Greetings form Philadelphia,
I just started getting into biking and wondered what took me so long (I'm 53). I just bought a new bike from a local bike shop. I bought a comfort bike at first, to ride on trails and roads, but after realizing that I wasn't going to do much single track and I liked taking longer rides (which were kicking my butt), I took the bike back to the shop and they let me trade it for a hybrid. They changed the handle bars and put bar ends on them so I could change hand positions (a little carpel tunnel from work) and put a pair of tires on with a little more tread. The guy was very easy and patient to deal with. I look forward to many miles of adventure and have already learned a lot from this thread. I'm glad I found it.
Pease,
RET