Kevin Keats' knuckles look like the size of elbows.

"I got put off work with arthritis," said Keats. "I was on the chesterfield, they had to lift me off the chesterfield to go to the bathroom."

"Then I had a bout with cancer," he added. "I beat that."

Keats laughs as he explains his health troubles. In light jeans and a blue plaid shirt, covered by a leather jacket, he looks a bit like a biker: and at the age of 74, he finally is.

With a brand new motorcycle licence in hand and a 2006 Yamaha VStar 650 bike to cruise on, the Musgravetown man has spent most of the summer riding up and down the Bonavista Peninsula with friends, taking in the sights and distancing himself from his health troubles, or any other worries.

Keats beat cancer and battles crippling arthritis but won't let anything slow him down. (Chris Ensing/CBC)

"Now I'm down to enjoy my bike," he said. "I love getting out on the highway."

Keats takes a few precautions younger bikers might not:he doesn't ride at night, checks the forecast to avoid the rain, and hovers around 80 km/h.

No quit in Keats

Although now secure in the saddle, Keats' motorcycle dream got off to an unbalanced start.

"I started off in the lane here, on the gravel," said Keats. "I was doing a lot of wobbling, and stuff like that."

He kept at it though, gaining the confidence to use a neighbour's longer driveway so he could switch gears.

Kevin Keats takes his motorcycle for a ride through Musgravetown. (Chris Ensing/CBC)

Then he signed up for a motorcycle course.

"It was good help," said Keats, who found a solid support system from the instructors and his neighbour.

"They just kept telling me not to give up, not to give up. And of course I wasn't going to give up, as long as I was breathing."

Lifelong dream, realized

Keats has never planned to simply sit around and waste his golden years.

"Oh no, that's not Kev Keats — no no... If I want to do it, I'm going to push to do it."

This June he upgraded his learner's permit to a full licence, a lifelong dream he never had time for before.

"I was only young when I went away to work because my father died when I was only 13, 14 or something. Big family of us," said Keats. "I just went to work and helped everybody else the best I could."

"This came into the picture, something else came into the picture and it's only now these last couple of years that I'm doing what I want to do."