dauphin

I don't have as much energy as I did when I was 25. I sometimes wake up with aches and pains and it takes several minutes before I feel comfortable walking around. My lower back gets tight from sleeping in a funny position. I can't eat the things I ate in my 20's without getting fat. Sometimes my knees are sore and sometimes my fingers get numb. I have to wear glasses or contacts to see well. My hair is not as thick as when I was younger. The hair I do have is certainly pretty much turning gray. I guess with all of these and other related things...I should just throw my hands up and forget about it. Can't fight the onslaught of time I guess. I suppose I could ride one of those motorized scooters around the grocery store. I might even be able to get one to ride around the neighborhood and forget about cycling!

On the other hand....I choose not to give in. I can walk 30 miles in a day. I can cycle 100 miles in a day. I can ride a flat bar or a drop bar. Hiking up tall mountains if fun for me. When I think of all the years I wasted not doing many of the physical things that I do now, it gets me motivated to make up for lost time. I feel better today than I did at 42. I plan on feeling better at 62 as well. We all have challenges to overcome and some are more serious than others. I know so many people in their 30's and 40's who are content to eat poorly, skip exercise, and rely on medication to feel "ok". No, I won't live forever and I will continue to age, but I plan on enjoying the rest of this journey!

Digital Gee

Dauphin,

May i just say it's a pleasure sharing the 50+ Forum with you!

Monoborracho

We only pass this way once. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Make the most of it.

crtreedude 

You didn't mention the fact that we are now distinquished, not handsome...

Even though I am not YET 50 (47), I was in much much worse shape when I was 35.

I have always liked Dylan Thomas’

“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

HopedaleHills

+1, I couldn't ride 56 miles when I was 40 but I can at 56 My mother is 78 and so overweight she can barely get off the couch and has a bunch of health problems because of it. OTOH, my mother-in-law is also 78 and still mows the lawn. I know which direction I want to go...

BlazingPedals

Yeah... I hate doing the lawn too.

linux_author

+1

- down here, i have to mow every other day... i can hardly wait until the dry season...

- i had to go through some aches and pains when i became more active about a year and a half ago...

- after nearly 6,000 miles on my bikes, now the pain feels good...

Bike Pain: It's All Good!™

(btw, i'm kidding about the pain... real pain is not fun, but everyone experiences pain differently)

- yep, everything goes to h-e-double-hockey-sticks after 40...

- but don't forget:

Sixty is the New Forty!™

:-)

tribe3

Great post Dauphin!

I'm one more that's in better shape now at 50 than when I was 35, and I plan to "grow younger" (~Deepak Chopra) every year to come.

The pains and aches when you wake up -- at 50 and over -- are a sign that you are still alive

Biking has everything to do with my rebirth -- and now when weather is foul I jump on my treadmill or put the bike on the trainer (boring), because I "need" to sweat even if it's only 30 minutes a day.

Bests

cheeseflavor

Great post, Dauphin! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Steve

stapfam

Hang on a bit till you actually get a bit older. Things only get better. All the aches and pains that are a niggle at present -really start hurting and as to having hair left that has a bit of colour in it- That went when I couldn't read the bottle of grecian 2000 without a magnifying glass.

duhhuh

Every once in a while, I think about all the years I wasted. Then I go ride and I feel better about myself again. Over all, a back injury turned out to be not so bad after all. It is a lot of pain, misery and suffering, but it made me appreciate a lot of things that I took for granted. I wouldn't wish for it again, but going through this has had some positive results. I bike now for therapy, and have learned a lot about proper nutrition (still have a long way to go), ride alot, enjoy the outdoors more and have met a lot of really nice people. Hey, living ain't all that bad.

Mojo Slim

For me, 59.3 is the new 45.1, (according to RealAge.com). My goal has been to be in better shape than most others (there will always be someone who can out ride you) my age. I'm in about the same space as Dauphin. I can pretty much to 100 miles any time you call me. My mother-in-law has moved in with us. At 81, she can barely move, after years of barely moving. My neighbor across the stree is also 81. Gets his own firewood, travels extensively and paints his house every couple of years.

Keep moving.

capejohn

It's a rollercoaster of feelings. No matter how I feel before hand though, it all comes together once I get riding.

milt

Thank you! You made my day, week, month, ...

DnvrFox

Hate to tell you, but you are just a YOUNG'UN!

But, truly, much of our aging is related to genes. My wife has always been active, but right now her osteoarthritis is about to get the best of both of us.

Just count your lucky genes!

Several of us around here could (might?) be your father!

dauphin

DnvrFox wrote: Hate to tell you, but you are just a YOUNG'UN!

...and I intend to stay that way!

trackhub

At 49, I tend to slip into "afternoon nap mode" rather easily. Or, it could be that I just get really, really bored.

As for having a good amount of grey hair, I like it. Cops in their 20's call me "Sir", and I have noticed that generally, I seem to get a lot more respect than I used to. I can go into a package store, pick up a 6 pack of good beer, and not have some store employee give me the hairy eye. Nice!

Mojo Slim

And, oh boy, those senior discounts!

CrossChain

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

[1842] Tennyson, "Ulysses".

BluesDawg

All that, and you're a Bulldog! (even if you do live in a place called Auburn)

Big Paulie

And Seafoam...don't forget Seafoam!

Carusoswi

Yea, I know them, too. They are the same as I was when I was their age. I try to explain to a few of them, but they won't listen - they are stubborn - same as I was when I was their age.

I have to be thankful, though. I have no osteo-anything. I work and play until I am worn out for the day. Sleep whenever it falls over me - awake whenever I open my eyes (usually in the very wee hours of the morning - like now). Then, I come to the computer and mess around until the sun starts to peek over the horizon, and, then, it's either off to the office or off on a nice ride (on my bike, either way) - and the daily cycle (no pun intended) starts all over again.

I wish that, when I was 30 or 40 something, I could have realized how really stress free my life was then. But I didn't. I was too busy stressing out to get ahead. I suppose you might say I have achieved some success - but now, life at the office is only more stressful. Thankfully, the bike allows me to clear my head at least twice a day - and on weekends I have the opportunity to get fully recharged.

I cannot relive or change the past, but I hope to mildly influence my future.

You and I appear to be of the same generation. When they were this age, both of my grandfathers were within a year of their sudden and fatal heart attacks. Both my grandmothers slowly lost their grueling battle with what we today know as Alzheimer’s. My mother spent 30 years of her adult life caring first for one of my failing grandmothers, then, the other (how could life be so cruel to my devoted, good-hearted mother). Today, at 90, her once alert mind is still alert enough to acknowledge verbally that it isn't what it used to be as she struggles to make sense of her shifting world as her own battle with the onset of this terrible Alzheimer's disease begins. I should be as nimble as she at 90 and I fully intend to be. Her exercise came as the result of giving others their morning showers, shifting them in their bed, changing bed pans and so on.

She knew about and had ridden bikes, but, in her words, why would you ride if you don't have somewhere to go - and, why ride the bike when you have a car at your disposal?

She knew plenty about stress - stress on account of others' health needs, stress on account of personal finance, crop failure, hard work, you name it. She had no clue about how to relieve that stress (such self-indulgence was frowned upon in her generation) - so, in that area, I am fortunate - fortunate to have discovered biking, fortunate that I actually enjoy it, fortunate that I live in an age of advanced development of the bicycle, fortunate that, at my age, life hasn't so otherwise worn me out that I have an opportunity to use and enjoy cycling with an eye toward achieving that gentle alteration of my own future. Time will only tell, but, like you, I am determined not ever to give up.

Thanks for the thought provoking post.

Caruso

centexwoody 

+ 1 every time, every time...

centexwoody 

I believe I've earned every gray hair, that every wrinkle represents a lesson learned or stubbornly endured.

My mother at 83 just took off for 3 weeks' elderhosteling in Scotland, a place she's always wanted to go. We got her twin Leki walking sticks since neuropathy means she can't feel the bottoms of her feet. But she's off & gone on her great adventure. Her father lived to 89, her mother to 95. My father died at 63 of a heart attack, his father died at 59, his mother to 92.

At my 35th high school reunion last weekend it was most interesting to see how folks have fared. At 53, lifestyle & genetics have revealed themselves clearly (despite the expensive surgeries some had to remove the 'effects' of age). The list of the dead grows longer at each reunion. The gathering of us survivors continues to grow more appreciative.

Use it or lose it - that's my watchword when I think that sitting around would be SO much easier than training for our annual 50-mile backpacking trips or keeping up in the yoga/pilates class at the gym or trying to better my riding time by a minute over an 11-mile course.

Besides, at this age, the endorphin rush and serotonin flush can truly be appreciated after exercise! You can be grateful that lifestyle & genetics & self-discipline allow you to do all those activities: relish it & inspire those around you as well.

seafoam

Sheesh, dauphin...I thought for a minute there I was going to have to look for a new cycling buddy!

Wish we could get through to all the little couch spuds we see at the school and elsewhere. Grab an apple instead of chips, step away from the T.V. and video games, and GO OUTSIDE!! Actually, it's not their fault. They've probably been parked in front of the television since birth.

That said...it's Friday and we get to ride after work. Can't wait!