Back and ready for new season

[Crankin]

I started riding at 47, almost 48. I did ride a lot as a kid, though, until I moved to Florida at age 16. Although I was fit and was a fitness instructor for 10 years before I started riding, I had never really done any outdoor activity, at least any more than taking a stroll in the woods or sitting on a beach chair. And I definitely have some coordination issues. I wish I had started seriously riding at a younger age, as I think i might have had the potential to be really fast! I've had my ups and downs since I started riding, with illness and chronic muscular things, but I am a lot more confident now. I think I would have had a lot more fears in my 20s/30s, as what I am doing now was so far out of my frame of reference; when I actually started both my DH and one of my kids had been riding/racing for a couple of years, so I had some familiarity with the stuff.

[shootingstar]

I seem to only join group rides maybe once or twice annually and they are never competitive. Either long (50-100 km.) or short social rides.

Otherwise I just ride with my partner or with a friend and often solo. I've been riding after returning to cycling at 32 yrs. I'm 54 now. We are car-free and so sometimes, cycling truly is a necessity for us as a means of transportation.

The most important thing about cycling well and enjoying it also, is once you have mastered some hills that you like (and you will like a few. No one is asking you to like all of them), can ride in moderate car traffic and know all the bike paths/routes in your area, is to become freer, more confident and stronger within yourself. Become so confident that you will jump onto your bike yourself and just go. And not wait/rely on a friend to motivate you. That will be the signal that you love cycling for what it is and what it gives to you. A gift to yourself over and over.