The yellow badges of honor come out once a year for members of Sequim’s “Ancient and Honorable Cyclists.”

While they ride together in groups or independently each week, they officially only meet once a year, said group member Tom Coonelly, 85.

To be a member, you turn 80, he said, or you’re already in your 80s and a cyclist. This year, the Ancient and Honorable Cyclists have five new members.

In total there are 22 riders at least 80 years old in Sequim who cycle with the group, and 18 were in attendance on Sept. 12 at the annual gathering near Jamestown Beach.

Dick Gritman, a retired federal law enforcement officer who served in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is the eldest rider at 89. He celebrated his birthday the prior week and moved to Sequim in 1998. Gritman said he rides three days a week, weather permitting and when he’s not traveling.

“I love it,” he said of cycling.

Some riders go fast and some slow, Coonelly said of the group, and the idea behind it is to encourage people to keep moving.

He said people have joined their various groups after seeing them on the road, and/or reading about them.

Some Ancient and Honorable Cyclists are members of Spoke Folk, Women on Wheels, Easy Riders and other small to large groups that tend to meet at 9:30 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave., before going on their separate treks. Another group also meets on Sundays near the entrance of Voice of America Park.

Coonelly said riders have recently gone to Victoria, B.C. and Port Townsend, and they’ll go “anywhere you can ride bikes.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ At age 89, Dick Gritman is the senior member of the “Ancient and Honorable Cyclists,” a group of bicyclists age 80 and older, and said he rides three days a week in the Sequim area, weather permitting, and when he’s not traveling.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Each member of the “Ancient and Honorable Cyclists,” including Lee Bowen (pictured), receive a button for being at least 80 years old and riding consistently with local bicyclists.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Cyclists with various groups, including the “Ancient and Honorable Cyclists,” a group of 22 people who are at least age 80, prepare to ride along Jamestown Road on Sept. 12.