Yes, you will be able to climb again. And you will be able to go fast.

Exactly like you did years ago? Maybe or maybe not, but it doesn't really matter. Most of us find other satisfactions in and reasons for riding besides how fast we go or how quickly we climb.

I started riding at age 58, and within 4 months I rode the 350 mile "Ride the Rockies" over Colorado passes. Given decent training and miles, your body will surprise you.

We have folks here who race regularly in their 60's. We have folks who love leisurely riding, folks who go on long self-contained tours, folks who mainly enjoy 20 milers. You get to find your niche and develop that aspect of your bicycling.

Look a SaiKaiTai, who joined with us 2-3 years ago, and is now climbing very difficult grades, even with a significant heart condition.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=507255

All is possible.

Mostly, have fun.

Thanks for the reply.

Well I do have fun. I got a cross bike and it is blast to ride off road. I was just wondering if it will get "easy" again. Right now getting up a climb is a lot of work. But I still have 18 lbs (of 25) left to lose and a lot of fitness to gain.

I just wanted to take a minute and say thanks for the great thread. At 52, the wife and I decided to give bicycling a try. Neither of us had been on a bike in probably 30 years.

Thanks to this very thread, we decided not to buy WallyWorld specials, and concluded that we would buy our bikes from a local bike shop. We didn't want to spend a ton of money on bikes, not even knowing if we would "get into" it, so we narrowed our choices down to a couple of Treks that the LBS carried, the 7.1 fx and the 7100. Ultimately, both of us decided we felt more comfortable on the 7100 and we bought them last weekend.

I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks browsing this forum. Thank you all for leading us in the right direction.

You can thank Catweazle, who pulled together a rather disparate "newbies" thread that we previously had posted, and made some sense out of it.

However, Catweazle has left us for some time now. I do believe he had a major illness with his son - perhaps cancer, and we haven't heard from him for a long time.

we are so glad you are enjoying your riding.

Yo CW, just wanted to say a whopping "THANK YOU" for this thread! SIL gave me his Schwinn MTB that he bought in '96, then stored it after riding only 10 miles. After expressing interest in purchasing a bike after getting off my last one in 1951, he presented his to me as a gift. My purpose in riding is strictly road riding just for the pure pleasure of it. At almost 72 have no interest ATT in anything other than staying on pavement as level as possible. :D Thought the very first ½ mile was gonna do me in. :o Been riding every day for the last two weeks except last 2 days being rained out all day. Your sticky pointed me to quite a few things I didn't even think about, ie changing the tires to road tires and getting rid of the knobbies for more suitable ride

It was an OUTSTANDING job, IMO, and had to tell you how much its appreciated here. :thumb:

Hey DnvrFox, I used to live in Parker. ;)

CW and all the rest, great posts, great info. Thank you very much. I used to ride every day, on my old Pro-Flex, even did a couple of centuries with 35# MTB tires! Then I traded up to a Felt F60 immediately followed by an elbow injury. Off the bike for 3 years. Now I want to re-enter the world of riding, but where I live now the roads have no shoulder, so kind of spooky for road work. And that laying over position is not very natural feeling for me. Thinking of trading back to a MTB, like a Jamis Durango and put hybrid tires on it. What say the wiser folks than I? Should I make the switch? Or should I keep the F60 and dodge the meth users around Mendocino County?

Welcome.

It is allowed to have two bikes!

Many of us have several.

I don't know how long ago that was, but Parker has changed markedly. The town has 40,000, and immediate area 100,000.

The great thing about a MTB is that you NEVER have to worry about what the road surface is going to throw at your on your ride, (well except for ICE), My wife and I have done what your thinking about, I've got a Jamis Trail-X 3.0 and the Mrs. a 1.0, for now were doing mostly multi-surface MUPS in and around Colorado Springs, CO. to get miles on before we try some of the area singletrack. We are thinking of switching out our full knobby's for a hybrid tire that has a street tread in the middle and a couple of lines of small knobby's on the outer edge. This will make the ride on concrete/asphalt smoother(maybe a tiny bit faster) but still allow us to have confidence on the "dirt/packed gravel" that makes up the other surface of many of our area rail-trails!

I had thought real seriously of us trading next year for Hybrid's like the Specialized Cross-Trail (Men), Maya (Women), that have the 700cX45 size tire with a semi-knobby tread. BUT, for the same price level, you get more upgrade equiptment on our Jamis MTB's so we will just end up having a different set of wheel's made up for "pure" Road Riding, when the funds are available and keep the MTB's. As stated it's NICE to have "no fear" weither we want to take a hard surface road/rail-trail/dirt road, that's the veristility of the MTB over a Road Bike, jmho. FYI, YMMV.

Great thread. I'm new to road biking and this forum has quickly became my favorite spot.

ok, i decided to buy from a bike shop. now, raleigh or schwinn?

spinninwheel

A good bike shop will help you decide on the bike that's right for you. Nameplates mean little except for antiques and collectibles.

Which ever one turns you on!

If it's from a decent LBS, either will get the job done but I'm a bit partial to "Raleigh's" over Schwinn's as my last serious MTB was a Raleigh Mt. Crested Butte (ridged) hardtail back in 85!!:love: LOL, I race the old Colorado NORBA Novice MTB series with my son Stephen (he on a 20"/5 speed Ross MTB) and I bounced that poor old bike over a LOT of rock, roots, drops, etc. and like a Timex, It took and lick'in and kept on tick'in!!!:thumb: Of course I now ride a "09 Jamis Trail-X 3.0" and for some reason I can't really explain, the "Jamis" just took my eye away from a Raleigh just long enough for my local Jamis LBS to steal the money out of my wallet!:D

Raleighs have changed a LOT since 85, including a trip down Wal-Mart lane, and perhaps a trip back, as have Schwinns.

Thanks Catweazle. This thread explains in easy to understand terms, the questions that I had about buying a bike for my current lifestyle. This is very informative and gave me a baseline for conversation with my LBS.

The biggest decision for me was whether to get a 26" wheel comfort bike or a 700cc wheel comfort bike. Time will tell if I made the right decision.

I wonder...!
 

I`m very glad, to find out, that bikers, even when they are in the 70th, overrule soccerplayers.
(which is not a miracle).
If you see the pics in the newspapers, it`s easy to understand.
In the eyes of a winner of a race, you might see pride and intelligence.
A soccerplayer shows nothing, nada, nullo.

It`s not their fault, I know, but never the less, I prefer to be a biker!

Hans

:)

The section on "What to Carry" is empty.
Does that say it all?
No patch kit? No tire irons? No pump? No water bottle?

Old enquiring minds want to know!

I, too, purchased my bike for a dedicated bike shop. I'm glad I did because I got great information from the wonderful staff. Without their assistance I would not have known what size frame to purchase, among other things. The shop also had better quality bikes than the "big box" stores carry.

Thank You
 

I am 50 want to get into bicycling for fun and exercise. Your review of bicycles for the Newbie is absolutely the best article/discussion I have ever read! It helped me get through the marketing and sales bussiness with regards to my purchase. I've narrowed my search down to the Giant Cypress and Trek 7100. I haven't made up my mind but suspect I can't go wrong either way. Thank you for the help.

newbie and information
 

I, for one, am happy with all of the information. I don't think it was too much. I need all the input I can get as I'm new to biking after many, many, many years. I'm also overweight and way out of shape with various aches and pains and physical problems.:cry:

Over 50 rider
 

Thank you. I was like 16 when I last rode a bike. Now I'm 53 going on 90 :( . I like this thread just the way it is. Please don't change a thing. I just bought a bike from a pawn shop. Sorry when I looked it up on the inter net found out it's a Wal-Mart specile :cry: . Well if it matters I'm taking it to a Bike shop for a tune up. :) . Any how I just learned a lot from this thread. Some I knew allready and some I didn't. Thank you for explaining the gears. Hell when I was 16 they just came out with 3 speeds and you had to be a Donald Trump or Bill Gates to have one of them. How did I make it up the 15th Street hill in Anchorage, Alaska with 1 gear. Hell there are some hills here in Bellevue, Washington I can't make it up with 21st gear. A house mate of mine told me when he comes to a hill he gets off and walks up them. What joy it is to ride up them now, well some of them.:thumb:

Again thank you.

Always FROGing "Fully Relying On God" ARE YOU?

Best Regards
Frank

Left Blank ????
 

OK I could not help but notice you left this post in the tread blank Start copy Paste **** Cycling gear and stuff you need to carry

Last edited by Catweazle; 07-07-08 at 06:31 AM *** end copy Paste Thats all there is in this post So any sugestion on what to carry besides water and Toilet paper LOL be suprized how many park toilets are out of paper or when you may have to hide behind a bush. LOL:roflmao2:

Catweazle has disappeared.

However, there is an excellent recent 50+ thread on what to carry, somewhere. Just do a search, and if you find it, post the link on this thread