Are there many, some, a few of us over 50??

[Lise]

i'm 45 11/12. ie: 46 next month. Looks like a bunch of us born in '60. I'm most definitely encouraged about the next decade, looking around at the company I keep here at TE! L.

[annie]

51 and so happy to be there! Tho' it STILL surprises me when I actually state my age. Don't feel nearly that age........ or at least what I thought this age would feel like when I was in my 20's. My kids are mostly grown. I've got an enjoyable job (most of the time.) I have not as much free time as I'd like, but enough that I can't complain. I feel healthy, strong, and fairly fit. And I give most credit to the fact that I have been riding a bike regularly for 21 YEARS and absolutely LOVING it all that time. I honestly believe it's the best thing I have ever done for myself. Stress relief,exercise, comraderie (I've met my BEST friends through biking) and the pure joy that comes from riding. For me, nothing compares. (I guess this should be in the "Why do I ride" thread? ) And I truly believe it keeps me feeling younger than my years. So ride on, women of TE! Whatever your age and ability. It's all good.........

annie

[Trek420]

Quillfred "I'm 51! I'm older than Trek, ha-ha-ha ha-ha-HAAA "

neener neener neener, I'll catch up, no wait, I won't

"I shock the "kids" at work when I sing it to them. "

I think we all shock the kids at work

Today I lowered the ergonomic desk and while taking calls doing modified push ups off the lip. "Kids" walking by shaking their heads.

History: totally unathletic as a child, last one chosen for any team. In college discovered there are other sports than team sports! Who knew? Hiking, climbing, backpacking...

Took up martial arts then, still do that. Aikido is a non-violent art but it's an impact sport....with the ground. Probably why I have arthritis and tendonitis all around.

Cycling brings it all together, aerobic fitness and it's sooooo fun.

When I ride the knees, the joints...they all feel great and I can train.

[kjay]

Hi all. . . I'll be 63 in July. I didn't exercise much at all during my career life. With mostly 10-hour work days and one hour of commuting, I didn't have much time for anything else.

I started biking about ten years ago when I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis (hip), which resulted in having a total hip replacement nearly five years ago. The only comfortable exercise was biking, as my weight was supported. (I'd still rather bike any day than walk.) I've ridden a GT hybrid all those years, and decided to let 'er rip by joining a WomanTours ride around the island of Hawaii last November. The longest I've ridden in one day is 40 miles (in the rain and downhill from Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii to Hilo). . . the best day I've ever experienced on a bike.

After riding 35 miles in the Wine Country Century (northern Cal) in early May on my hybrid, I knew I needed a new bike. I now have a Trek Pilot 2.1 WSD and can carry it up the stairs with one arm. Am riding in the week-long, 400-mile Candisc tour in August. I LOVE biking and plan on biking for many more years to come! And I'm hooked on touring.

[EvilTwin]

Just turned 50 a week or so ago. Started riding in Feb. of this year. I hadn't really ridden since college. I started dating a biker last fall after my divorce, and decided to ride Bike Idaho this summer, so that's my training goal right now. My BF has been riding for years, and has been my personal trainer this spring. He's very patient with me.... it helps. I love riding, and my 3 grown daughters have been able to see some very positive things that have happened since I started riding. They see me as stronger, more positive, happier, and in way better shape than I've been in years. Yeah cycling!!!!

[dachshund]

I rode steadily from grade school until my late thirties. (50 now) My last bike was a 10 speed racer, and I stopped riding it because couldn't do hills without hurting my back. So I sold the bike. I decided to try again recently as an alternative to the gym. I found this forum pretty quickly, which was a huge help.

Technology has changed, of course, with all the carbon and those shift levers up by the breaks. Clipless pedals. And 30 gears! But I'm much more careful now, MUCH more willing to stop and make sure there are no cars coming before crossing intersections, etc.

I don't what happened this last year... I got back into several hobbies I had lost interest in. Funny how things cycle around (yuk yuk.)

My only reservation is climbing hills with a lower back problem. I'm surprised that riding doesn't hurt my back so far, nor does it bother my hands. I guess I should read up on technique for doing hills, correct position, etc. I'm sure I'll find it here somewhere.

[Triskeliongirl]

48, so I'm close..... actually 14 months away to be exact.

[arnaew]

51 and a half. Hadn't ridden since I was a child until a couple of years ago. I used to walk into university (mature age student) then the office, but when we moved more than a mile away from the CBD (downtown?) SO bought me an old beater bike to commute as I don't drive, and I was past relying on our (appalling) public transport. Didn't ride much more than 20k until last year, when we took off for France (en famille) in July as part of my 50th celebration year (yep, I celebrated the entire year! ). Took my bike, intending to poodle around the Tour DF, and for the first week didn't do much more than the requisite 20-30k, before the motor home turned up behind to pick me up (they would pack up the site, do the shopping etc while I rode on ahead). One day, they didn't turn up behind me, so I kept riding until they did. 90k later, I heard that familiar beep behind me... they'd had a flat tyre, with attendant dificulties, and tried to 'phone but I was out of range. I was exhausted, but exhilirated, and I've never felt so safe riding anywhere as I did on French roads - such respect for cyclists! But having done it once, I did it again and again. That's almost a year ago, and now I register for every long road ride going around here. Even on my regular runs (Sat and Sun mornings) I don't feel as though I've been on a decent ride unless I do a minimum 50k. I've upgraded the bike to a Daccordi Race Fiber (full carbon fibre with Campagnolo Record) and I'm just loving it. I will never be as good as any of you who started early or who exercised throughout their lives (my claim to exercise in my 20s was careering around a stage singing in a punk band, then strengthening my right arm by lifting glasses of interesting but generally volatile liquid) but you know, every time a sweet young thing passes me by, as they often do, I just acknowledge that I am who I am, I'm doing what I do, and to my mind, I'm doing it bloody well. And as for being in my 50s? I'm the strongest, the heathiest, the smartest and the most confident I've ever been. Oh okay, some days I fall over and get a case of 'the olds', but then I get on the bike; 30k in, and I'm okay again. I'm back in the zone. 51, and still punching holes in the ceiling with my fist.
A

[crazycanuck]

Umm..I get to be the cheeky young chick who hijacks the thread...nya nya (i feel so young...33yrs old)

What i want to know is and feel free to start a new thread for you oldies k...(you're going to hit me soon aren't you...)

1-What were the 50's-60's like? Ike, Kennedy, cold war, cuban missile crisis, marilyn monroe,the films..(hitchcock..!!), ritchie valens/the big bopper, nixon, etc...

2-What did you think of elvis, the beatles, mamas & the papas, the beach boys-Which beatle was your fave? Did you get to watch them on the ed sullivan show???

3-Do i dare ask about the 70's...?



c

[Nanci]

I'll be 48 in November.

60's- My first TV memory is President Kennedy's funeral. Because I liked the horses. Too young to be scared of missiles. Too young to appreciate the Beatles or Elvis. It was more like The Monkeys and Bobby Sherman!

Nanci

[Lise]

It was more like The Monkeys and Bobby Sherman!
Nanci

Oh, Yes!

1st record album: The Monkees. On my pillow one day when I came home from first grade (1966). Why? Who knows. Mom just gave me a spontaneous, and very important gift! I will never forget it.

I once dated someone for 18 months basically because of a strong resemblance to a young Bobby Sherman. Didn't realize it until we'd broken up, and Bobby was going on a nostalgia tour with Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones. OF COURSE my sister and I got tix! Very, very sadly, the tour was cancelled mid-way through for some reason. It was humbling to realize that I'd probably stuck it out as long as I had in that relationship because, at some level, I thought I was dating Bobby Sherman...

Remember "Here Come the Brides"? "The bluest skies you've ever seen, in Seattle, and the hills the greenest green, in Seattle..."

[jobob]

Too funny! My first album was Bobby Sherman

And yes, I looooved Here Come the Brides. But I was more crushed-out on David Soul.

[SouthernBelle]

I shall be 51 on the 9th. You don't have to send presents, cash will do.

1-What were the 50's-60's like? Ike, Kennedy, cold war, cuban missile crisis, marilyn monroe,the films..(hitchcock..!!), ritchie valens/the big bopper, nixon, etc...

Mostly a good time to be a kid. Most moms in our neighborhood were SAHM moms and we played outside all summer. Most of the things you ask about here weren't on my radar. I was totally unaware of the cuban missile crisis at the time. I did think JFK was handsome and I liked that he had little kids.

2-What did you think of elvis, the beatles, mamas & the papas, the beach boys-Which beatle was your fave? Did you get to watch them on the ed sullivan show???

Meet the Beatles was my first album. I still have it. I used to play it over and over. I loved Paul. My best friend loved John. Yes, I first saw them on Sullivan and we discussed them in great detail the next day on the playground.

3-Do i dare ask about the 70's...? Eh. I went to a disco once. Had a floor just like in Saturday Night Fever. But I really can't dance.

[Crankin]

I'm 52 (53 in November). I've been riding around 5.5 years. Did lots of gym stuff before that, since I was about 25. I also was the last one chosen for any team in gym class. But, the one thing that i did do on a pretty consistent basis was ride my bike. I didn't learn to ride until i was 10 (too uncoordinated), but once i did, I was rarely home. I had a Schwinn with coaster brakes and 2 three speed Raleighs. Had a huge generator light on the front of one of them. I lived in a suburb of Boston that had lots of hills... now I can't believe i went up them on a 3 speed. Well, moving to Florida and then Arizona near the end of high school pretty much stopped the riding. Too hot and everyone drove everywhere. I did a lot of walking in AZ, along with the gym stuff, but somewhere along the way, a boyfriend bought me a 5 speed road bike. I used to ride it to grad school classes in summer school, when i first started teaching. I have a distinct memory of riding in a sundress with a backpack on! A few years later, my husband bought us 12 speed bikes. I rode a little, probably never more than 10 miles, at a very slow speed. That ended when I was 7 months pregnant and I stopped short, behind my husband and the down tube shifter went into my stomach. I went into premature labor, but all ended well.
I started riding again because my husband got me into it, along with one of my sons. I do feel pretty young when I'm riding, although I think I need to take a few more rest days than I do! A funny story that happened this year was one day when I was chaperoning at science camp last December, i went on a short, but steep hike up a snowy, icy trail with the other teachers (the oldest one was 34). A couple of weeks later, one of them, who is about 25, told me that they "all want to be like me when they get old..." I knew it was a compliment, but it didn't sound right.

By the way, the sixties were cool. My own kids could never surpass anything I did back then...

[Trek420]

crazycanuck "1-What were the 50's-60's like?"

well, I was pretty young maybe 3 or 4 but my first memory was being in a little red wagon pulled behind my parents in downtown (was barely a town then) Santa Rosa it was either a tiny anti-war march or a civil rights march. I remember a woman on the sidewalk yelling "go back where you came from!" and thinking "but I am home?"

But also what others sed, simpler time, my Mom worked, but I still "had milk and cookies when I got home". We lived in the country it was a great place to be a kid, we were outside a lot; played in creeks, built forts, fished for crawdads, and close with our neighbors.

Oh growing up in Sonoma County. You think it's pretty now? It was so beautiful.

2 "Did you get to watch them on the ed sullivan show???"

yes

3-"Do i dare ask about the 70's...?"
I had just moved into the city, Oakland in about 1975 or 6 to share a Victorian flat with my college sweetie and two other women. You can ask, but the 70's are a blur In a good way sort of.

I found work, went back to school, became re-acquainted with my passion for art and also found a great community. In those days I was working my way through college as a cook, and I'd met some great friends through that work. I know friends come and go but these guys: Bryan, Markham, Tom, Nikho, Rick, Asa....I could go on but I'm getting all misty eyed....really thought I'd grow old with these wonderful men as my friends.

They're all gone and that's why I'll ride in June.