Turning 50 sucked for me(for like one day). I didn't mind 20, 30, or 40. But 50 was bad. It didn't last long.

One day at a time. One interaction with others at a time. One ride at a time. One meal/drink at a time. One song at a time. One sunrise at a time. One bit of work at a time. One walk with the dog at a time. One task in the garden at a time.

If I stay focused on what's in front of me right now, I end up being too engaged for age to mean a thing.

While this is certainly in the realm of a platitude, I didn't really learn the meaning of it until my oldest son taught me how to actually do it. We were on vacation in Europe and visited 11 museums in 8 days. On the third day I made the comment that I wasn't "seeing" anything any longer. I had seen too much and couldn't focus. My son, an artist himself, said I should spend the next hour with him. So, off we trotted. As we stopped to look at a Vermeer painting. He said, "Dad, right now this is the only painting here. There are no others. This is the one you must see. Just focus on this painting like it's the only one you'll ever see again." This from a 26 year old! Well, he was right. That afternoon I got a crash course in how to apply the platitude of one thing at a time. I felt more refreshed, less stressed, and more complete than I had in some time. When I asked him where he learned to do this, he smiled and said, "You taught me. Remember when I was struggling with math homework in middle school? You would sit with me and say, this is the only problem. We only have to solve this one. The others don't matter. This is the only one that matters."

Yeah 50 can be a mind trip, if you let it. However, I think it's better to let it go and just focus on what's in front of you right now.

Your getting closer to retirement, and a life of leisure!

So if fifty (seven years ago for me) is "over the hill", when do I get to stop pedaling and start coasting?

SP
Bend, OR

Says the man who works from 5am to 9pm...

50 was great. It fell on a Saturday and there was a 75 mile tour that day so I celebrated by doing the ride and turning into a century. Then went out to hear a couple of surf bands at a bar until 1AM. Yes, there was nap in between, I was, after all 50. I know a bunch of guys half my age that couldn't do that.

When I was 32 I had two friends pass away within a week of each other. One was 3 weeks younger than me. Since then I decided I would never complain about getting older because there are too many people who won't get the chance to be old.

I teach a spin class at 5:30 in the morning and my 50th birthday fell on a class day. I announced to my class that it was my 50th birthday and that they were going to have an old lady run them into the ground. I then proceeded to do one of the hardest classes I've ever done - it was great motivation!

Funny, a couple of years ago I wondered about turning 60 (which I will do in 1 year and 54 days). but, I ride with so many in the age group of 50-70 that , no worries!

Thanks for all the great thoughts and ideas. Keep them coming. I guess I'll just have to learn to accept myself as an immature 50 year old! I'm going for a ride.

Oh yeah...rhubarb pie.

oh, we were only referrng to growing old, not growing up!

I turned 50 last year, and I was very happy to do it.

7 months before I turned 50, my best friend died from brain cancer a week after he turned 49. At the 50th party my wife threw for me, my wife and I were the only ones at the party who knew another friend's secret, that his pancreatic cancer had metastisized. He died this past January.

A month after my 50th, I made a 3 hour drive to spend the weekend with another guy from the same group of friends who was having his 50th. We both acknowledged how happy we were to be healthy 50 year olds, we went on a steep 8 mile hike to celebrate.

3 years ago a friend spent much of the year while he was 49 training so he could celebrate his 50th by riding the Eastern Sierra Double Century, and when the time came, he successfully completed the ride. That was a little ambitious for me, but I did enjoy a lot of good rides when I was 50.

I have another friend in his mid-80's who likes running 5K's. He used to always win his age group in the local races, until some youngster turned 80 and started beating him, and when I see him on his bike, I know I could have lots of good time left.

You may have decades of good, active life in you. Or you may have no time at all. Life is good, turning 50 is good, because as was posted elsewhere, there's always the alternative, and in my opinion, turning 50 is so much better than the alternative. Don't mourn the loss of youth, feel the joy in the fact that you have made it this far and live life.

50 is nothing- Still only halfway there- wherever that is. Still the same hills to climb except you know what they are like now.

Experience counts.

The proper cure is a slice of pie.

Growing older doesn't mean getting old. I just turned 57 and returned to the saddle myself !
(after a 15 year absence...)
In the words of Béla Károlyi : "YOU CAN DOOOOOOOOO IIIIIIITTTT ! "

The bad news: You will still do stupid stuff.
The good news: You won't remember it.

How old would you be, if you didn't know how old you are?

- Satchel Paige

I work for a company with over 4000 employees. We have guys dropping from heart attacks in their 30's and 40's all the time at work. Be thankful that you made it through 5 decades and still weigh what you did in college (not many in BF can say that). You'll probably live to be an octogenarian at least and continue to pedal your way to happiness.

I'm 60, retiring soon, working less, riding more. For me 60 is better than 50, 40 etc. Sounds like you've got your health, so you've got a lot going for you. Lot's of others at what ever age we pick, do not.

Get on that saddle and ride............

This needs to be a Thread or has it been?

I am 54 and I remember that day I walked over the line. I thought it was no big deal then I started to get depressed. That lasted a few days and then I got on with life. I now look at every day as another gift and try to enjoy it. Things changed, in my work I am now considered less an agent for change and more as a resource full of experience and sage advice and a mentor for the next generation - better that than a curmudgeon. They know my time there is limited, only 5 or 6 more years. I feel healthy and vibrant, my bum knee bothers me a little more than usual and I struggle more with keeping my weight in check.

You are probably in better shape than most of your peers. That just means that the odds are good you will have a better quality of life for a longer time. Enjoy it!

FWIW, I trained all winter and early Spring before my 50th birthday on June 19th. This was 15 yrs. ago. Rode my rollers and rode hard in May and early June. I was determined that I would do a 20 mi. route (one of my TT rides) at 20 mph. This was on my steel framed & chromed MAZA TSX bike with Athena gruppo. Not the lightest but not bad "back in the day." The day came and the weather was just right. No warm up just TT-ing it all the way. Hit the traffic lights through the Univ. of Conn. just right. At the end of the ride I checked the computer did some math and clocked 19.98 mph. I called it good and had a beer. Turning 50 was a great day for me.

Lots of colleges where I live, for the most part they all look pretty good to me. They may not be athletes but not blimps walking around campus. I also go to Boston quite regularly to visit grad students on campus, they young'ns look pretty good. You may have been right some time back but I think things have changed, IMHO the young population is getting the message. Even at work I have noticed people are getting in better shape. We still have a few of out-of-shape middle aged men/women but gradually that seems to be changing. I think as our country drops to third world status we will see our population adopt a third world physique, thinner and willing to work harder.

It's no big deal - i am 61, feel like i am 30 and look like -- we'll let that one slide. If you feel good, think young, 50 is just a number. If you have your health and are physically able to do what you want, you have this 50 thing beat. Now go for a ride and enjoy the day.

50th birthday was just another day, too busy to labor over the fact that I was 50. It is just a number!!!

The wife still says I act like a 12 yrs old though.................


And may you continue for another 50 years!!!