Carolina Life: Always a nice day for a bike ride

“Columbia drivers are reckless. Reckless. Stay out the road or they will knock your tail off,” Thomas Gordon says with a smile and a slight chuckle.

Not many people get to see Columbia the way Gordon sees it.

Early every morning, 49-year-old Gordon of Dentsville hops on his bicycle and heads to work in Columbia. Some days, Gordon and his bike catch a ride to Columbia on a city bus. Other days — if the weather is good — he and his bike face the day alone.

“I’d say I ride at least 50 to 60 miles a day. More than that, that’s just an average ’cause I ride all the time everywhere. I just enjoy riding,” Gordon says.

A jack of many trades, Gordon makes a living as a carpenter, barber, landscaper and a shipping and receiving clerk for a local, family-owned business.

The family always has been very kind to Gordon. So for Mother’s Day, to show his appreciation, he traveled with a hibiscus plant to deliver to the matriarch of the family.

“They treat me just like family. I wanted to get Mother something, too.”

— Kim Kim Foster-Tobin, kkfoster@thestate.com