This place used to be a pleasant retreat full of light hearted banter, helpful and useful information, and the friendly exchange of cycling and life related experiences.

I'm not nearly as formally educated as most of you all are so my impressions may be very, very wrong. Those impressions are that it now seems more like a war zone here where one dare not post any cycling experience other than an occasional ride report for fear of starting a political flame war where everybody preaches and nobody listens and the mods need to step in. It doesn't seem fun any more.

If I ever loose a bike or fall off of one or get chased by a dog or almost hit by a car, I most certainly will not be sharing the experience here.

Now like I said, I'm not overy bright so it could just be that the cerebral level of this forum has just left me in its dust. If that is the case then I can understand why my level of enjoyment has decreased so much and I'll just read and try to learn and keep my keyboard quiet.

+100! Thank you, Cranky! I've been feeling the same thing. Some of the Francises 'round here need to lighten up and stop being so pompous.

You two are going to get in trouble......

Make that 3 of us. Not that I try not to get involved in the controversial threads but The "light hearted" side of 50+ does take some finding sometimes.

Of course some threads do go off track occasionally and there are a few still current that bear no relationship to the original post. They do bring a few intersting slants on the original topic---Occasionally.

The fun is still here and it hasn't changed much from what I have seen. Yes there may be people with stronger opinions than there used to be but even heated debates hardly ever sink to the level they do in some other forums. What most of us can learn from the 50+ group is, there is no best saddle, there is no best brand of bike, there is no best material for a frame, there are no best riding position, there are no best pedals.

However that being said no forum should stay stagnate and when new people join it takes time to become part of thsi 50+ society. But many do have a 50+ jersey, many have joined the 50+ Strava site and many have formed an E-mail connection with people we respect. There are enough topics we can avoid the contentcious ones. In what other forum would someone actually want to meet and ride with so many of the other members like they do in the Annual 50+ ride?

Huh? I thought things were pretty civil around here...

Spoken like a true Jersey Girl(best in the world!)

Four. Too many people taking themselves and their opinions too seriously. Jesus Christ, we're pretty much talking about bicycles here. I loved it the other day when somebody told me a conventional butt-up, head-down cycling position wouldn't, either, make some people's necks sore. If only I'd known that when I started riding in 1970, I could have saved decades of what I foolishly thought was discomfort...

Yes, I agree with teachme, I think it's pretty civil around here too! Now true, I don't even participate in the "war-zone" threads at all so perhaps I'm insulated, but overall . . . I still think 50+ is an excellent forum with lots of wonderful riders/writers.

And, I'm happy to wear my 50+ jersey on rides!

Rick / OCRR

+5 Cranky.

Never thought I'd block folks here, but have found myself doing so in the last month or so.

+6, Agreed Rick, on your point and wearing the 50+ jersey. That's Representin'

+7

Seems like just in the past few months the tone of this forum has changed. Maybe the young ones (50 somthings) just have a different attitude than some of us really old folks. IMHO, If you want to flame someone, do it in another forum and let's keep this one friendly and helpful.

The fact that we are more civil than the other forums isn't really saying much, nor is that, IMO, particularly relevant. We should know better, and not let the tone degrade.

By the way, the racing thread here is consistently good-humoured, and at the same very informative.

+8

Sometimes the hardest thing for someone to do is simply STOP posting on a topic. LET IT GO, Learn to ignore and just STOP your side of the silly srgument. Amazingly, it will go away and one year from now you won't even remember it.

I know I have decreased my postings here lately.

I stopped posting because of a guy named Al. You try to do somebody a favor and all you get here is a bunch of flack over it. There's a few other people that I could mention, but I'll let dead dogs lie. I do feel what your saying very much.
By the way, I did run into that lady I helped and she was still with her husband. LOL.

I haven't been a member here long, but it seems this happens with all the forums. Things start off in good nature, and then some unsavory characters join, people realize they can rant and say whatever they want because it's the internet, and things take a turn for the worse. This is exacerbated by the fact that certain sects of bikers tend to be the epitome of "bleeding hearts." The best thing to do is just ignore those that are rude or you disagree with, they will get themselves banned or get bored when they realize that not everyone cares what they have to say.

Hey, I'm one of the young ones (52 - Wow! Found a place I'm considered young!) but don't lump me in with "them". More pie, less petulance!

+1 for more pie.

If you lose a bicycle or befall unfortunate circumstances, I will empathize with you and wish you better luck in the future. I have lost a bicycle and know how it feels. I also know that the disappointment does not need to linger.

I miss your posts George. We don't get to ride together much due to my schedule. I used to keep up with you from your posts.

For sure. Although I am 50+ I don't hang around here much, though I do look through the threads. I see no particular reason to berate people for doing or not doing something. What is the point? Make them feel worse than they already feel? Gloat how that would never happen to you?

Things go up and things go down - it's important not to get too bent out of shape about any of it. Certainly nothing at all wrong with steering clear of certain threads once things go downhill.

I AM SO GLAD YOU BROUGHT THIS TOPIC UP. I am sick to death of being afraid of not spelling something right or god forbid not use just the right punctuation. Good grief already. Way to go Cranky.

A lot of it comes and goes with Digital Gee. Very entertaining guy. bk

Cranky, point understood in a good manner. Thumbs up.

Yet, I still find that the biking community has the sharpest sense of humor found anywhere.