I'm a much better and stronger rider now at 70 than I was at 35 primarily because now that I've been retired for 5 years I have been able to ride many times each week, not just week-ends or before or after work. Joining an active bicycle club with many, many posted rides of various speeds, disciplines, and distances has also made a huge difference in knowledge and appreciation of all things bicycle related.

I'm also a 67 year old biker in Michigan and have been riding for a year and a half. This year I went with the old style toe clips from Amazon. They keep my feet where they should be and I've had no falls because of the clips. I was down once this year but that was because of loose gravel on a turn. Anyways, I like this style of clip and will probably stick with them for a while.

Hi. Love riding in South Florida. Yesterday rode my age (68) for second time this year. New shoes, pedals and helmet lowered weight by a ton or slightly less. Averaged 16 MPH which is fast for me thanks to lower winds than normal.

just drank two water bottles with electrolytes until came home. Long ride but what a great feeling of accomplishment. How lucky are we?

Ed

Way to go
 

we are very lucky to be active at this age, will be 70 very soon. Will meet two friend this morning and try and get a ride in before the rain moves in for 5-6 days. A little hard to ride in east Tenn. this time of year.

Indeed

I have to say that living in the Michigan area, I'm envious of your location. Our bike rides here have just about over because of the cold weather and the wicked wind. When it gets below the freezing mark, it takes a lot of the pleasure out of riding. However for the month of March, we'll be in the Keys around Marathon and then a couple of weeks northwest of Orlando in Inverness. Great bike trail there and love the town and we'll be packing our bikes along. By the end of February, we're ready to thaw out in your state.

Also from Michigan, and I'm definitely not a cold-weather biker and put mine away over a month ago. I find my tolerance to cold getting worse as I age, but even back in my younger days when I rode motorcycles, I enjoyed having heated grips and a heated vest! I do run outside all winter -- snow and ice conditions permitting -- but that doesn't require as much bundling up as you would suppose since you heat up very quickly once you get going.

We are going to get an early break, though, as we are flying to Key West tomorrow for a week of warmth. I'm taking my running clothes of course, but our only biking will be on rental cruisers (probably all that's necessary there!). And the day we come back it could well be 80 when we get on the plane and 20 when we get off in Flint!

Looks like Doug picked the right place for a vacation. The weather there today is supposed to be in the low 80's with no rain in the forecast. You can't beat that. My theory has always been if you're looking for warm weather somewhere in the lower 48 states, the Florida Keys is most likely the place to be. On top of all that if you can get out of Key West in a car or on a bike, they have some beautiful scenery as you head north on Hwy 1. Its about a hundred miles of small islands, bridges and teal blue ocean. Very pretty and some of it is very conducive to bike riding. The only drawback can be the wind on some days if you have it in your face. Its a great day to be getting out of Michigan as we had some snow move in last night. Lucky Doug!

Well, we here on the MN "Tundra" are pretty much done with bike riding for the winter too unless we are totally nutty. Last week we got a nice 1" underlayment of ice and then about 3 inches of snow on top of it so its too slippery to walk safely let alone try to balance on two wheels. The wind-chill factor today in the twin-cities is about -20 and the wind truly does cut like a knife. Luckily for me I have a workout room in my house with my Dahon bike on an exercise stand and a treadmill - plus lots of action movies to keep the imagination moving whilst I work to keep from losing my basic biking fitness that I worked so hard to attain last riding season. I turned 71 this year and see more and more of my old pals who thought I was nutty for working out and riding bikes or running - when I see them nowadays they are walking with canes or riding in electric scooters because they are weighing about double what they should. Biking doesn't cost us I firmly believe it keeps our worlds large and engaging. Merry Christmas to all you fellow "Geezer" bike riders. 8-)

Welcome to South Florida folks. Temps about 80 during the day with no humidity. Winds 10 to 15 or so.

lived in northeast all my life and family has 1898 cottage in Grand Haven, MI so familiar with winters. Love living here now and biking big plus. Two of us are planning a century Saturday, winds and bodies willing. My first attempt after doing 70 recently. Will post if somehow manage to make it.

Same here. It was ~70F when I left the house at 9AM for my ride. Lots of sun and wind from the south. No complaints from me. :)

I need a dose of HTFU. The last 3-4 days have been mid-20's at night (actually, at 0600) and I just too much of a wimp to ride at 0800 when it's sub-40. High temps have approached 50, but that's after lunch when I tend to get involved in other work. I should tear up my senior citizen man card. However, I'm treating this as am important element of my training, restoring my muscle tissue and building up fat reserves for the next cold wave.

May post more in 50+ place, but did want to say today did 101 miles! After TKR, and 2 years and 2 months of road biking and after losing 45 pounds in 5 years (and 80 pounds in 10 years). Two of us did although didn't draft and we had high winds of 10 to 15 mph, against us the whole way home. Who da thunk?

If I can do it at 68+ many others can join the club. Right now feeling very tired but also elated.

Ed

we are a resilient species

congrats......

Merry Christmas and happy Holiday to all
 

I totally agree about biking and exerise keeping young at heart. I will be 70 in February and hope to ride around 5000 to 6000 miles next year. Hoe you have a Merry Christmas and a great biking year.

I am not built well enough to go more than about 1700 miles a year - at least with our riding season here in MN but during the riding season I ride around 15 to 20 miles a day for 5 days a week and I enjoy every mile but in reality - knowing my body the way I do - that's about the limit of my endurance. I ran for 6 years - 4 days a week year around and never was able to get my body to have the endurance of most of my running pals. We are all built different with different capacities and I say to go with what your body will allow and you get great health benefits out of it. At 71 years of age I do not take any medications except an anti-histamine and I credit that to my keeping active and trying to eat right. Plus I have had the good luck of getting some good gene's too. Do what you can but do something - like that Nike commercial saying: JUST DO IT. Have a great Holiday Season fellow riders and Best Wishes!

Welcome - and you are right - just keep on going. But, one question -

"Hey, I AM peddling! "

OK, what are you peddling? :)

Welcome. :thumb:
I think the problem with your endurance may be the bikes you ride. I'll be 69 in a few days and ride with folks in their mid-70s and some of them can whip me on the bike. We all ride road bikes. Maybe you should consider getting one. You don't have to get a $3000+ carbon fiber bike. An entry level aluminum or steel bike will suffice, and you can find them in the $700+ price range.

Nope -due to a neck injury i have to ride a comfort type bike so i'm sitting up pretty straight. 12 mph is my average speed and to really make miles you gotta go faster than that. My faithful Raleigh Passage 4.0 and i get along fine.

I am 71 and had been suffering bad neck and shoulder pain on rides over 35 mi on my specialized s works Tarmac in the last 6 months. I even used a short 35 deg. stem with lots of spacers. I thought I would get an S Works Roubaix but tried Cannondale's new Hi Mod Synapse, Felt's Z2 and the Roubaix. The last bike I tried was a Trek Domane. I was amazed at the bump and rough asphalt damping on the Trek and ended up with a 6 series with DA 9000. So far I have ridden up to 50 mile rides on the bike with about 3500 feet of climbing. The neck and shoulder problems have almost gone. I was able to get a 22 cm head tube so am higher but of course slower into the wind. I guess we try to ride race frames as long as possible. The Domane doesn't have the snap of the Tarmac but still climbs well and is stiff out of the saddle on sprinters hills.

No birthday ride for me today, but my wife did take me out for a pedicure (not my first time :twitchy:). Very relaxing. :)
When we got home my new paddle was waiting. Didn't order it for a bday present. Just something I need for my new activity -- dragon boat racing. And my new Tifosi cycling sunglasses came in the mail. :) I'll wear them tomorrow when I go out with the Withlacoochee Trail Riders.

i plan on doing this trail this winter, will be comming from Knoxville, and would like to find a motel in the middle of the trail. Any suggestions? thanks

$210 a mile...

and worth every penny!

And much more Fun than sitting in a Dr's office.

Just read the last 11 pages of this thread after being directed to it from a post I just made in the 50+ thread. Wonderful place this is!! Great reading all the cool posts from fellow, um, mature riders. I'm 66 and back riding for 8 months after a looong hiatus. It's been great being back on my Merlin Extralight that I built in the early 90's. I'm very pleased to be close to my riding level of 20 years ago. I'm thrilled to be back into it in a serious way and bought myself a new high end bike.....a Giant Propel Advanced 2. I'm not riding at a level yet to fully realize the benefits of this aero bike, but I fell in love and said "What the hell, it can't hurt to have aero". I'll be visiting regularly and look forward to reading more interesting tales.

You don't consider the Merlin to be a high end bike? When I bought my Litespeed in 2001 I couldn't afford the price jump to a Merlin.

Turned 81 this month.
Got in just over 5,000 miles so far (12-22-13) this year.
Still riding tandem with my wife (she's *only* 78) and still ride my single couple times a week.
Life is good!

fantastic, I envy your weather

Trek Domane
 

Liked your comment on the Domane. I got one about a year ago and fitted it with a BionX kit. What a fabulous combination. I know the purists look down on us old guys using some assist, but at 71 with some health issues, the motor lets me get 30+ miles from time to time without putting me out for a week. The Domane is a great bike and the BionX makes it even better.