How old (or young) are you?

[kelownagirl]

Congrats Snap! I will drink to your health and your biking in 8 days. (Any excuse will do. ) I'm 46 11/12 and I hope to be biking when I'm 50 and 60 and , well, who knows...

[Bad JuJu]

54 now, but 55 later this year! Double nickels--seems like grounds for a huge party.

To second what Nina said, I didn't ride for a few years in my 40s, and I'm sorry to have missed those years I could've been cycling. But, it makes me more avid now about making time for my bike. And time for me.....

[missymaya]

I'll be 24 in July. I ride with a lot of women who are older than me (in my group the next age up is early-mid 30's) and they pedal just as hard and fast as I do. I only hope to be like them and the ladies on this forum when Im their age
I think that many 'kids' my age dont ride because a). it does cost $$; I had to save for months and work extra hours to get my first bike, which was 'low end' (about $600). b). people my age are too busy partying it up.
I do a little comparison to my twin sister's lifestyle and mine and it kinda proves the point: we're both in grad school, have jobs, live in large towns/cities (she's in Tallahassee and Im in Orlando), have exposure to extracurricular activities, such as riding. But, I go to bed around 9-10 pm on Friday(but cant sleep 'cause Im too excited for the ride) so I can get up on Saturdays at 6am to ride 50+ miles with my group. She, on the other hand, is too busy partying on Friday and then getting over her hangover on Sat. morning. She'd rather spend her money on the beer sale at the local grocery store, while Im again srimping my dough to get a new, higher end bike, which seems like it'll take forever

[roadie gal]

48, or as my dear younger brother put it "4 dozen", last month.

Back in college I had an old Peugot bike (given to me by a boyfriend), but I didn't ride it much because I hated the traffic. I got into mountain biking about 10 years ago because of a different boyfriend. That slowly morphed into road biking, and now triathlons. No boyfriends now, but LOTS of bikes.

[missymaya]

Boyfriends may come and go but bikes stay forever, hee hee

[Kitsune06]

I think the 20-24 set tends to be very preoccupied finding their way in the world, etc. There's little peripheral available for athletics etc. And... you have to admit, the "I hope I can get a 50 in" mindset is very rare in this given age group. It's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At 'our' age, unless we're predisposed or have a specific motivation, we have yet to build our bases. Boozing etc serves as stress reduction while we still find novelty in alcohol and other vices, hanging out with the friends builds that support system we all need for emotional reinforcement. We're still finding our way in the world (aren't we all?) just out of the nest and starting to realize that though Mom wanted us to get married, settle down, etc or go to school, settle down, or whatever- we need to do what we need to do. Oh- and the real world is a freaky amalgamation of being just like high school and nothing like it at all.

As we reach our later 20s and the whole of our 30s to early 40s, we have that support system, or the confidence in ourselves, or both, and boozing has lost much of its novelty, to the point where, having sated our requisite base needs, we are freer to seek out more self-fulfilling and altruistic goals. It's at that point that being able to say "I got my 50 in" is more for *us* than someone else. Also, at that age, we are (generally) out of school and making enough money to start enjoying it. I'm not talking tons, I'm talking not living quite paycheck to paycheck. Here's where it comes in that you can maybe afford to set aside for that entry level or slightly better bike...

30s thru 50s seem to be spent more in self-realization, and there you see more of our cycling demographic, though it's been said "30 is the new 20" as people are living longer, going to school, not getting married as young, etc etc...

I dare not presume too much, though. I'm "not there yet" so to speak. Just observations.

[Bad JuJu]

I dare not presume too much, though. I'm "not there yet"

I'm 54, and also "not there yet" in many many ways, so don't feel too lonely. And, depending on your perspective, "not there yet" could be just another way of saying "ready to go toes-up." And I'm definitely not THERE yet.

[KayTee]

I don't think any of us on this board want to be in THAT place, BadJuJu!