I moved to a wee house with no stairs .

That's what my wife keeps telling me. She rants on about reading that 30-60 minutes of exercise 3 times a week is sufficient. Maybe for her. :rolleyes:

Wow, I missed this thread the last time I was here but I guess I was not 65 back then since I just turned 67 earlier this month. All of my bikes are getting wore out so I just ordered a 29er hardtail from BikesDirect since the roads I ride on suck for road bikes. My old bike is a Surley Pugsley with custom offset SnoCat 29er wheels with 2.35 Big Apple 29er tires. I may put the new 2.00 Big Apple Plus on the new bike since it comes with 2.25x29 knobby tires.

Welcome back, Joe1946. BTW, this was your 300th post!

I have not yet tried a 29er - still stuck on my 26er mtn bike!

rdlange,
About your competitive attitude, or lack of. I used to have the competitive attitude but got over it when I discovered that I didn't have the engine to push the bike at higher speeds. I can do 100 miles in a day, but not in the time allotted during a tour. It takes me a lot longer and I have to have running lights since I always come in after dark, even when starting at dawn. So, I altered my attitude and now ride for fun, fun including challenging myself to do long distances. It's part of staying healthy. I do League of American Bicyclists bike tours, but keep my distance shorter than the "road studs" distance. The main reason I do the tours is that they offer SAG vehicle support if you break down, and road bikes are easy to break. I don't ride a road bike for general riding any more, especially if I'm going to do a longer ride of 50 miles or more, alone. That's because I hate having to change inner tubes constantly which is what you end up doing with a road bike. Hybrids are my choice for distance riding, despite the ridicule I get from the roadies. I have 32c tires mounted on my hybrid, and the only time I have had to change an inner tube was when I changed the tires themselves when they are worn out or for winter riding. Riding should be a pleasant occupation, not a challenge to see if you are a bike wrench or not.
Don't be concerned about what kind of cyclists you have in your neighborhood or whether it's bike friendly. Most of us live in areas where there are very few roadies who ride all the time. Mostly it's kids and casual riders who don't ever do more than a couple of miles and think they did something fantastic.
Yup, post your pictures.

Reply: That 30 to 60 minutes of exercise 3 times a week can't be right! There is no way. I tried that and it does absolutely nothing for me except waste my time. I didn't have any muscle build, calorie burns that were worth noting, nor any real challenging (to the cardiovascular system) aerobic workouts. This is like the food pyramid the government put out: it is worthless and will probably in the long run make you less healthy, not more healthy. I mean, geez, it takes me 15 miles cycling to even begin to get warmed up and have the power and speed kick in. Personally, I think the minimum should be 60 minutes per day, 6 days a week. Hey, is anyone listening to anything the government tells you any more? Do what you know works for you.

She says this stuff comes from Dr. Oz, Dr. Weil, Livestrong.com, and several other "health and wellness" websites.
I just let her say her piece. Then I go out for my 30+ mile or 3+ hour rides. :)

Thanks, btw my first 29er was my Surly Pugsley that came with 26x4.00 tires and I had the custom 29er offset wheels made a few weeks later along with a 26x3.00 setup.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=340923

that 30-60 X 3 is just an introductory offer

:lol:
I guess I used up my coupons for the intro offer so I now have to ride longer and harder. ;)

A wee house? I hope its big enough so you can keep the bikes inside. ;)

Some .. do occasional work at LBS, have some of them in their Basement..

helps that my last buys were small wheel.. Bike Friday, and Brompton M3L folders..

they go in the entry/mud room.




basement, is just a few inches short of my standing Upright..

The old drop bar bikes can go down there, there.. assume, early,
the hunkered over posture to ride them ..

Ron, I haven't been on the forum in some time and I see that you have relocated. How do you like the new location?

Hi Jim. Good to hear from you.

We've been renting in *****assa since Nov 15, 2012. Today we closed on the house we had built so we'll be moving next week. The mailing address is Lecanto.

I've been riding on the Suncoast Trail and Withlacoochee Trail approx 3 days a week since last fall and loving it. Did a few rides with Sue and friends. We missed you at the BIG ride last February that Sue organized. Several BF regulars joined us.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=342564


Will you be at the Rails to Trails ride on Oct 6?

Ron, I goofed up and signed up for the CF ride here in Orlando the same day as The Rails to Trails ride. This will be the first one that I have mussed in a long time. Let me know the next time you all do an organized ride and I will try to make the trip. I love riding in that area.

For maintaining minimal heart health, your wife's numbers may be adequate to lift you up above "sedentary". But, cycling always demands ever more.... or at least our vanity does. Last month I hiked the Upper Yosemite Falls trail on a hot day. It can be a quad and cardiovascular butt kicker especially for us grayheads. I doubt your wife's numbers would have gotten me to the top. But, to stay out of the hospital cardio ward a 60x3, diet, and some luck should work. Trouble is, hanging with fit 50Plussers requires more.... and cycling is never about "minimums"-- it's about Maximums whether that's 8mph on a huge trike on much faster on a full race machine.

Been riding 20 years-two 10 year periods with 8 years off between. Started riding fixed gear six months ago and did 107 miles today at the Piney Woods Purgatory in Lufkin, Tx. Amazed the "kids"-40 year olds-that the old man could do the ride on fg :-) Got to get the small victories where I can!

Reply:
Yup, cycling always demands more, and I got more yesterday. I rode the Blue Water Ramble for the first time. That was only a 41.1 mile ride, but I was astonished by my results. It was raining the whole time and that should affect you, but it didn't. I had rain gear. The temperature was perfect. I've been doing core work and upper body strength training and the results showed yesterday. I had given up on being a rider who could crank 15 miles per hour mile after mile, but with the training, I was cranking 13, 14, and 15 miles per hour for the last 20 miles. Even on mild hills, I never dropped below 12 mph. To me, that was an astonishing and unexpected development!

Very impressive Sandy! Keep up the good work!...i've also given up on the 15+ mph average...i only go half the distance you went on most of my rides...last ride, 14.0 mph average for 20.3 miles on my Trek FX 7.4...i'm semi-happy with that...

PS - Ya gotta wonder about all those 60 - 80 year olds on here that claim to be averaging 18 to 21 mph on long rides...what kind of "illegal to the NFL" supplements are they on?...and how accurate are those bicycle computers that they're using? (mine is "spot on" with my car's odometer...)

I'm pretty content cranking along at 12 mph - us regular riders musn't let the "High Speed" bikers make us feel inferior. Riding is riding - the main thing is that we are out there on a bike enjoying our good health. IMHO - I'm just sayin'. 8-)

The 3x30 minutes per week is a pure minimum; but I've been finding that my knee doesn't like extremely long rides. And today I am recovering from a cold, and decided it was time to take a day off. Between the knee and my cold, it will be later this week before I get going again.

John

Reply,
RCPlains, I have wondered about those 60-80 year olds who claim to average 18 to 21 mph on long rides. I've always wanted to ask them "what they're on" as I wonder if the human-powered engine really operates at the level. But, I doubt they would tell me their secret to speed and endurance.
I take real good care of myself, but I don't forsee ever achieving that level of riding even after discovering that core work and upper body strength training gave me some great speed and distance results. I'm still just a clunk-along rider who just wants to enjoy the ride, the scenery, the sunshine (or whatever nature shares that day). But, I would like to finally achieve a mile century. Just because. I can do the metric century almost any time (but not fast).

I went to the new bike shop in town yesterday and was invited on a group ride by the p/t mechanic. He'll be 70 next month.
I told him I'd try to make it but after I got home I asked myself again -- not the first time -- why so many retired folks feel the need to get up early to do a ride? Retired folks usually aren't on a schedule. Plus I would have to get up before 6AM and be at the trailhead around 7:15. So I decided to pass on the group ride. I slept in until 7:50 and I'll be leaving shortly for my own group or no group ride. :)

I wish I could sleep that late once in a while. My internal clock always wakes me before 6AM and I usually like doing early activity. So after running with a group of friends at 8AM, the big question is what to do with the rest of the day when the best part is over by 9:30? At least bike rides last a lot longer so I can spend most of the morning at it.

Early riser here. The best time of the day is in the early morning.

Age 80, ride normally 6 days a week and get in 100+ miles a week year round.

My loss of grip strength gets annoying at times.

Ditto. Takes me minimum of 1.5 hours to get out of the house: breakfast, feed horses, clean stalls, feed/walk dog, ride bicycle. I'll get up a 0530 after I retire so I can ride at 0730 latest.

What I don't understand are clubs that start weekend rides at 0930 or 1000. Anything over 40 miles takes the better part of the day. Even after retirement life's too short to burn a whole day riding a bicycle.

I haven't posted as often as I should, I have troubles getting messages to post. After I log in, write the message, and hit "Post", I get an error message saying "You do not have permission to perform this action. Please refresh the page and login before trying again." Does anyone know why this happens? But I really enjoy reading everybody's posts about their rides and quirky lives. I'm with rdtompki on starting rides early so that there's some day left afterward! Thank goodness I have no horses to clean and feed!
Been having a rough time recently. Collapsed in France while trying to walk the Camino de Santiago in July. Went to Plan B, which was to ride my bike from the Spanish Border to the Normandy Beaches and all around Brittany. Managed that, over the dead bodies of the French doctors. 1200 miles in 25 days, all under canvas.
When I got back home went to the Docs to follow up on the collapse, and ended up in the hands of an Oncologist-Hematologist, and am presently waiting for the results of a bone marrow biopsy. The blood tests I've seen look like multiple myeloma, which is why my kidneys are packing it in.
Last weekend did a 70-mile ride on Saturday to raise funds for breast cancer sufferers, then on Sunday a 10-mile foot race to raise funds for drilling water wells in Africa. Woke up on Monday feverish and passing blood. Not much better on Tuesday, which was my 72nd b'day.
As they say, it's hell growing old, but the alternatives are worse. Grrrrr!

For my birthday I took delivery of my new Bike Friday, which I hope will make biking overseas a lot easier. I'm still working on configuring it to my taste.

JohnB
_____
Bianchi Volpe (Tourer)
Trek 1.2alpha (roadie)
Bike Friday New World Tourist

I like to ride in the sunshine, summer or winter, so thats why I don't want to do early rides. I guess I'm weird.