submariner. “He probably knew with the value of the bike he was going to be charged with a felony.

“My bike is long gone.”

The Cherokee Nation gifted Gipson a gravel bike, which is meant for off-road. Simeon appreciates the kindness of Cherokee Nation, which is the habit of doing things like this (he is half Cherokee, half Choctaw). The tribe sent a marshal in a police car with him as an escort as far as St. Louis on that 16-day odyssey to Pittsburgh. Simeon James, his son, rode the rest of the way with his father.

But the replacement bike is almost twice as heavy, which matters to an 80-year old. It is a 56-inch bike where the Specialized bike was 54. The tires are fat and not as smooth on the blacktop as his road bike.

Gipson rode the gravel bike for the first time this week. He went 20 miles, which is a walk to the mailbox for the rest of us.

The ideal thing is for Simeon to replace the Specialized bike, but he is on a fixed income now and the bike costs $3,500. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help him buy a replacement bike for the road. 

Gipson’s goal is to qualify for the 2027 National Senior Games, which will be held in, of all places, Tulsa, 45 minutes from his home. His best chance to qualify is the Oklahoma Senior Games on October 10 in Fort Sill.

He has time if he gets help from Geezer Jocks.

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Simeon will tell you the 16-day bike ride from Tahlequah, Okla., to Pittsburgh was not fun. It was grueling, a hard challenge, and he didn’t train for it like he should have. It took a lot out of him. Gipson did not do well in the cycling competitions at The National Senior Games. He finished last in the Men’s 75-79 age bracket in the 40k road race.

Now comes something harder. It is a mental challenge, not physical. Simeon has to re-purpose himself with other activity, or find a way to manage with his new medicine, the off-road bike.

“I took me three or four days before it really hit me my bike was gone,” he said. “I didn’t realize how close I was to the bike until someone stole it.”

Gipson has had challenges before. He was an engineman on a submarine for the Navy for four years. He had triple bypass heart surgery. He was stricken with polio in the fourth grade. The man had a compound fracture of his left femur and a total knee replacement that wore out in seven years, not 20.

There's more. While on the operating table to get a growth removed from his eye Simeon's heart stopped. The crash cart for Code Blue response was wheeled in, they later told him. The docs brought him back. A few hours later Gipson walked home. Five miles.

Simeon said his parents thought he was too fragile to accomplish much in life. His older brother, Simon, a supporter from childhood, had to plead with the Gipsons to allow his younger brother to play football.

What was Gipson’s medicine for these challenges?

Ten years ago Simeon figured it out. He pushed back against the perceived slights with this motto singular to his life experiences. 

“I’m the result of no one’s expectations.”

He, no one else, was betting on himself when he was 70 years old. It was not a whine, just something to be dealt with.

“I was just looking back on my life and what I've done and where I went and I have never really had support from anybody, except Simon,” Gipson said “The Cherokee Nation has helped me some, but 10 years ago it was just me. Even my parents were not supportive.”

Simeon has a big supporter these days in Alissa Baker, a local woman in Tahlequah. Alissa set up the GoFundMe page for the Specialized bike.

My guess is that as word gets out about the stolen bike, Simeon will draw a flock of supporters. This is how to help him get back on his meds.