Southwestern New Hampshire:

It is a miserable spring as usual. I have been riding outside since March and I have new shoes, jackets, shirts, bib shorts, lights, gloves, goggles etc. I have been riding my number two bike mostly because it is not just cold, it is wet and windy. These are the dues I pay. I have been riding in my old shoes, but I have put a slit in one new shoe to accommodate the outside of my left foot and a cutaway in the insert for the ball of my foot. I got some nice jackets and jerseys off the clearance rack of the bike store. I saw them last year when they were new and twice the price I just paid for them. It is nice to be small and nice to be big. I am small.

It looks like it is going to rain for a week, but I just rode twelve days in a row and if I have to I will ride my indoor bike. I am currently doing just 30 miles but in a few weeks that will be 50. I do it every year. I am 78.

My saying back when I was young, say 60-70, was that there are only two kinds of riders in the PNW and I guess also in the New England spring: the wet and the weak.

So yeah, normal... And if you're payin attention, then you're using the 'Old' Stuff when it's not so nice... And savin the New stuff for those times/rides when conditions are more agreeable, sortta like 'Rock Skis', using plain bait when you're fishun around real heavy snags (which is usually where the best fishun is...) , or using a older, already played out golf ball for holes where you're fairly certain to have the ball go wanderin in the woods, or goin for a swim...
as for 'old', equipment, kit and bikes are like us - already quite heavily 'loved' in prior times, but not completely worn out or ready for 'recycling'.
... as for whining about where anyone lives... consider your circumstance and environment and remember... there are 26 million living in great 'Hell-A', however many in Mexico City... and so many other places where life might be more difficult....
I'm not immune... I whine and cry about the crappy roads we have here in Santa Barbara County.... Oh Woe Is Me.... LOL!
I'm a very 'Hard' chocolate Easter Bunny...
Ride On
Yuri

No place is perfect. I am spoiled by the formally rural nature of my rides. Now these large mega structures are going up to turn my rides into a mall highway as a suburb of the city I avoid. Who are these idiots in deisel pickup trucks that keep rolling coal on me? I guess it's a joke. The other day the coal smoke wafted onto a porch where a family with children was sitting. They probably blamed me for it.

My Spring in northeast CT is being trashed by weather and an impending inguinal hernia surgery on May 19th. If recovery goes well I will be out on my Triumph and later my Canyon. But, neither will happen before June. That sucks.

Seventy-eight?! I used to think that's old.

Conditions here in central Connecticut haven't been much better. Only two or three pleasant bike weather days this year. Rained yesterday and today. I am under a lot of pressure--I have 74 birthday-miles to do in three weeks, and the longest training ride I've had so far is 40 miles. The birthday rides seem to get harder every year. Still, when I grow up I want to be just like you, and do 78 miles.

Instead, do it in metric. It seems cruel to think that the older we get, the more birthday miles we need to bag. It should be the converse. A 20 year old can easily do 20 miles on their birthday, but for a 70 or 80 year old, it can be a real effort. Maybe at 60 we need to switch to Km.

Well I already have some repeat experience doing the hundred miles I plan for my hundreth birthday.

I'm a relatively younger 56 and find posts like these inspiring. Thanks for sharing and giving me hope that I've got at least another 20 years of riding ahead of me.

Today there was supposed to be no rain and like a babe in the woods I took that to heart. I even took out my number one bike, new shoes, the whole kit. It started out sunny and the 30-mile ride was going well. Then I saw some dark clouds. Where did those come from? The temperature dropped at about the 20-mile mark and some wind came up. I'm 78 and have been around the block a few times even though I forgot that when I went out. The 10-mile route to get home was right into the cloulds naturally and I hiked my cadence. Then the drip-drops started. I wore a long sleeved shirt under my cycle jersey and I congratulated myself for doing so. The drip-drops turned into steady rain and it was suddenly cold. I rode faster which made it colder. My average speed was 2 mph faster than what I normally ride this early. Now I have to clean my bike. I took a nap. Tomorrow is another day.

76 yo in Central Vt, here. I mostly gravel ride and this area is great for that. Got a couple hundred miles in in late March/April, but we’re now going through an endless stretch of rainy days, which makes the back roads glue-like for riding. But hope springs eternal: Sunday is supposed to be sunny and I’m looking to ride a 50 mile/4000’ route in a gravel grinder in the Burlington area. If the roads are still too wet, I’ll opt for the 20 mile route. Like life, summer is short.

The wet and the weak is good. I called them riders and posers.

Having done most of my early decades riding 'Back East', 'wet' was one side of the coin, and when you flip it enough, it's always 50/50...
If you rode often, it seemed to be 50/50... remembering those 'summers' when wet seemed to be 90% ...
'Rider's & 'Posers'... at a younger age I too was overly critical...
Cycling was 'Competition" and "Training', both of which could easily be suffixed by 'Suffering'...
But I've always Loved riding the bike...
WIth the maturation process, I've becoming more understanding... Riding the Bike, however one does it, is a good thing ! A Great Thing !
Not competing? OK, Love the Bike as a piece of art or just beautiful machinery - Nice !
Ride a Bike - Great ! However... 'Poseur' a word I never use anymore... not using has allowed me to make more friends on bikes... A Great Thing
Ride On
Yuri

I may be able to get a ride in late today. I cleaned both bikes yesterday while the steady rain fell. I'll go to the gym in a few and get some upper body work in. I am 78 and trust modern medicine about as far as I can run in quicksand. My lifestyle choices can be traced to 1973. Next week I go to 40 miles for two weeks then 50. I do it every year. I am starting to drop some weight-140. I hope to be at 125 by June-5'5. That is optimal weight for me. In 1973 I was 5' 6 1/2. I was a runner for years.

I'm handling the rain and the cold well. The weather is improving and this week I am going to start using the big ring on my bikes. I used it once a few days ago when a younger rider came by me and I got on his wheel for few miles. My average speeds are going up steadily and I feel good. Upper body work in the gym is so b-o-r-i-n-g but I know I have to keep it up. I'll be going from 30 to 40 miles now and then 50 by June. My weight will drop, it always does. I can handle most hills with ease and I recall that from my youth. I could beat just about everyone to the top but the bigger riders drop like a stone while I float like a feather on the way down. They would always catch me on the descent.

I won’t ride in the rain on purpose.

I can relate to that since at 70, I avoid purposefully riding in the rain, and ride my trainer indoors when the weather is wet or below 40. BTW, yesterday’s average ride watts was 209 normalized with 1,200’ climbing. The weak shall inherit the earth

My macho days were in my 30s and 40s. But now with trainers, ain’t nobody got time for that.

Well, that was a short summer, one 80 degree day. Now back to the wool shirt, jacket, full gloves, leggings, and shoe covers. The misery of cycling in New England makes you tough I guess. Today it will be in the 50's and windy. By the end of the week it will be in the 40's. At least there is no rain in the forecast. I can do this, I always have. I see no other bikes and no groups of bikes. I press on alone because cycling is a lonely sport but worth it.

Well, it's finally June 1st. It is 53 degrees. Now I can put on my jacket, warm leggings, full gloves, insulated overboots, and sweatband pulled over my ears to keep the fridgid air off. But no snow on the ground even though there is the constant threat of cold rain. Getting ready for a 40-mile summer ride. stay tuned.

Living here theres no good reason to ride in the rain or the cold for that matter.