Age vs. Cycling Ability

[Susan126]

Tuckerville is right. I am 54 and my childhood growing up in the 60s was so different then kids' growing up today.

I walked or biked to school, came home had a snack did my homework then was out the door until dinner. Home for dinner then back out with my friends until curfew. TV was 3 channels (black and white tv) and rabbit ear antennae. Summer break was 3 months of playing with friends outdoors, softball, whether organized or just a quick game with neighborhood friends. Going on family vacations with my 2 sisters, brother, and our parents every July to the lake (Lake Erie) for two weeks. Roaming the streets of my hometown on my bike with my friends. Going to the stream where we would swim with swinging old tire tied to a tree which we used to swing out over the deepest part of the stream and then let go!

I had the best childhood and stores of memories. I sometimes feel sorry for today's kids. With their computers, video games, and lack of exercise. Not forced exercise but "kid" exercise. The kind that comes naturally to kids. Exercise that you never thought of exercise but fun times with friends outside doing fun things.

During lunch recess a game of softball, jump rope, tag; we didn't need adults to tell or show us how or what to do. We knew what to do to have fun.

Biking recreates part of that for me because some of my favorite times were spent on my bike. All decorated up for our local parades through my home town. Memorial Day, Fourth of July . . . riding our steeds my friends, siblings and I through our town.

Kids today don't know how to "play" . . . maybe because they were never given the opportunity. I don't know. I tried to allow my kids (now 24 and 26) outdoor time when they were growing up. Joe and I lived in beautiful places before he retired from the military and went to work for Boeing. Alaska, Montana, Virginia, taking the kids fishing, to zoos, camping, hiking, local sites and attractions, limiting their tv and video game time.

I feel if you grew up with this life style you never lose it. And that is why you see a lot of older folks regaining their youthful ways on bikes. For me it was a wonderful time of my life and again it has become a wonderful way of life for me again. I feel like a kid again. I have fun when I am on my bike. I feel like the kid I was back in the 1960s! Well almost!