Hi All - I just joined up with Bike Forums this week. I'm 57 years old, married with no kids and do most of my biking with my wife on local rails-to-trails and at the nearby Valley Forge NP. I've been an avid runner and hiker most of my life but 20 years ago I decided to do a Trans-Canadian cross-country bike ride from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island in B.C. I did it on a $450 REI Randonee Novara touring bike, taking 55 travel days and averaging 77miles/day. The head wind was the worst part of the ride, which was the price I paid going east to west but it was an amazing adventure. I got married shortly afterwards and turned my attention to more sedate activities. I recently was diagnosed with afib, which absolutely floored me but with the help of beta blockers and 325mg of aspirin per day I'm still in pretty good shape.

I currently ride a Giant 780 ATX that I bought about 25 years ago but it's still going strong. Nonetheless I've been in the market for a new MTB bike that I can grow into. Most of my riding is on tarmac and gravel trails but I'd like to expand into more remote single track trails as the locations and opportunities arise (I just finished Jill Homer's "Be brave, be strong", a book about her bikepacking race across the continental divide - highly recommended for those adventurous types).