Fred loved club, beyond his days riding a bicycle | News

Fred Finney passed away in February 2024, at the age of 86.

In a condolence, Margie O’Hare and Harv Ferguson described Finney as “the beating heart of Vistoso Cyclists.”

Finney may have characterized the relationship differently; in an interview shortly before his death, he said the Vistoso Cyclists Bicycling Club helped keep his heart beating, and his spirit alive.

Finney was an “outsider,” living in Casas Adobes, when he joined the Sun City Oro Valley-based group in 2000.

Finney’s wife Vera was in line at the Village Bakehouse behind a cyclist wearing a Vistoso Recyclers jersey. She asked about the Recyclers, and “he proceeded to tell her all about the club,” Finney recalled. “I was looking for something to do.”

Finney was first turned away because he didn’t live in what was then called Sun City Vistoso. Harold Chapman called him back and said “‘we don’t have a rule like that. Come on up and ride with us.’

“I’ve loved it ever since, until I can’t ride anymore,” said Fred. That time came in early 2021. “I had to throttle back,” he said. “I loved it then, and I miss it terribly now. The camaraderie, the socializing with fellow members … as well as the exercise.”

The Vistoso Cyclists Bicycling Club is a chartered Sun City Oro Valley social and recreational club with membership in excess of 250 people. It started more than 30 years ago, and quickly became a premier cycling club in the region.

Vistoso Cyclists’ regularly scheduled group rides, most departing from the parking lot behind the Vistoso Community Church on Rancho Vistoso Boulevard, are destination-based, to more than 35 local cafes on a regular basis. Stops depend “on who has the best coffee,” Finney said.

Ride lengths range from 12 to 60 miles, utilizing both multiuse pathways and streets. Riders are grouped according to ability and speed. A membership is $25.

The Vistoso Cyclists is a charitable organization; in 2025, it raised $27,209 for the Interfaith Community Services’ food bank. Since 2007, its Wheels for Kids sub-group has collected, refurbished, and donated more than 6,000 bikes to needy children. And the group Women on Wheels was formed in 2012.

For more info, visit vistosocyclists.org.