Are there many, some, a few of us over 50??

I miss my dad something awful and still find my eyes welling up with tears every few days when I think of him, but I would rather have lost him in a car accident as I did than to Alzheimer's.

My grandfather had AD and died at 96. The last 3 years of his life, when my grandmother was very sick and then died, were just awful for both him and my mother (an only child). At least my memories of my father are much more positive. I would give just about anything for a recording of his voice, like some of you have of your dad's....guess I'll just have to play back the recordings in my mind. I can still hear his voice so clearly.

Emily

I take comfort in knowing that my Dad has lived a good life. He has travelled the world, as a youth did what he enjoyed (he had his own travelling orchestra and band), made a good living for his wife and kids and lives contently now in a beautiful little community where he is well loved. Most of which he is going through now he is unaware, although at times knows he is confused, the sad moments pass very quickly. I know it's harder on us than him. Eventually we all die. I'm not certain one way is better than another all I know it's important that we leave our marks on this world and that others can speak as fondly of us as Emily now does of her Dad.

Em... you don't need recordings or photos, just your memories. Thanks for sharing.

After going through my brother-in-laws funeral, I know I still have along way to go to be thought as highly by everyone as he was thought of by everyone who ever met him. It's memories that are important, not pieces of paper or tape recordings. I'm hoping somehow, someday, I too am a happy thought in someone's memories.

bcipam, I think you are held on good memory. Even though most of us here have never met you in person, you have provided us with a certain thoughts, ideas, stories, or tidbits and yes, those can count as some sort of memory. And then, there are those who have met you in person in which you have made a positive impact on. The key is, is to keep giving and being positive and just being yourself towards the world and when our time is done on this earth, we will be held in good memory, whether it is just on our family or to the entire world. Keep giving love and love will be given to you as well

64 here . . . got into bicycling about 13 or so years ago when I couldn't walk very well because of a bad hip. Cycling was the only exercise I could do without much pain. My hip replacement in 2001 fixed me up, and I'm riding more than ever. I try to ride at least a couple of week-long tours every year, plus numerous one-day supported rides in the area, and I LOVE to spin.

I recently turned 50 and plan to celebrate by biking cross country this year. Hope to celebrate many more.

Lesliek - congrats turning 50. WOW riding cross country - sounds like a great way to celebrate. How are you planning this, do have planned stops, or a SAG following you, etc....?

Just turned 50 last part of Dec.
This was my birthday present to me. :D

hey, welcome to TE! what a wonderful 50th birthday present!

Sweet! I'd turn 50 again for that. ;)

Oh what a wonderful birthday present. I turned 50 on Christmas day '07. Orbea is such a wonderful bike. You'll enjoy it for many years to come.

And welcome to the board.
Smilingcat

Oh, just say you are half-century old. There's something that sounds stately about that halfway point to 100 years.

We should aim to cycle the distance of our new age each time. :) :) Either it gets better...or more challenging.

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Originally Posted by conurejade

Just turned 50 last part of Dec.
This was my birthday present to me. :D

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You must have been VERY GOOD! :D
Welcome aboard!

Nice present....Orbea does make some of the sexiest bikes out there. If that bike doesn't put "young" in the heart, I don't know what will!

Hey Surgtech. I'm still working out the logistics on this one. My first attempt at a really LONG unassisted ride. Have done a lot of touring in my neck of the woods--New York and New England. So I won't have to purchase gear. Looking at potential routes and considering maps from Adventure Cycling. Open to all suggestions and thoughts.

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Originally Posted by conurejade

Just turned 50 last part of Dec.
This was my birthday present to me. :D

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Happy belated birthday and wow! what a gorgeous bike! Hope you have miles and miles of fun!

Will hit #55 myself in a couple of weeks and, like many others here, I rode all over as a kid, but didn't get hooked on cycling as an adult until 1997.
I lost my brother to AIDS and found myself training to do my first AIDS fundraising ride - thinking of it as a unique way to honor him as well as challenge myself. That was thousands of miles ago - both with training rides and riding for the same reason across a number of states...have raised almost $100k and I believe that we're getting closer to having that last AIDS ride, so we can celebrate a cure and then ride for the pure enjoyment of it, right?!
Mary

51 and I need a new knee

Closing in on 54 and feeling better than I ever did in my 20's or 30's. :cool:

50 here, and also in better health than in my 40s! In fact, the year I turned 50 was the year I finally really solved my weight problem, got to the underlying metabolic defect and worked out a strategy to effectively correct it.

The year I turned 50 was also the year we became empty nesters. At first I was freaked out by it, but now we love it. We love our kids dearly, but its great to have more time for ourselves too. For me it gave me the time to figure out how to improve my health, reinvigorate my work, reinvigorate my marriage, all kinds of neat stuff happened to me the year that I turned 50 (but no new bikes with two kids attending very *expensive* private colleges)!

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Originally Posted by DeniseGoldberg

Me too. I'm 54, and for my 50th, I celebrated by riding my bike across the country! I'm still riding...

--- Denise

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DH would be eternally grateful that I only chose 50 miles for my fiftieth if he knew about the alternate choice of the whole country!

Karen in Boise

I was in the library Wednesday, and one of the librarians was discussing ridng her bike. I would say she is thirty-ish. Sounded like she rode 2-3 miles.

At 52, I allowed myself a brief moment of feeling terribly superior. :o

Given a chance I will ask her about riding.

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

At 52, I allowed myself a brief moment of feeling terribly superior. :o

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Aw' cmon, enjoy it! Savor it. Then tell her how far you ride, and that you're 50. And enjoy the jaw dropping "You ride how far? You don't look 52"

Then invite her here!

We don't discriminate based on age and or mileage. :cool:

That remark about looking younger really is true. When some women my age were commenting on my weight loss as we were staging for a club ride, one gal remarked, 'oh, its easy for you at your age' and I looked at her at asked her how old she thought I was with two adult children. And she said she thought I had my kids as a teenager, sweet (I was 29 when my first child was born, 31 for the second). Also, last time I went to pick up exams to hand out to our medical students the office assistant refused to give them to until I brought in an ID, she said I looked like a student...... Yes, our cycling does keep us young, both physically and in spirit. I ride with a 60-something year old women all the time, and until she takes her helmet off you'd really think she is 40-something. Our club has quite a few of these 60+ yo old riders, and to me what is striking is how much healthier than look than their counterparts I see at work or in other avenues of my life.

I have also noticed that you tend to see more of us out there, cuz the younger women are too busy raising families to have much time to ride. The female membership of our club is mostly childless women, and women whose kids are grown. Once a gal has a baby, while we might see her in the beginning, but then her attendance wains.

Last summer, while chatting after a time trial, one of my 37yo guy friends saw a woman I know ride by, and commented on how "hot" she looked and why couldn't he meet someone like that. He's single and looking but says he isn't attracted to older women. He was quite shocked when I told him she was 48 or 49. He was sure she was his age. So cycling has definitely kept her looking young :-)

Edna

Hello, everyone. I'm a newbie to the forum and back to biking. Bought a Giant Cypress ST for my 54th. birthday{did I actually tell my age...:eek:oh my!}; I am really liking the experience...re-learning to balance and ride took about an hour on the sidewalk. Still shakey on the streets when I hear the pfft,pfft,pfft of 4 wheels coming my way but getting better on the marked paths and the park weekend by weekend. I'm glad to have found this forum.

[QUOTE=mimitabby;89534]
It is hard to tell how many of you are out there in my age group. Who's the oldest gal here?

62 here. An on and off biker all my life as a pedal putterer. Just started bus/biking to work on my very lovely, very light Trek 7.6 FX.

Last night I was googling about biker ages as I was wondering just how long a person can bike...to what average age....and other interesting statistics about aging. Here are a couple of interesting websites about biking and age.

http://www.bikexprt.com/research/kaplan/recom.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...8/ai_n11446500

Coming in late to this discussion, but figured I'd add my statistics: just turned the ol' Double Nickels on July 8. :D

A Schwinn Super Sport was my first major purchase (well, it seemed that way to me back then, anyway) with money made from my first after-high school "real" job. Still have her, too, though I don't ride her much anymore.

While I'm huffing and puffing my way up some of the hills around here one thing that makes me feel better is to try to imagine how many 55-year-old women would be capable of making it up some of these grades...I think we're in a minority and I'm darned proud of it! :D

Cycling definitely helps keep you young!

Not sure if I answered in the lst place, since I'm 5 months away from 50 yrs. as of now. And topic was originally.. 50+

Face of aging and cycling.
Photo taken in 2007, when I was visiting Toronto where I used to live. I am in purple jersey. I have cycling over last 16 yrs. regularily, several times weekly.

Woman on far right in orange was 51 in that photo. She is 4'11" at approx. 98 lbs. As you can tell, she is not anorexic. Less of a cyclist now compared to when I knew her um.... 15 years ago. But she doesn't have a car, plays tennis, hikes alot. Got her folding bike Friday (a 2nd bike) and went on her own little trip via Velo Quebec routes last yr.

Woman in middle, is I think 46 yrs. She bikes regularily and has been for probably over last 18 yrs. Doesn't own a car either. She runs a walking and cycling trips company for past decade. So she does alot of walking..

The diets of these women are probably similar to mine....we're all Canadian born, have some dairy in our diets, but at least 40% of our diets are Asian...or more for each of us. The other women have each done several solo, loaded bike trips 1-2 wks, long over the last few years.

I'm coming up on 64 years old. Riding better than ever. I ride nearly everyday with my local bicycle club: Stark County Bike Club. I started riding when I was fifty-five years old. Rode cross country twice, once in '01 and again in '06.
I love my Trek WSD Madone 5.2.

Sigh, one day I will figure out the photo adjustment software. Seriously not intending to blur aging results here...:)

I don't pretend I look much younger in the face than my chronological years. However most likely overall health is probably good/youngish. Well, the woman who works in my dept. is about my age or 1 yr. older and her health is problematic that it's affected her work, alertness, and she has back problems, doesn't like much walking over 3-4 kms. For certain is caused by her need to lose 20 lbs. or so.

I admit, I actually find it strange (almost irritating) that a few men (who are not macho/arrogant type) at work, just 5 years older than I, refer to me as a "young" lady...in a way that they think I'm in my 30's. It must be mannerisms. I DO have some life experiences and maybe...some wisdom just like them? :p

Shooting star, when they call you "young lady" they think they are giving you a compliment!

It IS fun getting mistaken for being younger. One of my favorite things is young guys in cars following me on the bike.. Haha, from the back I look 1/2 my age. It amuses me.

I'm 58. I was 53 when RAGBRAI came through town. I hosted some riders and had a great time. The next morning, I got up too late to join the early riders, but I hopped on the 10-speed that I'd bought in grad school, and joined the riders for the next 8 miles. At that point there was a breakfast fundraiser in a farm yard, with picnic tables under the trees. The weather was ideal, and the smell of coffee, bacon, and pancakes was in the air. I sat at one of the picnic tables, talked to some riders, and for a few minutes pretended that I wasn't going to turn around and go back home. I bought a recumbent a few weeks later because the 10-speed just killed my back and rear. I started thinking that maybe I could do this. That November I got more serious about fitness, and started walking and strength training at the wellness center. I lost 35 pounds between November and the following July. I did the next RAGBRAI, and have done all of them since then. RAGBRAI is weirdly fun, and training for it keeps me in better shape than I might be otherwise.

I was in junior high during the Cuban missle crisis, and should remember something about it, but I just don't. I was in 8th grade, in study hall when JFK was assasinated. A teacher came in and made the announcement, and it didn't seem real. I was used to doctor shows like Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare where they always saved the patient. I remember being glued to the television for the next 4 days, and seeing Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald, seeing the casket on a horse-drawn casson, and seeing John Jr. salute the casket.

I'm from small-town Iowa, but I remember seeing a water fountain on vacation that was labelled "whites only." Creepy. I started college in 1968, during the middle of the war in Viet Nam, and I remember war protests.

I was in my bedroom, age 13, when I first heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the radio, and I loved that sound. Of course I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, and I wrote all of their names on the cover of my denim-blue 3-ring binder. The first album I bought for myself was "Meet the Beatles." My favorite was Paul, the cute Beatle. Some other students were Beach Boys fans, and some Dave Clark 5, but I was a Beatle fan.

Later on, I also liked the Mamas and the Papas, and then Judy Collins and Joan Baez.

Just turned 51 last month. Don't you hate it when all those young girls go by you on hills? Well....maybe not for some of you. Could it be just me????:confused::confused::eek:

Actually what drives me nuts are all the OLDER ladies who beat me uphill :o

I love the memories of world changing historical events!!! I'm only 35 so my memories of world channging events from the late 70's & 80's are not as exciting..

Anng-whenever I see the early footage of the Beatles when they hit America i too get a bit teary. It must be the screams and the excitement but it sends cool shivers down my spine!

Shootingstar-i'm young and people still call me 'young lady'

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Shootingstar-i'm young and people still call me 'young lady'

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Yea, cc you ARE young for real.

I guess, it's all perspective, mimi.. I work in a heavily male dominated organization. Of all the managers there, I am only 1 of 2 managers who are female...the rest of the other 9 managers are male. I don't want to be the female manager puppy dog 'mascot' in that organization.

I dunno..maybe when I walk from the bus stop to the worksite...with my bike gear on...it makes me look young, especially wearing spandex cycling shorts :D...or just slightly ..stupid. :( Honest several construction guys have yelled at me." Where's your bike?"

I give them the location of my bike locker..which is 30 kms. away and tell them I live downtown. Which is 45-50 kms. away from work ..over highway bridge, several road highways, long hills and more twisty routes with more transport trucks, etc. I can't commute by bike all the way. They are appropriately surprised by where I commute from in whatever mode I use.

If I did bike all the way this horribly convoluted and long route one way..I would truly be a young goddess.. in ...their eyes. :rolleyes:

I just turned 50 and bought myself a bike for my birthday. Four women on the club ride today out of 22 all the women in our 50's - 42 miles in the Sierra Hills 1900 feet of climbing.

I know this is a bit late for this discussion but thought I would add Aussie memories for the 60s/70s.

I remember hearing on the radio when Australian involvement in the Vietnam War started - I was so scared. I went to bed (it was about 4 in the afternoon). When I finally reappeared, I had packed my school bag with my treasured possessions and was going to live at Grandma's house because there wouldn't be a war there. Grandma only lived in the next town.

I'm a bit hazy about where I was when JFK was assassinated but remember hearing the RFK news on the radio. Mum asked what I was doing and I said that Mr Kennedy had just been shot. She said that had happened years ago, it must be an old programme, and I said that no, it had just happened. Mum pushed me out of the way, turned up the radio really loud - and we had takeaway for dinner!

Beatles and Rolling Stones were huge here - as was the Queen and Prince Phillip. My Dad worked at the airport so when the Beatles and the Queen came to Australia, we went out onto the tarmac to get really close to them.

Aussie rockers - Billy Thorpe, Max Merritt, Masters Apprentices were my true heroes though!!

On another note, I saw the Aids quilt in Washington and cried for days.

Off topic, has anyone read the new book on Bobby kennedy? I noticed an article in GQ(?) magazine about it but haven't looked for it yet.

Jaydee-Does the movie "the Dish" bring back any memories for you?

crazycanuck - "The Dish"

Playing cricket in the bowl of the telescope - didn't that look fun.

When I was a kid we always drove from Qld to Vic to visit the grandparents and drove past the Parkes telescope which was were the moon action was monitored. On the day of the moon landing, the whole school was allowed to watch tv and watch the landing. My class was in the downstairs library - this was used by the Senior students and the only time we were allowed in there was for our sex education class with Mrs Dingle, and the moon landing. I think the fact that we were in that room made more of an impact on me than the moon landing itself.:)

I'm 52 and started riding again in March '07. We were walkers and looking for another activity for cross-training. While out shopping for stationery bikes one day:rolleyes: I said "Why don't we just buy a couple of regular bikes and ride outdoors!?!?":) Best idea I've ever had! We bought hybrids thinking we'd just ride around the neighborhood, but after a 50-mile ride on those with a group of serious riders, we found ourselves shopping for road bikes. I'm now looking to replace the hybrid with a smaller one (it's too big) because I think there's room for a hybrid in my life.

Three weeks ago, I went clipless. Just when I thought I could ride a bike again without having to think so much, I go and do this! It's getting more automatic with each ride, but I do pay even more attention to traffic and other potential reasons to stop quickly than I did before -- and I believe it's probably a lot like doing puzzles for the brain..... but different.

There is something about a bike that keeps one young and makes one appear young.

Last month we joined a seniors bike group. They're like a bunch of kids with grey hair, LOL. The oldest is 85 and led us on a 34-mile ride to the beach. Many are in their 70s and seem much younger. One man is 80 and I thought he was in his 60s! Many of them are much stronger riders than I am.

If I keep this up -- and I plan to -- I can see myself entering a seniors competition one day. I feel better than I have in years.

There is just something about a bike.....

I've always wondered if I am distantly related to the Aussie PM Parkes as we have the same last name with the uncommon spelling.


I need to come there where so many things are named after me! :p