Somewhere/sometime the ratio of weddings to funerals shifted radically for me.

My Dad had a heart attack at 68, five bypasses, lived 11 more years.

My Mom had multiple cancers, a relapse finally taking her at 77.

Dad didn't change his lifestyle after the episode, and a week before he passed, he discovered his heart was 80% dead already, 20% function. Mom's relapse was less than two years after a double mastectomy; she was given the "nothing we can do" speech five months before the end. They both spent their last week in a bed, both went comatose a couple days out.

I've had no cancer indicators, no suggestions of diabetes (also on Mom's side to a degree), and all my health numbers look good. I ride my bike EVERYWHERE I GO, even to the doctor!

I have NO intention of going out like that. My plan -- and I will pedal all the way there! -- is to be the 3rd of our entire family tree to see 90, at which time I will ride for 90 minutes! (Don't tell me to do 90 miles, I can't do that NOW, and never could...and I have my reasons for saying so)

My biggest 'albatross' is stress management. Working on that.................. (BTW, I'm 54.)

yes that's about the age when you no longer say "Hey y'all watch this"

When your natural response changes from, "No. Really. I'm fine" to "Perhaps we ought to head over to the ER."

I've been fortunate in my choice of ancestors who mostly have been healthy and long-lived, especially the women who made it to their 80s, 90s or to 100. I'm now 74 and in good health and can reasonably expect a good number of years left to me. But my main interest is not longer life but good quality life with as many interests as age allows. An important current interest is cycling which I enjoy so much I've found myself riding, not only on club rides, but all over town, shopping, post office and similar odd errands here and there.

"I guess it is that time of life" - not so much.
Yeah you can have an inevitable disease or profound injury that makes it harder but even then it is all about lifestyle. After about 50 the body starts to 'offer' to decay and you've got to take charge. Aging is unavoidable but decaying is not. Eat well, stay lean, be (really) active both physically and mentally, be engaged in your community and the broader affairs of the day and love family and friends. That'll take care of at least 90% of what ails you.

The idea that we are doomed by our 'time of life' is just a defeatist attitude.

Yep, any day that I ride into work is a great day, especially now, after age-50.

I know people in their 70's who ride daily. They look and act like they are still 50. I may not be the fastest learner, but that one is hard to miss.

I had a treadmill stress test at age 47 and was told I had the heart and lungs of a 37 year old.
Fast forward 12 years to age 59. A recent test concluded I was 20% below average for my age.
What a fall! Training now with hiking boots on for a 75 km backpacking trip in September. I don't want to be a casualty on the trail.

I'm 52. My heart is 52, as are my lungs and other organs, my spine and my eyes. My numbers may be as good as most 32 yo Americans, but that's a condemnation of them more than anything else. I can ride 20 miles in an hour, 320+ in 24 and 630 in 62.

I've watched one parent and many aunts and uncles make the slow decline to death, some fairly young and many very old. I am under no illusions. Accident or disease can bring it to a sudden end. Old age can be the cruelest. A common theme among those on the slow decline is a surprise that it's happening to them.

I enjoy every day the best I can, knowing it could end today and knowing with absolute certainty I am mortal. I'm not thirty anything, I'm 52.

Hey great to see some drivers on here! Been in the industry from the supply side for about 7 years..most recently selling the Tough Tested brand, but have been really happy to see SOME travel centers trying to do things to help drivers stay fit. I'm not nor ever have been a driver but I've talked to plenty and know it's a huge challenge. I applaud you guys for hauling those extra couple of wheels along with your 18 and getting out to stay fit. I also do a ride every year for the American Diabetes Association called the Tour de Cure. Great event and they hold it in a whole bunch of states..check it out.

Stay safe out there....

Now if more of those travel centers had places to ride besides the parking lots. Sometimes i do get lucky though. this weekend puts me north of Salt Lake with some nice ditch roads

Ha ha, the closest thing most truck stops have to fitness equipment is the pinball machines.
I don't get to ride most days on the road, the days are often too long, and I'm just plain pooped when it's over. If it wasn't for that dratted 14 hr window, there would be more opportunities to stop mid day for a ride when I spot a nice trail somewhere.
But there are times when the day ends early enough, and the location is right, and I can get a nice ride in. Posted about one like that in Chippewa Falls last week.
Or, there was the time last October when I did a reset in Council Bluffs and hooked up with fellow 50 plus member, Billydonn for a great ride on the Wabash Trace Trail.
Some weeks, I just take my bike for a 3500 mile ride in the bunk, and never get the chance to take it out.

There is a lot of merit in this post.

I think back to my school days. A friend died of leukaemia at the age of around 14. Even earlier, another pupil at the school was run over by a car and killed. A chemistry teacher died. And the father of my best mate committed suicide. Another student I knew hanged himself.

All had a deep impact on a young person's mind, and showed that in all age groups there mortality rates.

The week after I left school, someone I had known and grown up with since Grade One was killed when his motor bike hit a car head-on on a country highway.

I negotiated my 20s and 30s without many personal traumas except four or five miscarriages and the deaths of an old schoolfriend and her two children in a car crash with a drunk driver. Then in my 40s, the mortality of my parents emerged. More recently, my ex-wife's husband -- a nice guy, by the way, and someone with whom I had played field hockey in my late teens -- dropped dead during a veterans hockey tournament.

Celebrities that I grew up watching or hearing have died. Motor sport has claimed many of my heroes, by some have lived on to old age. One extraordinary survivor is Jack Brabham, whom I have met and worked with.

Many entertainers have died.

Inventors, too, who have been responsible for some things that have had a remarkable impact on our lives -- Doug Engelbart, who invented the computer mouse in the 1960s and Chuck Foley who invented the party game, Twister.

Then there are people who you just know are shortening their lives by the way they live -- the pub is virtually their home, and cigarettes and alcohol their best friends.

It's sad but...

Death is a fact of life.

We've got lots and lots of folks in this forum in their 70's (and 80's) who ride regularly. I do. I very seriously doubt I look and act like "50." But, then again, I imagine there are some 50 folks who look 70+, so - maybe!!

Got my dad riding last year. He's 78 and now step mother (70) rides a bit too