How old (or young) are you?

[Eden]

Interestingly enough I'm probably around the median age on the team (and we have around 90 members), though this year I think we picked up some younger gals. We have several very fast and very talented 50 somethings that can kick my butt and two juniors, both of whom I think are 16 this year.

[Trek420]

We have several very fast and very talented 50 somethings that can kick my butt.

Well, I'm talented and 51 (as of the 27th next month) but I sure can't kick your butt

[velocilex]

I'm 41. Funny how that number keeps creeping up every year.

[Ninabike]

Going on 63!! I do tend to see more men my age cycling, but I also see a few women. I started cycling seriously in the early '60's, NO helmet, toe clips with cleats, sew-up tires, wool jerseys and shorts with "real" chamois, my bike, a Frejus (Italian) with Campy Gran Sport componants; gave up cycling for a while, returned in the '70's, left again and returned a few years ago. What is interesting to me is that the things I loved as a teenager - cycling being one of them, are the exact things I love now. I don't even feel that I am any older!! Even during the years I wasn't riding, beautiful road bikes always caught my eye. Go "baby boomers"!!

Nina

[LBTC]

Yay, Nina! I plan to be you in 25 years!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Ninabike]

Alright!! LBTC, I'll be wait'n for you!!

Nina

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Oh yeah?....well Nina, I hope to be you in TEN years!!!

[Aggie_Ama]

Aggiecorgi- I hear you about College Station. When we left two years ago I felt so old at 24!! Those college kids will do that to you, even if you aren't far past college.

You know what is funny? I HORRIFIED DH this weekend when I said "I don't know what the big fear of turning 30 is, I am looking forward to it." He said he dreads it because he will feel he is getting old. I became active at the ripe old age of 23 and have loved every minute of it. I was a lazy child, lazy college student (I worked full time) and now I am a busy but active woman. I find myself pitying the people I work with who make excuses to not be active when they are perfectly healthy. Such a sad way to be IMHO.

All of you who have 10, 20, 30 years on me- WOW! I aspire to be out there in those years too.

[Ninabike]

Hey girls, Just keep riding and you will be far ahead of me when you reach my age. It was those years when I didn't ride that I wish I could have back.

Nina

[dakay]

Going on 63!! I do tend to see more men my age cycling, but I also see a few women. I started cycling seriously in the early '60's, NO helmet, toe clips with cleats, sew-up tires, wool jerseys and shorts with "real" chamois, my bike, a Frejus (Italian) with Campy Gran Sport componants; gave up cycling for a while, returned in the '70's, left again and returned a few years ago. What is interesting to me is that the things I loved as a teenager - cycling being one of them, are the exact things I love now. I don't even feel that I am any older!! Even during the years I wasn't riding, beautiful road bikes always caught my eye. Go "baby boomers"!!

Nina

Nina,

I too had a Frejus in the 70's. Actually, I still have it. My husband just rebuilt it last year before we started riding again. It really never fit me so now I have a new WSD Rodriguez.

Kathy

[Ninabike]

Nina,

I too had a Frejus in the 70's. Actually, I still have it. My husband just rebuilt it last year before we started riding again. It really never fit me so now I have a new WSD Rodriguez.

Kathy

Kathy, a little drift here. I don't know how may people even know what a Frejus is. My brother and I each bought our Frejus bikes in 1960 from an LBS owned by a 1956 Olympian tandem cyclist - Don Furgeson. He was a great guy and let us work on our bikes in his shop with his tools. We learned a lot!!He even let me ride one of his Cinellis for a while. When I went away to college, my mother asked if she could give my bike to a girl in our neighborhood who was recovering from rhumatic heart disease (her Dr. said cycling would would be good for her). I said "sure". When my brother went to Viet Nam in 1968, he gave his bike to our neighbor - a pediatrician. Believe it or not, I think he still may have it, although I have lost touch with that
family. Incidentially, my Frejus didn't fit either - at least by today's standards. Nobody talked about "fit" in those days. You just "made do".
Those years are some of my fondest memories!!

Nina

[wurkit_gurl]

I am just now looking into the sport at age 26. But I know several young men my age who actually cycle (not just baggy-pantsed mountain bikers!), and who've been doing it for quite some time. I've dated 3 cyclists- one who did it recreationally, one was a former nationally-ranked triathlete in his late teen/early college years, who also mountain bikes, and the most recent one raced both road and mountain bikes in college and still cycles/mtbs regularly for fun and is looking to get back into racing. I think for most 20-somethings though, it's a money issue. Certainly for me; I just finished grad school in May and up until now I've really not had enough income to spend on something like this. Plus, I used to be a dancer (undergrad in theatre), so didn't have time for extra sporty hobbies. And because I used to be a dancer, everyone sees me as some weak, wussy girly-girl, who can't hack a real sport (ie, all of my cycling exes). But I recently got into rock climbing, and am trying to branch out more, because I really enjoy athletic pursuits. Dancing is actually very athletic, just in a different sense.