January of this year I turned 66. The following month I started riding again after five years off the bike. I didn't overdo it and my body responded well. Now in May I'm good for 50 miles in the hill country around Oakland, CA. My plan is to train through the summer and, after Labor Day, ride up Hwy 97 from CA into Oregon and then take Hwy 58 across the Cascades to end up in Seaside, where my brother and his wife live.

I've been retired since 2012 and my sedentary lifestyle was draining my physical and mental resources. Having been a cyclist most of my life I found this to be a terrifying experience. If it kept up I'd be elderly at 70 and geriatric at 75, if I lived that long.

So it seemed to me I had no choice but to get back on the bike, despite my "advanced" age. I'm happy to say the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. My weight and blood pressure are down, I practically spring out of a chair, I can hold my own with the medium-speed bunch in my club with no problem, and the low-grade depression that set in after retirement has taken a vacation.

Not a whole lot of years may lie before me but nevertheless I once again feel I have a future. Much of it will be devoted to eating healthy, spending quality time with my family, and riding as if my life depended on it. Because it does. I know that now.