I've been out of contact with BF for a couple of months (broken hip) and on my return I find no posts from Stapfam since late July. I hope he's OK; I enjoy his writing and his adventures with cycling.

He's taking a break from the forums. I hear from him every once in a while via email. He's doing fine.

I hope you are mending well.

Thanks Bikey Mikey,

Good to hear Stapfam is still doing well. Did he note why he is taking a break from the forum? Just curious.

Rick / OCRR

Good to hear; I was wondering where he'd got to.

Was just thinking the same thing on my ride today. Glad to hear he is okay.

I had PM'd him a while back with my concern. Got a reply the next day. He's fine. He still lurks - anonymously. Not going to say more without his permission.

FWIW, I've left quite a few over the years -- one of my favorite car forums over the bickering, name calling, and immaturity of some of the postings. Another forum - well, they changed ownership and it was NOT for the good of the forum so I quit going there. Yet another had too many 'know-it-alls'...

Ditto.

Since the beginning of the year I was getting annoyed at some of the responses to posts on 50+. Final bit came when I had a poor response on one of my postings and I decided that it was not worth answering or retaliating. I logged out then and although I don't log in often- I do peruse the forum frequently without logging in and only log back in to reply where I feel my response will be worthwhile.

I hate to say it but I know of several that are in a like mind as me and have taken the same action. I know things evolve but the way 50+ was going- I was not enjoying it so decided to give a break until things change back to a forum where you don't have to watch your back all the time or stop following post's that have become vicious.

Doug.

It seems to have calmed down a bit. We lost some great folks there during that (unnamed) period of time where (unnamed person's) were attempting to disrupt the forum (and they did, rather significantly). From what I can tell they have backed off a bit not just from the 50+ but from other forums, as well. Perhaps they have found somewhere else to dispel their anger/frustration or whatever. Here's hoping it lasts for a bit.

I've been in and out of FiftyPlus for some years now and have recently returned to posting. Previous to 2008, I was "CrossChain" but changed my screen name. I recall periods of warm encouragement here and times of trolls, hurt feelings, and abrupt departures.

Some names whom I've admired I just don't see anymore. I hope they are well and still riding. Of those still present, I recall Stapfam when he mostly rode mountain bike... NOS when he first got his Habanero, Hermes was always a high achiever on the cutting edge, George when first started riding and so on. This forum gets out of balance sometimes, but natural good sense and friendliness seem to pull things back each time.

Fifty Plus has added much to my quality of riding and general pleasure in all things bike. I'm counting on its future... which includes the return of Stapfam.

If I remember correctly Stepfam was the first person to respond to my first post.

Even caped crusaders need a break once in a while. Don't be stranger snappie! Too many of us enjoy your musings. Now, if only we could coax Lenny, Louis and Luis back as well..

I for one as newbie have enjoyed your posts and learned much from you. I hope when the time is right you will return.

I will agree that the forum has calmed down a lot so you will see the odd Posting from me in the future.

And as an update on what I have been up to in the last few months--I had a back problem that was getting severe and a trip to the quacks and on a heavy dose of analgesic and it is a lot better. Problem is that the back was masking a hip problem that has reared its head. Not affecting cycling but it is a matter of wait and see how it develops. Not much riding going on at present but spinning is still going on. I can manage an hour of intensive work out but I do pay for it afterwards.

The garden is getting a lot of attention as I can sit in it and relax and as it is "Easy" maintenance-it still looks good. Holiday is planned for next year and I hope to get to a few days of the TDF. That will be in the VW Campervan as it is cheap holidays and it has finally had enough work on it to be reliable.

Glad you are back. I took a break for a few months for many of the same reasons.

Sorry about the hip problem. I'm probably talking rubbish as usual and this is just a thought, but could spinning be doing it no good? Not the seated spinning, but the faster out-of-the-saddle spinning. On a normal bike there is going to be some lateral movement in the frame as you pedal fast but on spin bikes there is no sideways movement at all.

Watch your position n the spin 'bike', if they are like the ones I use, you can only get a close fit, and it's easy to try to do too much and have a poor fit. I used to get back pain, then spasms(try those for a good time), untill I realised if I didn't try to do jumps, I didn't get pain. Plus, they aren't anything I'd do on a real bike, so why do them on a spin bike?

Spinning is keeping me moving and the back when I am on a bike does not exist and the only problem I have had with the hip on the bike is after a good few hours and a good few climbs. Spinning and I have had to lower the saddle by 1/2" for the hip and I do not do any standing. If anything I am cycling more now as walking does hurt. Trips to my daughters who only live round the corner are biked- Trips to town are biked ---in fact if it is less than 10 miles - a bike of some sort comes out. But still not getting in any real riding.

What I have been doing is enjoying our late summer. Couple of VW festivals and I have one tomorrow.


This was our last trip and the orange rusty van is my daughters- The Beige rusty one is mine and the blue thing (It's not a VW) is my brother in laws.

Hip problem? Back problems can manifest as pain in the hip. I just got an epidural for the L4/L5(where I herniated a disc in 2000) a couple of weeks ago. It's gotten a lot better, but prior to the injection and PT, I had sciatica that radiated from my buttocks, to hip, side and back of the quads, the calf and side of the lower leg, to the ankle and even into the toes occasionally--but it has vastly improved now.

Glad to see Stapfam posting again ... I too have missed his posts, and I'm just a relative newb to the BF and 50+.

I don't post much. Not unless I have something to offer. I agree Stap that things kinda got a bit snarky. I also like reading what you post. Good down to earth advice. You Sir are a good man.

Good luck with the camper. I like the BIL's Austin(?) street rod. Kinda neat seeing them from across the pond. Here in Central PA Street Rodding is very popular. We have 2 of the largest meets in the US here in Central PA.

Mark Shuman

Jolly good. I hope to exchange many cheeky points of view with you - I and many others have enjoyed your viewpoints!

Particularly as I think we're likely to be neighbours soon - despite enjoying a temporary stay in York, spouse and I are about to move to Brighton!

See you around the South Downs in 2014, I hope

Hope you got through the recent storms without too much damage or disruption Stapfam. 160 kph would be quite a tailwind!
I have family right on the coast near Worthing - haven't heard from them yet.

Been watching the storm on Sky News. Wasn't as bad as they thought it might be but falling trees had taken a couple of lives last night.

On the storm--It was bad but the UK was prepared for it. The press and TV news have been warning us of it for a week or so and when it hit it seemed like a wimper. Wasn't like that at 5am this morning and locally we had wind strength up to 60 mph and Gusting higher. Quite a few trees down and roads blocked and several areas of flooding but as the only comparison was the Hurricane we had in 87- it was mild and not as strong.

But now come the disbelievers. The storm was not as bad as it was supposed to be so why did all the train companies cancell their services?- why no buses on the exposed routes? and why weren't the authorities out clearing the roads where there was a problem? Lots of negative people around but many train lines had trees down on them and some siganal damage. The trains did not run until those lines were clear and safe. Double decker buses were being blown all over the road so they were not run and I could not stand up in that wind so you can guess what it was doing to trucks and buses. And the local authotities were out clearing roads but when you have so many trees down- which ones do you clear first.

There have been a few fatalities but the storm in in Holland and Germany now and passing through very quickly. France has closed some motorways- stopped trains and the harbours are inoperable. Northern Europe saw what we were getting and stopped everything from what I can gather. But The UK and Europe has survived what can only be termed the worst storm in years and got away lightly too.