Wondering how many of you have tried the "Strava" upgrade. I am 71 and embarrassed after comparing my times on routes with others over 65. The only thing I seem to be good at is descending. Hopefully I can find ways to up my fitness that I am not using? My current tools are weight work-outs once per week with 1 hr. spin class, 150 mi per week minimum with around 8000 feet total climbing, at least one peloton ride for speed. At this rate I may never return to the TT. Getting old should be better! But I do enjoy seeing the scenery I never saw before about age 66, just saw back wheels.

69 here. I tried Strava. Too complicated and some info I'm interested in, some I'm not. So I use the CycleMeter app on my iPhone. :thumb:

Ha, when I grow up, I wanna be just like you!! :thumb: :thumb:

You know, we might need a thread of 70 and older.. That would give us some distance from the YOUNGER CROWD!!! ;)

If I read correctly, a "happy belated birthday" is in order here!! :beer:

BTW, you are still a youngster to us elders... ;)

Ya da man!! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Super man with wife!! :beer:

Unfortunately, my 954 Honda sits in the garage due to neck issues. I may have to turn it in for a "BMW gentleman's bike"....instead of the "Desmo" I wanted.

You two bless all our socks off, have a great birthday month and Merry Christmas
R&J

71 (today) here and am going to try the strava this coming season (mainly so I know the feet of climbs vs guessing) I have an edge here as the designer of the website my club has is a geek and has already explained much of what I need to know about using this. I did some respectable times on the road race courses last season and just may try cat 5 (first time competing in 30 years)next season. Here's my view..the older we get the less competition in our age group. "outlast the competition"!

:lol:
When I lived in Atlanta I was usually the oldest rider in a group.
Now that I live in Florida I'm one of the younger riders and many of the 70+ crowd can whip my butt. :rolleyes:

Back when I was racing 50+ I used to tell myself "these guys will die out and then I can win". Guess what! All they did was retire early and really train. Nobody died and I still didn't win crits and road races, they still did..

I've found the same thing with my running. I used to think I'd place higher in my AG (age group) after 60, but what has happened is that all the more casual runners have dropped out and only the real athletes are keeping with it. So now I am sometimes in the bottom half of the field, but if I were 10 years younger with the same time, I'd be in the upper third! Maybe I should just start lying about my age...

Happy Birthday zonatandem. 81 -- WOW!!. :thumb: I hope I live that long. My dad died at 71 and my mother at 80. :(

I should have died a long time ago, since my dad died at 51 from a coronary and my mom at 54 from cancer. I'm 67-1/2 with no serious health issues.

Anyway, this week I'm going to test ride a Cervelo R3 to see if I want to get my first ever full carbon bike after a lifetime of riding only metallic bikes.

Ron, I plan on comming down and do that trail, where would be the best place to stay, sort of in the middle of the trail? 16 degrees in Knoxville, no riding in sight

We're in the middle of snow-bird season so many places are booked. Not sure how many days or weeks you will be here but try searching for weekly rentals in Inverness, Hernando, or Floral City. We stayed in Hernando in Feb-March 2012. We liked the area so much we moved here.
We rented a place on Lake Tsala Apopka in Hernando. It was 1.5 miles to the bike trail. I rode past a few pastures and the local post office to get to the trail.
Here are a few houses in the area where we stayed. Nice places.
http://www.lakesidevacationsvillas.net/

This places looks like one of the houses that was close to where we stayed.
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-ren...paign=10781999

Good luck and let us know when you'll be here. We can set up a BF ride with other members in the area.

FYI: It was cold today thanks to the cold weather up north. The high was ~48F and windy. Tomorrow will be nicer. Supposed to be ~70F with light winds so I'll be riding. :)

Thanks Ron for the info, looks like we will be down in early February. I will let you know. Many thanks, tom

Use your sunscreen! I have been a little sloppy in my use of sunscreen over the years (40 years of SoCal and Sierra sun) and today paid the price. I was lucky but developed a surface Melanoma on my forearm. They took out a giant hunk of skin for biopsy. The Doc believes that is the end of it(will know in a week) but flat out told me this was caused by sun exposure and to use a quality SPF 50 sunscreen/ skin lotion from now on anytime I will be exposed to the sun. I am off the bike until Saturday but will heed the Dermatologist/ Surgeon's advice. I am not that fair skinned so looks like it can happen to any of us.

Great advice. I've been using SPF 100 stuff for many years. Currently using this.
http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/398594/220.jpg

Thanks, I am light skinned and have been exposed to a lot of sun my whole life, I need to do better with the sun screen.

I've never used SPF 100. does it stop even a tan?

Hasn't stopped my tan -- which is quickly fading because of too many cold or rainy days. :cry:

Today is my 65th birthday so I am now a member of this distinguished group.
I have been off the bike since the end of August. I was coming home from a ride and my left knee just popped. I had a left TKR in November and I am recovering so no way I can do the birthday ride.

I had set a goal of reaching 50,000 miles before my 65th birthday, but only made it to 49,000 when my knee gave out. Bummer. Oh well, it won't be too much longer before I'm on the road again.

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday and welcome to Medicare!

Thanks! I received allot of Welcome to Medicare! :)

Today I took delivery of my first ever bicycle with a full carbon fiber frameset. I had it custom built at my LBS where I bought my last road bike 10 years ago, which was fast and lightweight but very harsh riding due to its oversized aluminum main tubes. Now that I'm fully recovered from my double hernia surgery 2-1/2 years ago, I've been wanting to go on some longer fast rides on some rough country roads, but still ride a responsive and lightweight road bike. This bike is a bit lighter, mostly to its lighter wheels, but the ride is considerably smoother without being a wet noodle. It's also my first 11-speed, which gives me a better selection of gears. I've stayed with mechanical shifting, so maybe 10 years from now I'll try electric shifting.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=361382http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=361383http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=361384

Wow!! Nice looking bike. Congrats. :thumb:

Thanks. Just got back from a 20 mile shakedown ride today before another arctic vortex hits us tomorrow. I'm happy to report that the bike rides great and is both comfy and fast. I really like the new Fizik Aliante Versus saddle with its deep and wide man groove. No numb crotch or soreness. :) I had previously test ridden a Cervelo R3 that I liked, but the shop was unable to customize it to my choice of 165mm cranks due to its proprietary very wide press-fit BB shell, so instead they built up a Matrix Rafale Pyro frameset exactly to my desires for about $500 more than the R3. The Zipp 101 wheels are a definite upgrade from the Fulcrum 5.5 wheels on the R3. I went with Ultegra 11-speed for the drivetrain, which works very nicely, although you have to trim the front derailleur on both the big and small chainring to keep the chain from rubbing as you move back and forth on the cassette. I can't believe that someone hasn't come up with a better front derailleur design after all these years.

I have Ultegra on both my bikes (Litespeed is a 9 speed and Felt is a 10 speed) and have never had problems. Must be on the 11 speed only.

I have been riding carbon bikes since the late 80's and I love them, light and stiff. What make for frame is that?