Fifty Plus (50+) - When were you mature enough...?

I was reading a post in the recreation & family forum about a guy riding with his 11 year old son. It occured to me that I didn't start really riding until I was nearly 40. This year I did 2100 miles. My son has been lost to me since he got his driver's license and I stated that he hasn't matured enough to ride bicycle yet. Anyone else with similar experiences?

I started riding in '68 (I was 18), so my sons (born in '78 and '81) grew up with a cycling fanatic father. Now that they're both grown, they both ride some, but still not as much as I do.

One has three kids, the other is in the Navy, so there are time limitations too. Still, they didn't get the gene passed down for "cycling fanatic." Not sure that "maturity" has anything to do with it!

Rick / OCRR

Keep in mind that this was somewhat toungue in cheek. There is no emoticon for that!

My two boy's "matured" after they graduated from college. They were both multi-sport HS school athletes and both were Division 1 swimmers through college. Neither would be caught out riding bicycles with their dad before graduating college, unless it was a mother induced mandated "Father's Day request/ride". The older son started to do triathlons after college and began to ride with me now and then. The younger son needed to spend a 5th year at college and took my backup bike to school with him to use for excercise. He joined up with the college team and the local riders and became a racing roadie. After two years of maturity, the three of us do group rides and even intervals together. I'm having a blast riding with and showing off the "boys".

In the last three weeks I participated in two cyclocross races in the C race while my younger so rode the A races. This week my older son is in Tempe AZ to compete in a full Ironman to be held on Sunday. I done hatched them good!:lol:

Although I had been riding bikes since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, when I reached 17 and got my driving licence, I didn't touch a bike for about eight years. I was "mature enough" for bicycles again at 25. I think that's normal.

There should be a tongue-in-cheek emoticon, too.

Except for a couple *very* brief stints when I was in college the first time in my late teens/early 20s and then when I was back in college in my 30s, I went from 16 to 54 without getting on a bicycle.

I rode a lot from ages 5 to 18 then all but stopped. Always had a bike and made sure my boys knew how to ride. Family tried for years to get me to ride with them but, with the exception of an obligatory ride once or twice a year, I always found an excuse.

A little over a year ago, I started riding. 500 miles last year and over 3,000 this year so far. I've tried getting my sons to ride with me but haven't had a lot of success. Maybe a half dozen rides as a family this year and al less than 15 miles. My wife, however, is quite willing to hit the road with me. I figure my sons will find their own way with bikes but I'll keep working on them.

I must be some kind of freak. I started at 8 y.o., when a bunch of neighborhood kids decided it was time for Scotty to learn how to ride. They put me on a bike, gave me a push, and I'm still going. #1 son is just finishing college and uses his bike for transportation. We rode together quite a bit until he finished high school and left town. #2 son never really got past the "pedal without falling over" stage, no matter what or how hard I tried. Lately, he's asked about trying out one of my 'bents, so I guess there's still hope.

SP

. . .he hasn't matured enough to ride bicycle yet. . . .

This part of your post got to thinking on the ironic circularity of cycling as some of us here on BF50+ have experienced it. As a kid, biking was early on a way to do "grown up" stuff like getting to neighborhood jobs, to Mass, to grandma's place to help dig potatoes, etc. As a mid-career guy, I was able to commute to work most days for 15 years. As a 50-something, my cycling is purely for fitness/fun. Hmmmm, does this predict a tricycle in my future?

I started riding at around 9 as I recall. I have ridden off and on since then. I don't plan on stopping again as long as I am able to ride. Right now I haven't been on a bike for a little over three weeks due to an accident.


I started my two boys on bikes around the same age as I was. They are both in their early twenties and neither are currently riding. One is going to college and the other is in the Marines. I figure they'll both mature back into in their own time. Hopefully, we'll ride again together while I'm able.

Rode a bike from 4 untill 18 and then it was car- Re-started riding at 43 when I realised How unfit I was. 18 years later and I am still unfit. As to the maturity bit- still waiting for that to arrive.

I've got three daughters. They're 19, 19 and 23 yrs. old and they'll tell
you for certain that they are much too mature to be out riding a bicycle.
I, on the other hand, have been riding since early grade school. When I
was 12 or 13 I earned a "Bicycling Merit Badge" for Boy Scouts which required
among other things, six 25 mile rides and a 50 mile ride. I rode most of those,
including the 50 miler, solo. I guess I haven't matured yet as my bike is locked
out at the rack, in the snow, today awaiting the ride home. :)

Happy Trails

Started in 1950...at 8...hung with a pal whose dad owned LBS...Lotta miles under the belt...
Bud

Started @ 5 y.o., ridden the 46 years since. Daughter began at the same age, spent formative years riding riding stoker on the tandem, later did the roadie thing with me and rode at the velodrome during high school, and more recently was a bike commuter during college and now to her first job.

tcs

Like many here, I lived for my bikes from the time I learned how (age 4 or 5) until I got my driver's license (16). My folks bought a nice new Varsity for me when I was 17 or 18. Bad timing, I guess.
Didn't ride again until I was 25 when a damaged foot didn't allow me to walk for more than a minute or two. That stint lasted until I was 31 or 32. Didn't ride again until I was 53. Now, I'm an animal.

It seems many guys take a biking hiatus for several years at 16, with a freshly minted drivers license. Same with me. I was "too cool" to be seen on my mint condition Lemon Peeler that I sold for $40 (now a collectors item).
Where's the emoticon for kicking yourself in the head?

I rode every day as a kid (pre-drivers license) Even rode across town and camping and fishing till I was lured away from bikedom by the evil gas machines in 1964.

Sorry to say that I didn't mature till 40 years later at the age of 55.

I borrowed a neighbor's bicycle at age 5 and taught myself to ride after reading Curious George Rides a Bike. By age 7, I was going up and down Highway 41, the Tamiami Trail without supervision. Been riding ever since.

Now as far as maturity, I don't seem to have gained any of that since age 11. ;)

It seems many guys take a biking hiatus for several years at 16, with a freshly minted drivers license. Same with me. I was "too cool" to be seen on my mint condition Lemon Peeler that I sold for $40 (now a collectors item).
Where's the emoticon for kicking yourself in the head?

Not exactly a kick but it works.

:bang:

Started at 3 yrs;
My first 2 wheeler:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/April1946.jpg

10 wheels, that picture is priceless.

With that suit, devilish smile, and of course the wheels, it says, "Yes ladies.. this could be all yours if you play your cards right.....".... :-)

10 wheels, that picture is priceless.

With that suit, devilish smile, and of course the wheels, it says, "Yes ladies.. this could be all yours if you play your cards right.....".... :-)

That ain't nothing. (age 11 yrs)
My First Huffy (1952 Model) had a Kisser on the back.


http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/52Huffy.jpg

Non-biking periods of my life:

0 to age 4 : Too young
12 to 22: Too cool
27 to 29: Too afraid of getting killed in Mexico City traffic
38 to 50: "Too busy"

Once I reached the age of wisdom, I started again, and plan to stick with it until I'm "too dead."

Well, I'll just duck in for a quick post then be on my way...
(That was my original thread you were referring to BTW) I know my son is gaining speed on the biking desire. In fact, on the way home from school today he asked if we could go riding before dark. He wants to go to college near here because they have a good MTB team/club and it's close enough to home to commute.

Will those desires change in 5+ years and the "golden license" appears... hope not. But I'm hoping there's a love that's getting established that will endure the car phase.

Btw... I took a good 25 year hiatus from cycling and just got back into it. So hopefully in 15 years I can post in this thread and say my maturity started now... well then, which is actually now. :confused:

Anyway, the <50 year old is ducking out now.

Like others, I grew up on bicycles and abandoned them for cars and motorcycles when I was old enough to drive. I did come back to bicycles for a few months at age 20 when I suddenly found myself without the privilege to drive thanks to my love for twisting the throttle grip of my Kawasaki 900 Z1B.:twitchy: I don't think maturity had a lot to do with it. :o

I started riding again about 18 months ago. I ride year round. The late fall to late spring are utilitarian miles.

Today I was on the phone with a fair weather biking friend of mine and he mentioned that as he traveled, by car, around our small city of 15K today in 30F weather, he saw at least 10 cyclist out there. He noted that he would expect to see riders in Madison or the Minnesota Twin cities, but not in our small northern Wisconsin town.

My point is that as more of us ride, and ride all year long it begins to give permission to others to ride. Then, it becomes cool. (No pun intended.)

I also took a decade or three off of riding and am so glad to have rediscovered this thing.

Familiar theme here. Started at 4, couldn't keep me away from bikes until I was 16 (well, thieves did cause some interruptions). When I was 15 my dad had a friend who was a pretty passionate cyclist and we all rode together for about a year but at that point moved from a fairly flat locale to a very hilly one, and my dad took on a job with killer hours, and with no buddy of his to keep him motivated he stopped riding altogether. I did buy him a bike many years later when he was retired and he rode for a bit again but no real passion nor did he have anyone to ride with (I lived in another state); we did ride together just once more during a visit when I hauled my bikes along before he put the bike away permanently.

I didn't ride much at all, even though I usually had a bike around, from 16 to 31, even though I usually kept a bike around. I was a loyal Schwinn guy most of my life, growing up around Chicago I think that was a natural bike choice (my grandfather had even played golf occasionally with one of the Schwinns). In 85 I noticed these newfangled mountain bikes and bought a Schwinn High Sierra but promptly parked it in the garage for the most part until a friend of mine found out and took me out on my first actual ride on a mountain and I was hooked. Never had kids, but I would hope that I would have found a way to make riding a family passion. Judging from many of my riding friends' families, it certainly isn't hereditary...and maturity certainly is something I'm still striving for but not too much :D

when I think of the stupid rides I did as an 18-20 year old - 50 miles from home with $0.75 in my pocket, no food, no tools, no pump, one small water bottle... no cell phones back then, riding skinny tires on gravel roads; I'd say I wasn't mature enough until my late 20's.

My nephew just got his first bike - for his second birthday. He wants to be like his Unker Steve (that's me) so now I have to build him a little trailer to pull behind his bike :D

CollectiveInk,

My bad. I should have given credit on your thread. Many folks on here tend to stay in only one or two sub-forums. Here's the original thread with pictures. Great story!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=475552

I started riding at 50 after hardly noticing bikes for 20 years. It was less a case of increased maturity than one of living in a place where commuting by automobile is very slow, inconvenient, and stressful. I had the typical hybrid that had been sitting in the garage, ridden only a few times in the five years since my wife gave it ti me as a Christmas present.

Paul

... living in a place where commuting by automobile is very slow, inconvenient, and stressful.

??? Is there any place where it ISN'T all of those?


SP
:recum:

when I think of the stupid rides I did as an 18-20 year old - 50 miles from home with $0.75 in my pocket, no food, no tools, no pump, one small water bottle... no cell phones back then, riding skinny tires on gravel roads; I'd say I wasn't mature enough until my late 20's.

But when you were 18- $.75 would have got you a phone call for a Taxi and a Double burger and coke while you waited for it.:D

As you can see (http://www.veloweb.ca/index.html) I started early. In the photo I'm already a "veteran" at 12 y/o. I was lucky to grow up in England, when, relatively speaking, the roads were blissfully free of motor traffic. I didn't think twice (and neither did my parents, evidently) of heading out into the South Shropshire Hills for a 60 mile spin.

In North America, due to a well-established hatred for the infernal combustion engine, I resisted driving until just shy of my thirties, when I took my driver's test. I still didn't own a car. The one I own now is parked and uninsured.

I have waited for the world to mature enough to discover the joys of bicycle travel but things just keep deteriorating. (And now gas is going down ... and don't get me started about the looming industry bailout:mad:)

I failed to convince my offspring of the same. They married acolytes of all things infernal-combustion: cars, motorcycles, ATVs.

Just to piss me off.

I was reading a post in the recreation & family forum about a guy riding with his 11 year old son. It occured to me that I didn't start really riding until I was nearly 40. This year I did 2100 miles. My son has been lost to me since he got his driver's license and I stated that he hasn't matured enough to ride bicycle yet. Anyone else with similar experiences?

I tried to get my son to ride with me prior to the driving age. When he was around 14 we did an approximately 10 mile ride that included Heartbreak Hill on the Boston Marathon route and he kvetched the whole way. A couple of years later it was no problem to do that ride to see his girlfriend ;-)

For his freshman year in college we bought him a bike for some low-mileage commuting, and much to my surprise he did some work at a bike co-op. This summer, at age 18, we did a ride again including Heartbreak Hill and I could barely keep up. My excuse was that he didn't give me enough time to warm up; his excuse was that his gears weren't working right.

I was reading a post in the recreation & family forum about a guy riding with his 11 year old son. It occured to me that I didn't start really riding until I was nearly 40. This year I did 2100 miles. My son has been lost to me since he got his driver's license and I stated that he hasn't matured enough to ride bicycle yet. Anyone else with similar experiences?

I posted to the above thread about introducing my son to cycling and on re-reading other replies, I noted most correspondents discussed their own personal journey into cycling. Back in the 60’s in the Motor City around age 12 - 14, I rode my bicycle quite a bit to get around, with one friend in particular. I had an “English Racer,’ and we even considered a 40 mile overnight ride, but by ninth grade I mostly walked and bummed rides until I could join the car culture.

In Ann Arbor MI in the 70’s I really realized the utility of bicycles for commuting. I can remember the specific day, virtually an epiphany, when I borrowed my roomate's Schwinn Varsity and realized how far and quickly I could go on a bike and soon began riding and then touring on a five-speed Schwinn Suburban. Within a couple years, I bought a Mercier as did my girlfriend, later my wife. We toured in Michigan and Ontario and eventually crossed the US by bike on our honeymoon to move to Boston, and have lived car-free and car-light since. I once told a new, somewhat aloof secretary that I live "an alternative lifestyle" to shock her--I commute by bike ;-)