Been hanging around for a few weeks now, so I thought it was time to add to this thread. Just turned 63 last month, and the young lady I'm married to is a few years shy of 60.
1. What type of bikes do 50+ folks ride?
I currently have a Trek Navigator hybrid, the wife has a similar Giant. I also have a Lightning Stealth SWB recumbent that I haven't ridden much in the last several years, and have it listed on CL as it's just been collecting dust. As I explain below, I've become a bit of an endurance rider, so I'm looking to move to my first roadie in many years, waiting for the weather to warm up so I can do some test rides on a Giant Defy 2, Trek 1.5, Cannondale Synapse 6 or a Specialized Secteur. The wife wants to buy me a new bike as an anniversary gift (anniversary is on the 28th of this month) so I'll have it ready when the weather breaks.
2. Do you take any special supplements/vitamins/minerals as you have grown older?
Just fiber capsules and a daily aspirin. I used to be on a statin (Crestor) but the dr. took me off of it at the last physical, and we're waiting for some blood work to come back to confirm that I don't need it any more.
3. How much do you feel you have "slowed down" if any?
I was noticing a fall-off in flexibility and muscle tone over the last couple of years, and began taking some corrective actions to address those, but other than that, I'm not noticing much in the way of "slowing down". I do notice that I'm much more jealous of my time, which causes me to avoid things I really don't want to do. You begin to realize at my age that you have a rapidly closing window between now and the point at which you may be physically unable to do the things you want to do, so I avoid wasting time on stupid unrewarding activities as much as possible. Makes getting into the office every day a bit of a challenge though!
I think some of the physical deterioration I was experiencing was due to weight. About 8 years ago I dropped 50 lbs, kept it off pretty well, but in the last couple of years I saw it starting to creep back. Started paying close attention to my diet again starting last May and went from 215 to 178 (from what the scale was telling me this morning), and want to take off at least another 8 lbs, but it sure comes off slowly at this point! I also started taking fitness classes last fall when it got too cold to ride. My muscle tone is greatly improved, and the yoga class I've been taking is helping with the flexibility. I've also been taking a weekly spinning class during the off season, which I absolutely despise, but I'm going to start this season with my butt and legs pretty much where they were at the end of last season so I can hit the ground rolling come spring!
4. How long have you been biking? New, around a while, biked all your life?
I got my first "adult" bike - a classic drop-bar 10-speed - when I was in my 20's and have been cycling pretty regularly for most of my adult life, though it was mostly casual rides around the neighborhood with the kids. About the time I turned 50 I got the recumbent and started to take it a bit more seriously. I weighed 250 lbs (I'm 5'8) at that time, and never took off any weight, but would routinely do 25-mile rides 2 or 3 times a month. Somewhere around the age of 55 or 56 I went back to the DF bike (a Schwinn MTB), as the bent was a little too tall for me, and I found that it was a little hard to maneuver in any situation dealing with traffic, as it was always very awkward to slow down or stop - my legs were a bit too short to do so gracefully. While the recumbents are certainly comfortable, I find that as much riding as I do it kinda all washes out.
5. What type of biking do you do? Long rides, touring, short rec rides.
I picked up the Trek about two years ago, and started to get a bit more serious, doing more 20+ mile rides on weekends, 12+ mile rides after work and going with the wife on tours and group rides. My goal this year is to do at least one metric century. I've already signed up for a 51-mile group ride that's happening in May, and it'd be cool to try a full century before the snow flies next fall.
6. How often do you bike? Your approximate annual mileage?
It keeps going up every year, and if I wouldn't manage to break something on my cycle computer almost every season, I might have an accurate measure of annual mileage, but I'd guess that I rode 2-4 times a week, 12-30 miles at a time last year, and probably racked up a total of only about 6-700 miles. I think I'll probably double that this year.