So far the only "Are you nuts?!?" comments I hear, mostly from non-cyclists, are directed at my preference for riding public streets rather than the MUP. Some folks only ride or walk the public park and paths. And some folks find it odd to even want to ride longer than 30 minutes. But despite getting clobbered by a car last month, most of my minor crashes and near misses occurred on the MUP, not on public streets. By far the most common hazards are on narrow, crowded MUPs. I try to avoid MUPs unless it's the only or shortest route between the public streets I prefer.

A metric century or thereabouts a week seems about right to me. After whipping myself back into shape over a couple of years an average workout ride was 20-30 miles. After that, a once a week 50-60something miler felt right, as long as I rode within my limits (while working to push my limits and improve).

Beyond that I had difficulties, mostly with neck pain from an old injury. I could ride reasonably fast for around 20-30 miles, but faded quickly and couldn't hang with a local club's fast group rides over 50 miles. Or I could ride my own slightly slower pace and finish 50-60 miles.

That didn't come easily though. My first year back in the saddle, 2015, after 30+ years away was tough. Took a year to be able to ride a metric century and even that required several rest stops. Took a lot of work to overcome asthma and a constricted airway to improve my aerobic fitness.

I don't recall anyone saying anything about my weight. At 5'11" and 160 lbs I look okay for a 60 year old, reasonably fit with just a bit of fluff around the midsection. If I get down to 150, closer to my optimal weight, I'll probably hear some comments but that's just because folks are accustomed to seeing so many young people with a layer of 5-10 lbs of fat that they look askance at anyone who's normally lean, as people were decades ago before constant snacking became the new normal. I noticed on some recent walks around my neighborhood I see quite a few kids and young teens who look like kids did generations ago, so either they're more active or don't snack constantly.