Old is whatever age you happen to be when you think that being a certain age is what makes you old. To put it another way, you don't stop riding your bike because you get old, you get old because you stopped riding your bike.

Old is when you can't get out of the bed in the morning, or don't want to get out of bed in the morning. I am one of the lucky ones (so far) staying reasonably healthy. 6600 kms this year and a 2 hour 40 minute triathlon. My wife struggles with RA every day. She loves to cycle but is often limited by her health. I think that maintaining a positive attitude is the most important factor in feeling young....er!
Hockey

One can be old and feel young. I feel better than I've felt in years but don't need to bullsh*t myself that I'm young to do it. I've always thought that to bullsh*t yourself was a bad thing, yet here I find people who think it's a virtue and beneficial. That's just too "California" for this hard-nosed old West-Side Chicago Irish guy.

Age 72/miles 3652 so far this year.

There are some days when I feel really old, but they are few and far
between.
I used to think my father was old, but then I realised that even though
he doesn't ride, he does play tennis 4 or 5 times a week, and can still run
me ragged on the courts.
Yes, I am not as young as I once was but I'm in better shape than I was when
I was in my 20s.
my glass is most definately half full.

Marty

We have a guy that is 77 years young that rode Cycle NC with us 2 years ago and finished at least 50 miles a day for 6 days straight and he is still at it. If you tell him your 50 he says great your only half way there. In Bicycle Mag 2 months ago there is an article on a 90 year old in St Pete , FL that still rides about 30 miles a day and keeps up with a lot of the 30 year olds so who is to say how long any of us will live. Does the government have control over this?

I think God knows and when your number is up it is up; all we can do is try to stay healthy while we are here and not worry about the rest. We not only have to have a healthy body but a healthy mind and if you start thinking unhealthy then you will be.

Whether you think you can or you think you can't your absolutely right...

Frankly, I don't understand why so many people are obsessed with looking young. Just be yourself and be happy with it, I say.

One thing for sure: it's a destination everyone's headed for, so buckle up and enjoy the ride.

And yet I notice this phenomenon whereby someone young in attitude, if not years, suddenly turns "old" after something happens to them - surgery, a fall, etc. It's as if there spirit suffers and they can't recuperate.

Anyone have any idea what I am talking about, and how to combat it when it happens?

I am going through that right now.

After years of eating correctly, getting cardio regularly, no coffee, no alcohol, never smoking, I ended up in the emergency ward and the hospital 1.5 weeks ago with continuous "atrial fibrillation." I mean it never stops, and was beating about 155 bpm.

I am now on a regimen of Cumadin, Beta blockers, digoxin to slow the damn thing down and attempt to prevent strokes..

I told my wife, "I don't know who I am, or what I can do."

Slowly, I am beginning to rediscover my limits and limitations. There is so much I don't know about this condition, and if you read the google searches, they scare you to death, so I stopped reading them.

I NEVER expected something like this. The last time I had my heart checked, the person stated, "You have a very youthful heartbeat."

My rate was right about 59-60.

I have discovered it is not uncommon (10% over 75 have it), and I have met folks who have pretty normal lives.

I will try the cardioversion - to shock it back into normalcy - in about 3-4 weeks, but that works long-term for only about 50% of folks, and the fact that my fibrillation is continuous is not in my favor.

Anyway, it was a real shocker, so to speak. I am not invincible, my carefully laid plans about bicycling into my 80's have been just a bit messed up, but maybe not.

Just getting used to this new damaged electrical system in my heart, and I don't like this AT ALL!

I have had some mild depression, but I have a pretty positive and hopeful outlook, and I have been biking a few times already. That helps a lot. ALso, taking loonngg walks with my wife helps.

I look at it like this. At least when you're 50 + you're more likely able to afford a killer bike.

The guy that used to run the health club that I belonged to seemed so old and serious in his manner that I always looked on him as a sort of "father figure." I respected him highly, but he just seemed like he was of another generation. I was then quite floored at his retirement when I found out that he was actually a few months younger than I am!

The other day, I was talking to one of the managers at the place where I work -- a guy several years younger than I am -- and he came across as another guy who seems much older than I am. Let's put it this way: he was talking proudly about his new Buick Park Avenue; I drive a BMW 325 with a manual trans. I think that sums up how difficult it is to define "old age!"

Doug G

A Park Avenue!!?? Man...I hope I never get that old!

FWIW, I'm 51 and drive a bright blue Subaru WRX (manual, of course).

My friends and family all know how to tell when I've gotten old. I'll be old when the bad weather at an NFL playoff game is a reason not to go, instead of part of the adventure.

And the funniest thing I do every year is checking into the hotel at the end of the first day of TOSRV, presenting my AARP membership card and demanding my senior citizen discount.

Yep. You really _are_ old.

Some say you're as old as you feel. I say I'm as old as I act.

Turned 50 this year, so I'm headed into middle age... assuming I live to be 100.

My brother-in-law suffered heart arhythmia and a stroke which left a blind spot in his vision. But it seems that his spirit suffered more than anything. His wife, my oldest sister, seems obsessed with preparing for death... Our mother and father, who never exercised in their lives and abused food (British cooking) and alcohol as long as I can remember, lived into their 80s. That means my sister has 20+ years of life, yet she's ready for the end now...

Finaly, a high school friend of my wife and me had a problem similar to my brother in law, but with paralysis on the left side. Again, she seemed more injured in spirit than anything. I used to love to make her laugh, but I don't remember her laughing after her stroke. She caught a cold. Five days later, her sister called to tell us she was dead.

Here's how I do the math to compute middle age:

Brian, if you are going to live to 100 (with health and medical advancements could be 120 - in fact I know a great great grandmother whose grandmother lived to 120), since the first 20 years you're just a kid (University of Chicago study says you are not a full adult until about age 26); 100 - 20 = 80 / 2 = 40 + 20 (the age of adulthood) = 60. So, middle age of adulthood is about 60. Or using the alternative set of numbers: 120 - 26 = 94 / 2 = 47 + 26 = 71. Maybe middle age is not until your 70's and old isn't until more than 100!!!

I plan to bike to age 120.

Well, I hope to bike to age 120.

Young is meaningless, something you can do nothing about.......nothing at all. But youth is a quality and if you have it, you never lose it. Frank Lloyd Wright

That is a GREAT quote!

Thanks.

I needed that today.

Sounds like the lyrics from a Radiohead song. ......." just cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there"

My wife would disagree. She would contend that failure to read directions completely is a sign that the reader is male.

My father in law (87yrs) says you know you are old when; If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work. He says I'll know all about it when it arrives. Something to look forward to? bk

I was getting old this year. (I'm 54, about to be 55 in a couple of weeks.) Parts were hurting, I was slowing down, it took too long to get off the couch or out of the bathtub. I had things to complain about from my head to my toes, literally. (Of course, no one would listen)

I bought a bike in June. Felt like a kid (with a sore butt, but hey) on my new bike. I've been getting stronger and younger ever since.

I still grin like an idiot when I top 20 mph; I still think of my bike just like I did when I was a kid -- a freedom machine.

Maybe I won't be as strong as I was in my twenties, but who knows? I could EASILY become as strong as I was twenty years ago, and then I can maintain that for a long time, God willing.

I'm not old. I'm getting younger every ride.

Perhaps we should all read Tennyson's poem "Ulysses", which concludes:

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.



No denial of creeping mortality or diminishment of body-- humans don't ever "drop" mother nature. It is in the heroic heart that we FiftyPlussers all take rightful refuge.......any 62 year old out at dawn gathering miles at any speed has already morally and spiritually beaten the steel-thighed youth who blew by him. You're old when you no longer get out of bed in the morning and embrace life with your heart and mind. Will Dehne and the rest of you here are young; some 28 year old watching tv game shows seems older by far.
;)

I am always amazed when a thread that died 11/29/2004 somehow gets revived a year later.

Do folks go searching for old threads to revive?

Strange.

I look at getting old in 2 ways:
You are getting old when you are not as good as you used to be. (competive)
You are old when you quit. (quality of life)

I became aware that I am old when I realized I would rather go to dinner at this gal's house:

http://www.oxo.com/dynimages/recipe_...ianich_lrg.jpg

...than go on a hot date with this one:

http://britneyspears.ac/images/bs1.jpg

Of course "Old" can mean different things to different people. A person is mentally old when all the joy that might come from living no longer matters to them. A person is physically old when they are tottering around, unable to function normally. We do get physically old, but that old depends on how well we take care of ourselves, genes, and luck. Eventually, I probably will get physically old, though some folks can remain remarkably fit and able in their seventies. I have know a few spry folks in their eighties. Mental old is the thing to guard against. Life can be fulfilling and enjoyable for its entire duration if we can keep the right attitude. At 57, I am only old in terms of years lived-years left to live. Physically, I'm in good shape and I've been lucky. Mentally, I'm active, alert, and alive to the possibilities that my remaining life holds. All this does not mean that I see some grand purpose in life or that I am not saddened by the passing of time and my youth, but I try to make the best of things. I'm still alive, so I believe I ought to enjoy the experience as much as possible. By the way, I attribute much of my health and positive attitude to cycling. I've been doing it all my life in one form or another. A nice glass of red wine helps things a whole lot as well.

You guys are no fun.

I define middle-age as anyone who is at least ten years older than I. Without giving it a lot of thought-old would probably mean anyone who is burned, buried or disposed of in the manner of their choice! In other words: the day I stop moving is the day I become old.