Why older women shouldn't cycle

I biked up to photograph hawk babies today, which involved lots of fiddling with camera and bags and rolling up and down of arm coolers.

As I started to come home, I realized I was wearing just one glove. Odd, since I don't normally take them off. Guessing I had absent-mindedly removed it, I looked everywhere -- and no glove.

No glove until I came home, that is, and found the missing glove on the floor. It's not as bad as forgetting a helmet, I guess, but putting on one glove?:eek:

I can't really blame age, as I went to work in mismatched shoes one morning when I was around 32 years old.

Sounds like something I HAVE done!

Hubby and I had stopped at a little country store during the RSVP ride and I had taken my back pack off to get arm coolers out. We made our obligitory purchases and used the rest rooms and then we were off again. 5 miles away from the store we encounter a climb and I'm thinking: man this is pretty pleasant without that hot, sweaty square on my back from the pack.....ACK:eek::eek:!! Honey, where's my back pack! with my passport, license, credit cards, cash, everything in it???!! That was the fastest 5 miles I have ever ridden, back tracking to that little store. DH got there first and found it,unmolested on the news paper dispenser, with the locals all sitting out in front of it. Pheww!:cool:
Did I learn my lesson?

NOOOO!

The next morning I left my gloves on the newspaper box in front of Starbucks while I was compusively checking and rechecking to make sure I had the back pack. Five miles out, I'm noticing that my hands feel a little cooler than I'm used to. DH growls that the gloves can just damn well stay where they are.:rolleyes:

I have yet to make it out on a ride without at least 2 trips back to gather forgotten gear. Most often it is my helmet and or glasses, which is really bizarre since my helmet lives on the handlebars, and I am blind without the glasses.

sigh......Most days I really miss my brain.

I got called for jury duty last year, and I left my jacket at the courthouse. So the next day I decided to ride up and get it (around 45 mile RT). I picked up my jacket and left my Garmin on the counter. Went back, picked it up, and then left my wallet in the restroom. :eek:

I am so lucky I didn't lose anything valuable on that trip to pick up a $50 jacket. :rolleyes:

LOL, great stories! I'm so glad I found this forum! :D

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

So it's not a memory problem, it's a newspaper box obsession!

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Well THAT is just a load off my mind!!:D:D

Well, I'm feeling a lot better. This stuff is just normal! Whew!

And I thought it was just me:D I've been blaming the head injury I sustained a few years ago!

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Originally Posted by Syndirelah

CRS runs deep in our family.... Cant Remember Sh!t.

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Ah ha! Finally--a diagnosis! I've been a sufferer since my first pregnancy. I clearly remember the first time I found myself standing in front of the coffee pot and could not for the life of me recall why I was there (no, not coffee).

If one of my birding friends asks "Did you find your glove?" I'm not going to tell the truth.

I guess saying "Oh, I finally realized where I dropped it" isn't exactly a lie.

Thank you so much for starting what turned our to be a very humorous look at ourselves! I am recovering from a total knee replacement and looking for some comments relating to recovery time and getting back on the bike, etc. but the humor was very much appreciated!!

Hey, I saw a glove on the road the other day! Must have been one of us that "dropped" it?? :D

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Originally Posted by Chile Pepper

Ah ha! Finally--a diagnosis! I've been a sufferer since my first pregnancy. I clearly remember the first time I found myself standing in front of the coffee pot and could not for the life of me recall why I was there (no, not coffee).

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Studies at a renowned Israeli university show that women who have recently given birth become like animals, relying on instinct and not intellect.One example is an experiment that had women get blindfolded and they had to do a sniff test to determine which t- shirt belonged to their baby. They were 100% accurate. I would assume then that as long as we are mothers, instinct takes over. Now I have a reason for my damaged human intellect. I did, after all, give birth only a little over seventeen years ago!

I got home the other evening (after a quick stop at my LBS) to find I didn't have on my sunglasses. Funny, I never even noticed I wasn't wearing them. I was sure I had them on when I left work, so I called the LBS to see if I had left them there. Nope. I called my boss. He said, "Yep. They're on the table next to the door." I hadn't even put them on to go home. (Slaps forehead with palm.) These things are happening more and more often.

We went to the fair the other evening. I filled my water bottle and told DH I was ready to go. I got in the car. No water bottle. Somewhere between the kitchen and the back door is a vortex into which things fall and never return. We searched everywhere in the house and the car. I even replaced it, since that usually makes things turn up. Still no water bottle.

Deb

I don't know, I think "forgetfulness" is more of a personality trait that some of us have and some don't, not related at all to gender, childbirth, or age in many cases. That "CRS" trait that Syndirelah talked about runs deep in my DH's family. Both my kids have serious short term memory issues, yet they are fully functioning adults because, mostly, they have developed strategies so this doesn't interfere with really important stuff at work or home. DH has it, too. He was reduced to tears from being angry at himself for losing the sunglasses he bought on our trip in Spain, about 30 minutes before we left for our son's wedding. This was the third pair of glasses he had lost in 4 weeks. He hates that he passed on this trait to our kids.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

I don't know, I think "forgetfulness" is more of a personality trait that some of us have and some don't, not related at all to gender, childbirth, or age in many cases. That "CRS" trait that Syndirelah talked about runs deep in my DH's family. Both my kids have serious short term memory issues, yet they are fully functioning adults because, mostly, they have developed strategies so this doesn't interfere with really important stuff at work or home. DH has it, too. He was reduced to tears from being angry at himself for losing the sunglasses he bought on our trip in Spain, about 30 minutes before we left for our son's wedding. This was the third pair of glasses he had lost in 4 weeks. He hates that he passed on this trait to our kids.

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I think this is true. My husband has it as well. That, and an inability to see that the things he is looking for are actually right in front of his face. It's highly amusing most of the time! ;)

When we were in SD over Memorial Day, we pulled off the road in the car and rode the bikes up to Mt. Rushmore. Came back down, loaded the bikes on the back of the car and we were off. SEVERAL MILES down the road, we were getting on the highway when I heard something and looked in my rearview mirror to see my helmet bouncing off the asphalt! I had left it on the roof of the car when we loaded the bikes! I have no idea how it lasted so long on the roof before falling off! We had to find an LBS that was open late so I could get another one before biking the Mickelson Trail the next morning.

Another time, rode to Coors field for a Rockies Game. When the game was over, we were putting on our gear to head out. I always put my gloves on last. I had set them on my rear rack while I got everything else on and rode off with them still there....lost them both! I'd only had them a week :(

Ah, the failing attention capabilities of the middle-age brain. I am well acquainted with this problem, and it has nothing to do with childbirth or gender. I only wish the What-Am-I-Doing-Here? Paranoi did not strike me so frequently when I go down to the basement or garage with firm purpose, and arrive completely clueless as to why I am standing down there and the only way I can remember is to march back up the stairs and stand where I was when the bright idea to go downstairs occurred to me. Or there was the day I showed up for a ride with very different colored gloves (at least they were for different hands); or the 50-mile ride I showed up for with nary a single water bottle, or .... This is a fascinating article that goes into detail on our "affliction": http://www.oprah.com/health/Midlife-...-Remember-More

once I came to work and realized a while later I wasn't wearing a bra!

I've done something comparably silly to almost everything in this thread, and I'm 24. I guess there's no hope for my future? :eek: ;)

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Originally Posted by badger

once I came to work and realized a while later I wasn't wearing a bra!

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OMG Badger that is too darned funny! I am surprised I have not done that seeing how one of the first things I do when I get home at night is to whip off the bra and I never wear one around the house on weekends. Of course though, hopefully I would take one last look in the mirror and notice the horribly drooping headlights under my work clothes. :eek:

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

I think this is true. My husband has it as well. That, and an inability to see that the things he is looking for are actually right in front of his face. It's highly amusing most of the time! ;)

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I've heard the latter called "male pattern blindness."

Probably not really fair; I'm sure women do the same thing. But if you live with a male sufferer, it can be amusing to label the affliction.

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Originally Posted by badgercat

I've done something comparably silly to almost everything in this thread, and I'm 24. I guess there's no hope for my future? :eek: ;)

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You'll be well prepared for it!

So thankful I found this group! You are all wonderful and I thank you for the smiles you have put on my face today....and for reminding me I'm not the only one that does "that" :)

My dad traveled from one country to another for a business meeting and didn't notice until he got there that he was wearing 2 different shoes!!! Given that this type of thing is genetic, there really is no hope for me :-)

No, it's not male pattern blindness; it's ADD, in one of it's various forms. And more men have this than women. But, I spent most of my former professional career teaching students how to organize themselves and strategize to remember things. Then, some of the teachers I worked with came to me for help. Generally, though, people remember stuff that is important to them.
Of course, then I ended up with 2 kids and and a husband who have this very problem. When I read some of my DH's report cards, I couldn't believe the cruel things that were said about him (granted in the sixties no one knew about learning styles).
We joke about being forgetful, but it really isn't funny. It can derail careers and interfere with social relationships.

After a friend of mine crashed on her bike, went unconscious and took a trip to the hospital in an ambulance (she was alright) ... her mother tells her, "Jenny! A woman your age shouldn't be riding her bicycle!"

That famous line has come up many times throughout our cycling adventures. We quite enjoy saying it. :D

At least reading all your funny stories it has made me realise I am quite normal but perhaps the thread should be changed from Why older women shouldn't cycle to Why older women shouldn't get out of bed!

Clock

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Originally Posted by Jiffer

After a friend of mine crashed on her bike, went unconscious and took a trip to the hospital in an ambulance (she was alright) ... her mother tells her, "Jenny! A woman your age shouldn't be riding her bicycle!"

That famous line has come up many times throughout our cycling adventures. We quite enjoy saying it. :D

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Snort!:D

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Originally Posted by Crankin

But, I spent most of my former professional career teaching students how to organize themselves and strategize to remember things. Then, some of the teachers I worked with came to me for help. Generally, though, people remember stuff that is important to them...We joke about being forgetful, but it really isn't funny. It can derail careers and interfere with social relationships.

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Developing coping strategies! I remember one day when my daughter was a baby, I found myself in the kitchen for the THIRD time that afternoon unable to remember why I was there. I made myself stand there until I remembered-- bring the diapers in off the porch (we had a diaper service). But if I did that every time I couldn't remember, I'd spend years of my life standing there.

My mother in law has lots of tricks she uses, to help her remember where she put things, and to turn off things. Like checking several times before she leaves the house. It takes her a LONG time to get going, because of all these routines she has to go through.

This thread should be a sticky. It's hilarious. I have to set everything out the night before or I would never get out of the house.

I long ago learned--I keep my gloves and helmet on at all stops, including the coffee house. All bottles go immediately back into the rack. Camelbak always goes right back on. I've looked for my sunglasses, only to fine them dangling from my jersey or handlebars.

But, for the first time, DH:

Came home and pulled his new helmet out of the cargo bin in his pickup bed. I reminded him he shouldn't keep it in there--it gets to hot. He replied: "I thought I lost it! I looked everywhere. I drove back over my route. I was getting ready to order a new one. I don't know how it got in there!"

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Originally Posted by badger

once I came to work and realized a while later I wasn't wearing a bra!

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Oh my gosh, that is tooo funny!! LOL!!

I once loaded my bike, drove to the destination, unloaded the bike, got on to go and had the wrong shoes on. :o I rode 20 miles trying to stay on the SPD pedals.