Life on a Grand Scale : Whether Cycling for Miles or Tuning Pianos, Keith Albright, 71, Strikes a Vibrant Chord

LA CRESCENTA â€”  At an age when most people are slowing down, Keith Albright is gaining speed and momentum. The 71-year-old World War II veteran has completed 22 triathlons and 45 marathons.

Albright, a graduate of Hoover High, is a fit and muscular 6 feet, 160 pounds. Recently he was the youngest of four men to ride their bikes across the country.

The group--ranging in age from 71 to 76--calls itself the Iron Gents. Its mission was to create awareness regarding athletics and aging. The Iron Gents also raise money for health and charitable organizations.

“We wanted to show that age alone is not a deterrent to physical achievement,� Albright said. “I think we proved our point.�

Albright and his three buddies began their mission May 12 in Palm Desert and arrived in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 19. It took seven days, five hours and 23 minutes to complete the 2,479-mile course.

Each man cycled for one hour then rested for three inside a motor home that contained a support crew of two. The group was active around the clock, often facing powerful wind gusts and impatient motorists, who sped by.

“One day the driver of a Thunderbird was coming towards us in Texas and he nodded off and swerved just in time to miss us,� Albright said. “It was pretty scary.�

In 1987 the foursome completed a 3,168-mile trip from Santa Monica to New York.

“We were in our 60s then so we went two hours each before resting,� Albright said. “One of the guys, Bill Bell, called up one day and said, ‘Hey, let’s do it again now that we’re in our 70s.’ I thought it was a great idea.�

Albright, Bell, 72, Norton Davey, 76, and Bob Mason, 74, met years ago while competing in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii.

Known as the world’s most grueling and prestigious triathlon, the Ironman course includes a 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon.

The course record is 8 hours 7 minutes, set in 1993 by 35-year-old Mark Allen. The average men’s time at the Ironman is 11 hours 40 minutes.

Albright has finished the Ironman four of five times. In 1985 he won his age group (61-64) and set a record of 12 hours 20 minutes.

In ‘89, his last Ironman, Albright established a record that still holds in the 65-69 age group with a finish of 12 hours 45 minutes.

His best marathon finish came at age 52, when he ran the Chapman College marathon in 3:04.

“It was flat and cold so it was an easy course,� Albright said. “During that time I was running about 85 miles a week. I was in my 50s and those were the good years, the faster years.�

A bad left knee has prevented Albright from running for at least four years. His workout now consists of an intense half-hour morning ride on a stationary bike and a 25-mile afternoon ride at Griffith Park.

On weekends he rides about 42 miles over the steep Sepulveda Pass with a group of cyclists. All of his workout partners are at least 20 years younger.

“He’s very fit and he has a very positive and very youthful attitude and physical presence,� said Terry Kingston, 50, who has trained with Albright for five years. “Keith holds his own. We never have to wait for him no matter how steep the mountain or how fast we do our interval lap training.�

Albright began competing in small, local events in 1956, shortly after he and a group of friends learned to swim at the YMCA near his Glendale home.

By then he was an accomplished piano tuner. After the war Albright studied violin at a music school in Hollywood while he washed dishes at a local eatery. He had played the instrument casually as a youth and wanted to master it.

But when he realized he didn’t have a promising future as a violinist, he switched over to the school’s newly opened piano-tuning division.

Albright was a natural and shortly after completing the program landed a job as a concert-piano tuner.

He says tuning pianos for demanding musicians and competing in physical events have a lot in common because both require intensity and concentration.

“There’s a lot of . . . technique that comes with each one,� Albright said. “Both are mechanical arts.�

Through the years Albright has tuned pianos for some of the world’s most-prominent classical artists and rock and pop bands.

For more than two decades he worked for Liberace, tuning pianos at the star’s Malibu home and many of the music halls where he performed.

“Liberace was a very nice person and very cordial,� Albright said. “I tuned his pianos until the day he died. It was a very sad day for me when he died.�

Albright says he has tuned pianos for the likes of the Beatles, Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire. He also has worked for an array of solo artists.

“I tuned the piano for Rod Stewart’s latest wedding,� Albright said. “But, no, I wasn’t invited to the wedding,� he added, laughing.

Albright tunes pianos for NBC’s “The Tonight Show,� which is taped in Burbank, and he works regularly at MGM-Sony Studios scoring stages in Culver City. He also works for several record companies.

He still works full time and plans to for many more years.

Albright also intends to continue training and competing for a long time.

He will enter upcoming local bike races and plans to start race-walking soon because it’s the closest thing to running that his bad knee can handle. He has no intention of slowing down.

“I’m going to keep on and keep on till who knows when,� Albright said. “It’s fun, so as long as I can do it I will. So what if my wife thinks I’m crazy?�