Welcome Tom. I will be 73 next month. I would invite you to join us in exercises and other activities in addition to bicycling. These are also important as you grow older.

Please see this thread:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post14864681

I just did 73 consecutive pushups to celebrate my upcoming 73rd birthday. I also swim, stretch a lot, do a lot of resistance exercises. I am currently at 195 lbs on the Bench Press

Actually, 100K sounds doable. I've ridden 40 miles in a day without too much trouble. BTW, I used to work in Hollister for McCormick Selph when they were at the Hollister Airport, then when they moved to San Juan Bautista. That was almost 40 years ago.

Welcome Tom.
I spend 90% of my time riding on the brake hoods or on the top of the bar. Lots of hand positions to prevent numbness or tired hands. :) I only get in the drops to ride hard--er :rolleyes: and to get down out of the wind.
Have fun on the Giant. :thumb:

Thanks, Ron. I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with it and logging in some longer rides.

John Ratliff, John Berry, and others who welcomed me to the board, I appreciate the comments.

Angkor Wat is a great place to bicycle. Angkor Archeological Park is spread out over a huge, flat area, plus there are other archeological sites farther afield that can be easily reached by bicycle, now that our roads are improved. There is a fairly challenging hill (Phnom Krom) 15-km to the south of Siem Reap, with a great view of Cambodia's great lake and Angkor plain. And more challenging mountain ride to the Kulen Mountains, but about 120-km round trip. There are only a few road bikes for rent, but reasonably suitable and maintained Giant MTBs are readily available for about $6 per day.

Phnom Penh is not a suitable biking area, however, but Bokor Mountain on the seacoast at Kep is a great mountain biking area at approximately 40 uphill kilometres.

...and I forgot - gettin' old - that there is the Annual Angkor Wat International 100-K Bike Race and Half Marathon every year in early December, peak tourist season. At that time the humidity is low, there is no rain, and evenings and mornings are nice and cool...

Penh:

Now you've gone and done it - Cambodia, especially Angkor, has gone on the bucket list! Can you do BOTH the 110-km Bike race and the Half marathon, or only one at a time?:-)

Seriously, thanks for such an informative and encouraging note!

John

Serious request: on Saturday (tomorrow, Oct.27th) the MammaJamma bicycle ride will be held in the Texas Hill Country (http://www.mammajammaride.org/site/T...1080&pg=center). I will be riding in this, attempting to do 70 or 100 miles with almost no training (thank goodness it will be a cool day!!). If any members of this thread live in the Texas Hill Country and have friends or relatives affected by breast cancer, might I encourage you to visit the website and donate to the cause (http://www.mammajammaride.org). I'd be especially happy if you would donate in my name - you can enter John Berry in the box on the home page to get to my personal page.

Having lost my first wife to a brain tumor after eight years of treatment and operations, I am acutely aware of the need for community support of those who are affected by debilitating and possibly terminal diseases, and the need of their families for support, especially when it is the Mom who is sick. All of the funds raised by the MammaJamma Ride go to nine organisations in the Hill Country that provide support to sufferers and their families: screening, diagnosis, help in dealing with medical providers, help with daily living, child care, etc., etc.

So, if any of you can contribute to the cause, at http://www.mammajammaride.org, I'd be very thankful, especially if you type my name (John Berry) in the box on the home page and donate in my name.

I apologize for using the thread for fundraising, but this year has been more difficult than previous ones. I won't do it again.

John

John, this year the Angkor Wat 100K Bike Race is on Sat 01 Dec, and the Half Marathon is on Sun 02 Dec. You can get more information and register on http://www.villagefocus.org/bike/ . Many people use mountain bikes because the roads are not the best, and it's easy to rent a MTB. However, the serious racers bring roadies. The route is 5-times around the 'Grand Tour' of Angkor Wat (although the website says 4-times) for a total of 104K. I believe I am the third in the website picture for the 100K, on the red MTB. This year I'll be using my Cannondale R1000, customised with flat handlebars and Suntour Swing Sh-h-h-h-h-h-hock. Last year there were 650 participants in the 100K.

Penh, this gets more and more attractive, except for the date - Dec. is usually a whirl of activity for us. It would be a similar weekend to the past one, except for the exotic surroundings (the picture you referred to sold me!). I managed a 100 mile ride for Breast Cancer on Saturday, and a 10-mile run to raise money for wells in rural Burundi on Sunday. Yesterday was my 71st birthday. I'm tempted to try for this year because I might be able to meet up with my brother, who is somewhere in Indonesia. He and his wife were on their way from Australia to Singapore in their yacht, but her father got very sick and she had to fly home to be with him. However, it would be a real stretch financially and otherwise to do it this year. But it sounds like a wonderful thing to do, and lots of fun. Thank you!

John

I just finished modifying my Volagi to a triple this past week. Did the first test run, 60 miles/4400', and everything worked great almost (RD needed tweak). Definitely gives me the possibility of going to really low gearing for a tough Century, but for now I'll stick with the 30t small chain ring and 12-30 cassette.We're very fortunate in my part of California to be able to ride basically all year in good weather with a minimal number of rain days most years. Post retirement (end of '13?) I'll be able to put in more miles, but for now I'm around 100 miles/week including both tandem and single. Wife and I will continue to do 100K on the tandem as long as we're able.

Hope all you on the East Coast are doing well. I haven't lived back there since finishing school in 1967, but I remember the big hurricane of 1959(?) when I lived in NJ, just off Hwy 4. Of course we lived inland, but the damage was significant, primarily rain/wind induced.

Well, I took aa bit of a plunge today. I bought a bike to fix up. In truth, there's going to be very little 'fixing' involved. The most glaring need I see is new tires, and I'll take care of that tomorrow. Beyond that, it only needs a good detailing. Everything is there. The only complaint about the bike is the fact that in 1986, someone at Fuji decided they would take the nice silver paint from the previous year, add a little pink tint to it and add a bunch of pink accents with white bar tape, brake hoods, etc. The brake cable housing is pink as are the leather straps on the pedals. The seat is a very pale mauve suede. It almost looks like it was designed by an interior designer who specialized in baby nurseries. I don't like that part of it, but I fully intend to keep it authentic as much as possible, so pink it is.

It's a 1986 Fuji Opus III, and it's a little beauty. It won't be my main ride; I have the CF Giant Defy for that. But for those days when I'm feeling a little nostalgic, and when I want a steel bike to ride, I'll have my Fuji ready and waiting.

As I stated, the bike is complete, and appears to be totally original. It has Suntour Superbe Pro components, and they all look to be in fine shape. I won't be able to get pictures till Thursday at the earliest, but I want to fully document its 'as is' condition before I do anything to it. I will share them when I get them.

Pink is the color used to signify fighting the war on cancer. Ride pink and be proud. Find a cancer ride and use this bike!!

Actually, that's a great thought, and I hadn't considered that possibility. In truth, the pink is very subtle. I'll survive. :)

I am 69 tomorrow. Planning on a long ride. I recently modified my Cannondale CAAD5 to a triple and may use it on a leg of the ride.

And I made 73 yesterday.

Are we twins?

As my dad died at 61 - a brain tumor, he was always "fit" - I am always surprised when I have a birthday.

Congrats on 69.

Congratulations to the both of you. I'm not sure if it means anything or not, but Dad died a couple months after his 98th birthday. He was eating a sandwich, closed his eyes, and that was it. Mom lived to be 95, but had a slower departure due to kidney failure. The point is, if genetics have anything to do with it, I have a few years of bike-riding ahead of me. I'm looking forward to it.

Nice.

Well, I'm now a member of this elite group. Since I'm on a business trip in China, I was able to celebrate my birthday a day sooner than if I were in the States.

Welcome, I'll be 71 next month

And I'll be 72!

Your an OLD MAN

I just turned 73 - does that make me a DIRTY OLD MAN?

You Hope.

Life IS Wonderful, Enjoy EveryDay

:pGee, I'm only 70 plus a couple months. I feel young among you old goats.:p