“I refuse to pay $4 for a gallon of gas,” Allen said during a tandem bike ride with his 5-year-old grandson, Noah Soto. Allen does not have to buy gas very often because he prefers to ride. “We are using human power,” Noah said.

“I go to the bank on my bike. I go to the gym on my bike. I go to the doctor on my bike,” said 51-year-old Allen, who is contemplating commuting year-round by bicycle from his Poland home to his family business in Lewiston.

Allen has been riding seriously for 15 years. He estimated that he would ride 5,000 miles by the end of the year. “I am in better shape now than I was when I graduated from high school,” said Allen, a 1975 graduate of Edward Little High School in Auburn.

He customized the back of a tandem bike to accommodate his 4-foot grandson by shortening the crank arms and using wooden blocks so Noah could reach the pedals.

Allen picks Noah up from preschool and the two ride 20 miles to grandmother’s house in Gray every Friday. Eight-mile rides are the norm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Noah began riding behind Allen in a trailer, graduated to a tag-a-long and now averages 16 mph riding tandem.

Allen, his girlfriend Dianne Cote and Noah recently rode from Auburn to Gray. They talked about the Constellation Starliner airplanes they passed in Auburn and Christmas Day bike rides.

“It’s therapeutic,” Cote said. “It is good for the mind, body and soul.”

[email protected]