Only if you feel comfortable with the moniker. I think I earned my gray hairs and am proud to be a geezer.

Better a geezer than a wheezer is what I always say.

Years ago on this site, in another sub forum, I asked if someone could give me the name of a bike shop in California. This so I could buy a bike from that shop for a college student at a nearby school. The first reply came back:

"I would be happy to give the name of a shop but you misspelled the name of the city, so I'm not going to help you."

About a half dozen posters added their own wit to the thread, admonishing me that if I couldn't get the spelling right I didn't deserve an answer. And not one gave me a name, even though many were from that area. My only thought was, these people have way too much time on their hands.


I find the 50+ forum a welcomed relief from some of the other sub forms at this site.

+1

What about a wheezing geezer?

And here I thought we were the only forum picky about spelling...

I like to ride a bike, and I like pie. Plus I'm only a few months shy of being 50 (Nov). This sub forum seemed like a perfect fit to me. I have many of the health problems that older people suffer from, and probably more than many older folks in this forum have. Personally I don't think I could care any less about what bikes the rest of you ride, or how fast you can go, or how many miles you put on a bike in any given time span, or what type of tire and wheels and so on; other than to be gracious, or polite, and give credit where credit is due. If you are out there enjoying yourself, I think it's fantastic...

I guess what I kind of envisioned the 50+ forum is being a gathering place for all bicycle riders/cyclist from all the other sub forums, gathering together in the 50+ forum, with the only thing they have in common is the fact that they are 50 or older, and discussing the issues/problems that come with that distinction. But, of course I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't want it to just become a forum where people just talked about there health problems all the time either.

I had hoped that all the my dogs better than your dog stuff would be left in the other sub forums... Leave us face it; there are fewer and fewer older bicycle riders every day. The plain honest truth is, the older you get the harder it is to ride, and the more likely you are to have health problems arise, both from age and sometimes from the riding itself. I had hoped that this forum would be a good source of information as to how to overcome some of these obstacles, and a good data base on what kind of equipment might work for any given situation. Not just what gets you from point A. back to point A. as fast as you can go... If I want to only know about that, I'll lurk in the road forum.

So... I guess in conclusion I'll say that there are no easy answers for a sub forum this complex, but then again I like to post in about 5 other sub forums also... and at the end of the day... I just like to ride my bike, if this web site fell off the face of the earth, it wouldn't change that fact.

I don't see this as a place where aging folks get together to discuss infirmities.
More like a place for folks who have a frame of reference related to being around since the 1950's-1960's. (or earlier) And probably having spent a lot of time since then on bikes. Or not. This is probably not the place to discuss what a great fixie an old Schwinn Continental makes but is the place to read that my '73 Conti really sucked as a bike but I learned to love cycling while riding it as a twenty-something. (No, I don't miss it)
The topics of discussion here may often be the same as in other forums except here the disussion is informed by everything that we have all experienced and are currently going through.
What gets this older fella down the road as fast as possible is a long wheelbase recumbent, by the way. YMMV

Yep. Another thing I notice is that 50+ doesn't appear to be ruled by a ...uhm..."hall monitor"... who gets his/her knickers in a bunch when topic discussions stray a little bit off target from the OP. Much of the time, the side conversations are just as interesting as the original topic. And the banter's not bad, either.

This.

So I should not post here because I am not infirmed.

I really enjoy hearing about people my age and older who can ride better than me. They give me inspiration to do better. Why should it bother you if we discuss our performance. If your not interested you can ignore.

You can also ignore threads about bicycles, which seems pertinent on a bicycle forum.

I am preparing for the HH 100. I was hoping I could get ideas from somebody my age, rather than a youthful cyclist.

It's really simpler than that.

It's pretty hard to control what other people do. One of the nicest things about being my age is that my kids aren't teenagers anymore. It's simple to control what you do. There's no rule that you have to read every post and, even if there was, guys like me would simply break it. If a thread title says it's going to be a race report, and you don't like to read race reports, don't open it. If a thread title uses the word "colonoscopy" and you don't like to read about colonoscopies, don't open it.

Now here's the interesting part: Why should anybody care what other people choose to read or not read? Live and let live I say.

No confusion. Poor word crafting.

Did Secret Squirrel come up with this, or is there a route slip listing these connections somewhere?....

No, you just need to get your "Flash Gordon Secret Decoder Ring" out of a box of Wheaties! Then it all becomes clear. :D

Jim

Really. That's what I don't understand. Seems like a big to do about nothing.

Ya... I love the post count thing. Some of the best riders I've known in my life never even owned a computer. :D

Yep... that's why you will never have a forum where everyone enjoys all the threads, or heaven forbid agrees on much... because someone always comes in and reads one section of a post, takes it out of context, becomes offended and posts about it again trying to start a fight. I guess you miss-read the part about I'm happy if you're happy with what you do. If that's what you're into then more power to you. Or, the part that I wouldn't want to see 50+ turn into a chronic health complaint forum either... I was just explaining what I thought the 50+ forum seemed to me to be about. The 50+ forum does seem to me to have the largest cross section of different types of bicycle riders of all the forums... The only thing they seem to all have in common is they are over 50 and ride some kind of bike.... Either way good luck with your HH100 thing.

I bet you heard the words "You Rascal" a lot when you were younger.

Only 2,000 more posts to go and people will actually start taking you seriously. :D

To quote ChipCom, "don't I wish"

Depends on if your opinions match those of The PostCounter.

Don't mind me - just upping my count..................

They qualify one as being a real rider as opposed to a figment of cycling imagination. This is, however, only true if you brew your own glue. Only posers use that store bought stuff.

(Does a post stiff move the counter if it is immediately deleted?)

Post count around here is like age and wisdom. The comment was directed at DnvrFox who's done more for this 50+ forum than all others put together. Frankly, it's vulgar behaviour, which seems to be more and more acceptable in western society.

There are others here whose opinions are highly regarded because of their extensive experience and, because they have been around here for a long time, any grouchiness they exhibit is part and parcel of their accepted on-line character. Retro Grouch is one that comes to mind.

I think your idea of a perfect right to state anything is a long way from stating something with politeness and having the ability to decide what is appropriate to say and what is not appropriate.

It does when that person has no idea of the history of the place he or she is in, and the people that make it work, and then makes comments like that one did.

In this particular instance, the post count really does indicate a lack of decorum. On the other hand, there is another new poster in the LD forum that is already well respected by posting good advice in a polite and intelligent way.

Your question goes to the heart of the conflict. There are many who come here with preconceived ideas about cycling that are open to debate. There are no absolutes to cycling but experience counts for a lot. When those new posters want to argue till they are figuratively red in the face because they cannot see fact, and then get personally abusive... well, that poster's credibility disappears.

The poster in question in this particular case made his second comment as a very personal one towards DnvrFox. Ergo, in my estimation, he's back to zero cred.

I recently had a problem in Touring with someone who posted junk about what a horrible person I am because I believe in private property rights. I suspected the poster was a troll because he had a post count of ten, or some other low number. That might be your correspondent's reasoning in this case.

I wonder if the people who are so concerned about post count will withdraw the description "a disgrace to the touring community" they applied to me. After all, I had several thousand posts when they honored me with that title.

Oh, to have such wisdom. Let me go post some more......

Seems like you're equating experience posting with experience cycling. One may or may not have anything to do with the other.

Inability to see "fact" (who determines fact?) is not the exclusive domain of the new poster. In my mind, that's the fallacy in your position. I agree when debate degenerates into personal abuse, the offending party, whether a new poster or veteran, loses credibility. Maybe I just missed it, but I don't think that's been a problem here. As I've said before, I do think people could stand to lighten up and not take themselves so seriously.