"over 40"...show of hands?

[gretchen]

I'm just wondering how many of you are the "over 40" crowd?
I just got into biking and want to make sure i'm not alone!!!!!
It's just not the same starting a sport at this age then age 20.
I would love to hear from anyone in this "club" with me!
gretchen (I really am showing my age by just useing my name..i should have come up with something more clever).

[snapdragen]

Three more years and I'm the big five-oh!

Personally, I think the over 40 club is the best place to be!

[Kathi]

56 in June. Started riding in my early 30's. Also soon to be retired, 3 more weeks.

[snapdragen]

Originally posted by Kathi
56 in June. Started riding in my early 30's. Also soon to be retired, 3 more weeks.

Well I'm envious as he!! - I'm hoping for retirement at 50....

[Irulan]

43

[jobob]

I'm 44, and I've been road biking since the age of 44

And I'd love to retire, oh, tomorrow!

I get such a kick out of those people who say "oh I'll never retire, I'd be so bored!" There are so many things I want to do - I dream about the nice long unhurried bike tours I would take, for starters.

- Jo.

[grannydea]

48 and proud of it.
And as the name implies a granny and proud of that too. been riding for almost 3 years now.

Dea

[gretchen]

HI!
Hey! Thanks so much for the show of hands! I was just reading last night an article in Biking Mag. about bone loss and biking. I thought being a swimmer and biker i had picked two very sensible sports (as far as how they treat your body)...boy you can't win! So, here i sit about to head off to spin class eatting my 12 grain toast and soy nut butter...yummie! Any of you have back problems? I'm looking at surgery (And it better be an "in and out" deal) to help relieve a pinched nerve.

Irulan and Jo< what's your training routine like? I love to compare notes on this.
thanks! happy trails!

[AutumnBreez]

HI!
Hey! Thanks so much for the show of hands! I was just reading last night an article in Biking Mag. about bone loss and biking. I thought being a swimmer and biker i had picked two very sensible sports (as far as how they treat your body)...boy you can't win! So, here i sit about to head off to spin class eatting my 12 grain toast and soy nut butter...yummie! Any of you have back problems? I'm looking at surgery (And it better be an "in and out" deal) to help relieve a pinched nerve.

Irulan and Jo< what's your training routine like? I love to compare notes on this.
thanks! happy trails!

I am 4 years from 40, but the chiropractor balanced me out when I was waking up feeling crippled every morning and evening.

[Bike Goddess]

How about over 60? I am 64- You women are a bunch of youngsters in my book! Just know, if I can do this, you can too!

Long distance runner turned cyclist in summer of 2003 due to degenerative arthritis in both knees (family trait). Should have taken this up sooner as cycling is a natural for me. When I look at all of you young uns I wish I could turn the clock back- oh well, I'm in this til the end!

[LBTC]

Nancy you are an inspiration to me!! I'm 37 and hope to be riding hard well into my 80's!! cycling is, well, life!

Do you race at all? I do a little racing now. I kind of dream of doing a solo 24 hour race when I'm in my 50's....

Namaste,
~T~

[cruziegirl]

51 soon-to-be 52. I started cycling about 11 years ago - commuting to work - and was immediately hooked. The original idea was getting some good exercise but I became hooked on cycling and I also got hooked on watching competitive road cycling. One day I started watching a stage of the Giro d'Italia and that was it - I was lost! My plan is to keep cycling for the rest of my life - it's just too darned much fun to quit!

[Bike Goddess]

Do you race at all? I do a little racing now. I kind of dream of doing a solo 24 hour race when I'm in my 50's....

Namaste,
~T~[/QUOTE]
Namaste- Well, I don't race unless you count chasing guys 20 years younger and faster than me! Haven't found any road races that interest me so far. And, I'm training to do the AIDSLifeCycle ride from SF/LA this summer so I am pretty busy gettin' in those miles

Like I said, I wish I had taken this up 20 years ago like a lot of you I read about have. Oh well, better late than never, right?

I also worry about the possibility of crashing during races- the old bones aren't as limber as they used to be! So I just enjoy riding to my fullest extent and training myself to be lean and mean

Nancy

[Kathi]

Bone loss can occur due to a number of factors. If you didn't build bone in your early years (up to age 30), if its in your genes, if you take steriods, ie. for asthma.
You start to lose bone after age 30 and rapidly for the first 5 years after menopause.
That's why its important to maintain what you have though diet and exercise like weight lifting.
All the bodys organs use calcium. When there is not enough it is taken from the bones. That why an adequate supply of calcium is important.
Even if you think you do enough, bone loss can still happen. Don't think that you are immune. If you break a wrist or ankle from a non traumatic incident and you are in your late forties or early 50's, its a red flag, get tested. That's how I found out because I broke my wrist falling off my mtn bike.

[jobob]

Hi Gretchen!

Uh... training routine? What's that?

A few months ago, right when I was thinking I wanted to get more into road biking (as opposed to meandering around the bike paths on my clunky old hybrid), I was really fortunate to come across a notice for a progressive series of training rides put on by a local bike club, in preparation for a women-only metric century at the end of March. (here's the training group website if you're interested: http://cindy.polakoff.com/index.html ) Those rides are on Saturdays, and get longer and hillier as the weeks progress. There are a lot of women our age participating. You might want to check with your local bike clubs and shops, there might be similar types of groups you can join, it's really fun.

That's the most formal "training" I do. I also often ride for a few hours with my husband on Sundays, or we just go off on our own. I've also been going out two or three mornings per week for about an hour before I go to work (but I haven't done that for a couple of weeks since we're having out kitchen remodelled - but I hope to resume that soon).

Basically, I get out and ride whenever I can scrape together the time and have the energy. And, sometimes, even when I don't feel like it ... more often than not, when I grudgingly haul my butt out, after a few miles I'm really glad to be riding.

I have a cyclecomputer and keep track of my miles ridden, avg speed, that sort of thing at www.bikejournal.com just to get a feel for how I'm progressing.

What I'm hoping to do is get to a point where I can easily manage a reasonably long daily distance (say 60 miles, with hills and wind) so I can start doing some touring! Our vacation time is already pretty much spoken for this year (rats!), but Lee and I were talking last night about what kind of touring we'd like to do next year.

- Jo.