Fifty Plus (50+) - Inspiration

I was a little hesitant to visit this forum, but I do qualify by age.

I'm happy to report that I've found it inspirational. I mean it seems you guys just can't be kept down: heart arrthymias, anticoagulation with coumadin, hip and knee replacements, Wow.

I just wrote to a retired friend who avoids biking as exercise because it induces some apparently minor neck pain. I related some of your experiences as recorded here.

I've had one other inspirational exposure within the past year: The Blind Boys of Alabama. I was just amazing to see them on stage bounce around and perform with marked gusto. They are well into their 8th and 9th decades of life. Those guys would probably be bike riding if they could only see.

Sitting at home watching TV poses a greater health risk than cycling. As for the pain, I take a little "vitamin I" and keep on cranking.

Pain. People on this forum can take. And dish it.

Tell your friend that lots of us have a bit of pain now and then, and it is no big deal.

Also, give him a link to the 50+ forum, and perhaps he will join in our fun!

He would be very welcome.

As one named Lance Armstrong once stated, pain is temporary, but losing is for ever.

Any pain is easily replaced by the pleasant cycling surprises and comraderie on the road.

It's gotta hurt a little if you want to experience the full pleasures life has to offer.
Struth, if I only had to deal with a little neck pain I'd be doing 'the tour' this year. :)

lots of blind people ride! they simply stoke on a tandem.

...I just wrote to a retired friend who avoids biking as exercise because it induces some apparently minor neck pain...

- - If your friend uses drop handle bars, the pain may be caused by having to extend his neck up to see. Maybe a more upright bicycling posture would reduce his pain.

- - If your friend uses drop handle bars, the pain may be caused by having to extend his neck up to see. Maybe a more upright bicycling posture would reduce his pain.

That is if the stem allows the bars to be lifted. This is rapidly becoming one of the problems with aheadsets; once that steerer tube is cut, there is no way the bars can be lifted with spacers in the future. A little planning ahead (so to speak) may help, by having the shop not cut the steerer tube, but position the stem with spacers. Looks a little ugly, but could be useful if you buy, say at 50, and want to keep riding the same bike at 60 when musculoskeletal issues may be more prevalent. Of course, this applies much more to road bikes than hybrids and MTBs, which may have new riser bars fitted.

Quill stems also may be problematic, depending on their length and the frame design.

FWIW, if selecting a road bike for anyone over 50 and relatively new to cycling, a frame that enables the handlebars to be adjusted so they are level with the seat (height already fitted to the rider) is advisable. Randonneurs have been using this approach for ages, because low bars can result in sore necks at least or complete loss of neck muscle control at worst.

Back in 2001 I rode 270 miles from Ground Zero, NYC to The Pentagon on three days with The Face of America tour. I was just 50 then, but I remember "Big Bob", an Australian foreman who was 67, who rode the whole distance. I met quite a few "seasoned cyclists" on the tour. Also, there were about a dozen handicaped Hand Cyclists (modified recumbents that are operated by hand-power rather than by leg power). There were paired sighted and blind cyclists riding tandems too. So if my excuse is I am too old, I really am lying to mysef and everyone else. They are my new heroes.

You can do what I did to a friend. I showed up at his house with 2 bikes, 1 helmet in a box and gloves. I told him that I talk better on the road. It worked out very well. He really had it in him and now he is out on weekends with his wife and grandchildren.
He still has the bike and already put another set of tiers on it. He keeps on trying to give me the bike back but it is his now.

I just wrote to a retired friend who avoids biking as exercise because it induces some apparently minor neck pain. I related some of your experiences as recorded here.
That's no excuse.
http://www.biketcba.org/TRICORR/members/cvaughn.jpg
Broken neck in a 1969 car crash, still rides. (No, that's not me.)

Pain. People on this forum can take. And dish it.

AMEN, Brother! <G>

Pain. People on this forum can take. And dish it.
Pain is God's method of telling you that you are still alive!