Tailwinds to our Friend Dan “Dan-O” O’Hara

The MtLCCC is sad to announce the passing of one of its original members, Dan O’Hara, after a long battle with prostate cancer. Dan joined the MtLCCC in the late 1990s, then continued his riding – and racing as a masters champion – after retiring to Florida in 2010.

While Dan’s cancer progressed, his wife, Judy, suffered a severe stroke in 2022 and they moved to Delaware to be with their daughters, Danielle and Chelsea, and son, David, to help Dan give Judy the best possible care. Sadly, Dan’s own health deteriorated and after numerous clinical trials he succumbed to cancer on March 5, 2024, surrounded by family and friends. His fighting spirit was evident in his ability to keep riding for over 10 years while living with cancer.

We send our condolences to Dan’s family and friends and want to use this space to preserve stories of our friend Dan-O. If you have a memory of Dan you’d like to share, please contact us.

In the Beginning There Was the MtLCCC

Dan’s wife Judy was a teacher at Howe Elementary in Mt. Lebanon in the 1990s and knew MtLCCC founder and fellow teacher, Dave Bodnar. She was trying to get Dan to wean off running and ride more, so she encouraged him to give Dave a call about riding with the club. The rest, as they say, is history. Dan quickly found himself among a passionate group of like minded friends who loved to challenge each other on the unforgiving Pittsburgh terrain (and winters!) through the city and small rural towns of Western Pennsylvania.

Dan’s stocky build did not endeavor him to climb with the gazelles, but on the flats he channeled his power (and an equal amount of vengeance) into an unstoppable diesel engine. The final miles of a group ride became a test of who could hang on to Dan-O. Like Secretariat headed for the barn, if you weren’t on his wheel, he was gone, and rarely could anyone come around him at the end. 

Dan’s competitive spirit and strength led him to the local masters racing scene with the Pittsburgh Masters Velo Club where he learned to race in a group at the Oval in Highland Park and individual time trials against the clock. At the height of his racing, he would train twice a day: once on his lunch break and then after work with Rocky’s evening group rides out of Bridgeville. Yet as competitive as he was, Dan was a soft-spoken gentleman with a generous spirit, unless he was trying to win county line sprints.

MtLCCC Ride Destinations

Several MtLCCC members organized multi-day cycling trips that included meeting their spouses at their final destination for a mini-vacation. It was the perfect combination of hard cycling miles and marital investment. On one trip they rode 170 miles from Pittsburgh to Chautauqua, NY, in two days and then enjoyed a relaxing few days boating on the lake.

On another trip they drove to the Adirondacks for a few days riding over mountains and sprinting county signs. The only thing harder than the riding was trying to beat Dan and Judy at ping-pong at the lodge.

Bike MS

Like many of the club riders, Dan was an active participant and fundraiser for the MS Society’s Bike MS events. His good friend and fellow club member, Eric Obye, had been diagnosed with MS, so Dan was particularly dedicated to raising money in support of his friend.

Friendships Beyond the Bike

Like so many bike communities, Dan’s friendships extended off the bike as well. He and Judy introduced Barb and Rocky to the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theater where they attended many wonderful performances together. Kevin, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, invited Dan, who was a psychologist, to talk to his students about leadership:

New Beginnings in Florida

In 2010 after retiring, Dan and Judy moved to The Villages in Florida where he could not only finally shed himself of Pittsburgh winters, but he could dedicate himself to riding every day year round. He quickly found a new group to ride with. Unencumbered by the Pittsburgh hills, Dan found himself in his glory, using his famous “diesel power” to become a local legend on the flat terrain. His fitness and confidence improved by leaps and bounds. Dan continued to race on the road and in time trials becoming a state champion in his age group and a marked man whenever he pinned a number. 

After his cancer diagnosis in 2013, Dan continued riding with his group in Florida, but it eventually robbed him of the fitness and strength he had worked so hard for. Although there were different paced groups, during their rides he would fall back to each slower group to the point of being too frustrated and depressed to ride at all. Along with the physical deterioration was the mental challenge of losing his sense of belonging to an active, passionate community and his identity as a cyclist.

At Judy’s urging, he tested an e-bike at his local bike shop and quickly became an early adopter of using e-bikes to equalize the inequity of his body. With the aid of the battery-assist road bike, Dan was able to rejoin his cycling group and his mental outlook rebounded. His bike handling skills and situational awareness were still on point. Back in the peloton, Dan could ride with agility despite having to control the moderation of the motor and the unwieldy weight of a 50 pound bike that handled like Queen Mary.

With this newfound freedom from the limitations of cancer, Dan couldn’t settle for the 30 mile range of the e-bike’s battery so he strapped an extra eight-pound battery to the rear wheel rack to swap out in the middle of a long 60-70 mile ride.

Dan became the reverend of all e-bike knowledge and passed his sermon on to Dave when visiting Pittsburgh in 2018. After one ride around the block on Dan’s e-bike, Dave found this emerging technology to be the solution for his heart arrhythmia problems that were limiting his own participation in group rides. Within two months Dave was aboard his own e-bike, challenging the younger riders at the front and finding the joy in riding again. Both men bonded over pushing road e-bikes through their paces, often logging 10,000 miles a year, and they compared notes about the strengths and limitations of their equipment. Unsurprisingly, their respective bike stables expanded to include “A-bikes” and “B-bikes” so they would never need to take a day off if one bike was in the shop.