It would be cool to have some sort of 50+ achievement award. Many of us have major goals, anywhere from going to the worlds to avoiding or recovering from a CABG. If I thought I might get a 'free' jersey I'd probably knock myself out to get it.

Your own comeback from cancer was no small feat, either. I was fortunate enough to already be very fit before I was diagnosed. I can't begin to convey how much that helped me in my struggle to recover.

Well, 5 years ago I wasn't a woman...

But thanks for the encouragement nonetheless!! Today is my wife's birthday, so I doubt I'll have time for a ride after work since we're going out and I don't think I'll pre-empt that for a ride. Like they say, 'if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy' I might be told to just keep riding...!

Soooo, what kind of bike did you get your wife for her birthday?

There is such a forum on the web. I found it a few years back and it will most definately fulfill your needs.

Here's a link....https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...ifty-Plus-(50-)

Welcome home fellow cyclist and friend!!

She has a Trek Pure Lowstep, bought last spring when we got my bike. Her experience / level of biking is right down there with me.

No place to go but up. Lots more fun to do it together.

Yes- someone already had the single "l" version...

I'm flattered to be listed in such company, but I don't think I'm quite the hero the other two gentlemen are - or yourself. I've worn a Livestrong wristband for nearly five years to remind me of who the tough guys really are.

I've read a number of health horror stories here that sounded worse than what I went through. Maybe we should start a thread sometime detailing our biggest health challenges.

Far too many of us have gone through and are going through serious challenges of all kinds. It is an honor to be mentioned in this way, but many have faced worse.

I remember being inspired by Bud's ability to get back to doing long rides after losing a lung to cancer. It gave me hope.

Len,
Keep us posted on how you do with building your base and your health improvements that will come. BTW, I visited your photography page in your link. Really nice shots you have there. God Bless and take care.

Bill

Unfortunately this time of year, there's no daylight left once I get home from work. But I'm going to ride when I can over the weekend(s). Once we get a little more daylight, I'll be able to get some rides in after work. For now, the weekends and holidays will have to suffice, mostly, but I'm already looking forward to longer days. I had a couple of hours last Sunday, but spent most of that walking home and fixing a puncture.

Thanks for looking at the photos. They're just a step above snapshots at best, but I enjoy taking them.

We're forecast to have rain, then freezing rain, then ice pellets and sleet starting tomorrow morning, so I took advantage of a couple of free hours this afternoon to drive over to a small local lake and ride the roads around it a bit. Those rural roads around the lake were pretty much deserted, so no one could hear me wheezing. Not a long ride*, but incrementally a bit longer than last time. At least I didn't have to call my wife to bring the truck (I already had it with me ). It was a severely clear 55F day and just nice to be out. At least no punctures this time.

* There's something almost ludicrous about calling anything in single digits "long" (6.3 miles), but I'll get there. One day.

Please don't apologize for riding your bike, or for the number of miles you rode your bike. That's not what this forum is about.

I understand what you're saying and agree. But just for the record it wasn't intended as an apology. Rather, it was just a semi-humorous, realistic, maybe slightly self-deprecating observation. Kind of a "Joe Friday meets Rodney Dangerfield" kind of comment. Or whatever.

That's my personality: I try to be realistic and I try (albeit not always successfully) to not give myself any undue breaks, as it were. I find it helps to keep me honest. YMMV, of course, as we're all different.

However, in the future, I'll try to remember that it can be misinterpreted. Apparently my sometimes oblique sense of humor doesn't translate.

Len,
Your sense of humor will do just fine here. I identify completely, it has driven my F-I-L bats for 35 years now.

Never thought that I would be respondng to a thread like this, but I also never thought that I would be where I am right now.

I retired to Florida 10 years ago. I'm now 66. I have been riding bikes continuously for 60 years...the last 45 seriously, in Minnesota, then Illinois and now down here.Five years ago I came down with a painful ankle which stopped me from playing tennis. Repeated injuries in first high school and then college football and basketball finally caught up with me. One x-ray confirmed that old repeated damage coupled with age and now arthritis had resulted in a painful bone on bone condition that was not going to go away...but eventually get worse. When it became unbearable, ankle fusion or replacement (not yet refined to a point of good success like hips or knees) would be required. When was up to me. As the next several years went by I became pretty gimpy off of the bike. Had to learn to turn my foot outward and sort of drag it. A cane helped and crutches would be better. But the good news was that by a little modification of my pedal stroke I could ride. Keep the ankle immobile and all was well. (At least when on the bike). So I rode, pacelines at good speed, actually as fast as I had done 30 years ago, pulled when my turn came and let no one down.

Two years ago I found that I had an elevated PSA but was otherwise asymtomatic. Long story short....cancer...surgery..(Doc said it was aggressive and particularly nasty, but he got it all).. and two years off of the bike due to follow up surgery (botched a little the first time).

I sat and vegetated and with no real excuse, put on 40 pounds. Vicious cycle...too fat to ride and not able to drop the weight without excercise. Gimpy leg...etc. Six months ago I had had enough. My riding buddies would get in touch and my answer was always the same. "I will be back...eventually".

But I think they had ceased to believe me and had written me off. I finally decided to adhere to a strict diet and after dropping 20 pounds I got back on the bike. I suffered for a month and eventually started to come around. The next twenty fell away easily once I was up to speed and now I seldom even pee my pants during a particularly hard ride.

We ride at 18/22 MPH in a paceline, usually 35 to 40 miles and I have never felt better. I still will have to deal with the ankle replacement. Techniques and success rates have improved markedly in the last few years. I do dread having to start all over again after six months on crutches. But for now....Life is good again.

Since I started this topic, I guess I should offer an update. After gasping following a 5.5 mile ride on New Year's Day, I've managed to ride regularly, if not daily. Between work, rain, short daylight hours and life in general I've been able to ride only on weekends.

Today I tried out a flatter route* and was able to easily complete 17 miles, keeping a cadence of probably 75-90. That's a warm-up for more experienced cyclists, but at least it wasn't a wheezer for me - I could have actually carried on a conversation through it all. Actually I did have a little conversation with the guy who blew his horn 25 times and then zoomed around me, although I don't think he heard what I said. But I digress...

Maybe I'm improving after all. Maybe one day I'll get one of them road bike thingies... As an added bonus is the total miles recorded in my log now equal to an afternoon's ride for many of you.

* Louisiana isn't exactly a mountainous place, so "hilly" is a relative term here, but I've noticed that in my current ... ahem ... tepid physical shape, even the little "hills" in our area wear me down faster than just crusing. For now, I want to concentrate on cardiopulmonary stamina and duration, so this perfectly flat 5+ mile loop is great for me to just "lather, rinse, repeat" around.

The OP is not alone as so many of us can testify, and have. I smoked for 38 years. Quit smoking, got my old bike back after 17 years from a friend I gave to. Retired, and began riding slowly and surly. I wanted to do the touring I had no time to do as a young adult.

Within three years I had bought my second touring bike and completed my first century ride, fully loaded.

You will be fine, my friend, you will be fine.

When I starting riding again in 2006 at the ripe old age of 45 I thought I was doing great when I could ride 5 miles. Then I started riding from my house to the beach 5 miles away. I had to rest over 1/2 hour before I could ride back home and had to stop halfway even then.

Eventually I worked my way up to 20 mile rides. I even bragged about how good I thought I was doing to the gal at the LBS when I could ride 30 miles non-stop after 6 months. Now I can ride an average of 80-100 miles per week (weather and this old busted body allowing) every week. It's been a long road as most here can attest to.

But,

It all starts with an internal "I ain't taking this anymore!" and sticking with it when it hurts and no one else seems to either care or want to play with you. Eventually you will get to the point where you can ride really long distances and people will notice the chance in your appearance and even your attitude toward living your life instead of just inhabiting your body.

So,

This is the place you're looking for. A place where you can cry when you fall and laugh in a good-natured way with the rest of us when it happens to someone else. We all have stories about how and why we started on the path we are on and we understand and support you while your story unfolds.

Welcome.

I so identify with this thread. I had to take a Tylenol last night to get to sleep because of the muscle pains I'm experiencing but I'm only riding or doing the stationary bike five minutes at a time. I'm so ashamed that I'm this out of shape.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S L E N on completing a 17 mile ride!
You were wise to plan a way to ride longer distances using a 5 mile loop. I was told time in the saddle is the most important thing--and cadence. And you're keeping them both up. I'm proud of you!

I look forward to your post "What type of road bike should I get?" hahaha

This is me February 2006, about 360 pounds or so. I'm down about 40 pounds from the previous month. My first exercise was seven minutes on a recumbent stationary, and I was exhausted. I was ashamed at myself, but I continued with my exercise program, and improved my eating.



Since photos are allegedly worth a thousand words, I'll let the photo sequence speak for itself.







The last photo is midway on a 72 mile round trip ride to Philadelphia. Two months before I'd ridden my first century. The month before I'd done my first overnight bike tour. When I'd started two years before I couldn't walk a city block without having to stop for rest, and I didn't know how to ride a bike. Two years and 150 pounds later I was living life every day. And I still am.

And if a weak person like me can do that, what can't you folks do?

Thanks!

I look upon it as "almost a Double Decade". Right now I'm shooting for a shorter ride than a century.

As I mentioned, I'm trying to build endurance now. If some weight loss happens, it'll be good and certainly not unwelcome, but that's not my first priority. Right now, I'm more seriously out of condition in general than simply overweight in absolute terms (I'm 6'1", ~235 lbs, mostly the wrong places/forms).