jimmuller 

I've always said that the day I stop doing something is the day I start not being able to.

Dudelsack 

My mother always said, "Son, you can do anything you want, but you might fail really bad at it in which case you'll be hosed. I'd appreciate it if you grow a pair and stop whining to me about it. And be a sweetie, wipe the seatie."

Her words have always stood me well.

1loosemoose

51 here and just started riding this spring. Had a diagnosis if type 2 diabetes so I got off the couch and purchased a couple of bikes and quit smoking too.
I've lost 37 pounds since then and feel much better. The men in my family are usually gone by age 57 so I have no illusions of living a real long life at all. I'm ok with that.

Now I ride my bikes and love it! I drink a beer on the weekends and cook on my big green eggs.

Life is good and I'm going to live until I die. Great posts everyone!

Louis Le Tour

SPOT ON fietsbob!! I'm 72 and after two failed marriages I kicked the habit cold turkey!!

JoeMan

Age 67. Work part time at an interesting and complex job. I ride often both MTB and road.
My strength and endurance remain good. I can still do 10 strict tactical pull ups.

CarrollB

I turned 68 last month. Still work a 40+ hour week. Just got into riding a bicyle about three years ago and do it for the cardio and to burn a few calories. Wish I had the time to do more miles but a good week for me is to get out on the bike 2-3 times a week and I'm lucky to get in 25-30 miles; just too many other committments plus work. This year I spent the first night in a hospital since I was born and had two surgeries. 10 years from now I hope to be still riding the bicycle, plan to be in resonable shape. My bigger concern is if I will still be able to ride my Harely for 300+ miles a day on trips. I try to do resistant weight training on a regular basis to be able to hold up that 900 pound beast and I know bicycling helps strenghten my legs. 20 years from now I hope to be still riding the bicycle and the Harley may be a trike or I'll trade my 93 vette for a newer one. 30 years from now I plan to be in heaven.

Dudelsack 

A lot of our good fortune is luck.

Sometimes you make your luck, sometimes you stumble upon it.

I've been fortunate, lucky, blessed, however you frame it.

I'm working too hard. I don't want to retire yet. If I can figure out a graceful way to ease back on the throttle and spend more self-care time, I should be fine in spite of myself.

When I stress out at work, I stress eat, stop cycling, and get cranky. No bueno.

DnvrFox

Keep in mind that we have a VERY select group represented herein.

1. A very, very small percentage of the population exercises regularly and with intensity in ANY mode, including bicycling.

2. An even smaller percentage self-selects to participate in a forum such as BFN.

3. An even smaller percentage self-selects to participate in the 50+ forum.

4. An even smaller percentage self-selects to participate in this thread.

Congratulations!!

You all are a very rare breed.

Walter S

+1. The key is to keep doing it. So many people seem to stop as soon as age introduces any decline. All that does is accelerate the decline. If you can't do it like you used to, then don't. But keep going even if it feels like snails pace. Enjoy the world around you at a peaceful pace, whatever that might be.

OldTryGuy

My 64th was last week and quite often I feel much older. No where near the problems that many here have and I am in total-awe of you-all who are pressing on, but those ills I do have create walls that limit my capabilities. Not athletic at all but I have been bicycling for years, 5K to marathons started in 2010, self taught swimming and started triathlons in 2012.

This Saturday I have a Sprint triathlon that will result in pain during the swim, the bike and the walk/jog (since I can't run), but once it's over and the pain subsides to its 24/7 level, I'll be on top of the World. Another Sprint in a month, an Ironman in November then the pavement pounding events begin.

Why endure such physical and psychological punishment? Better than **********

Down the road into the future???? My wife retires next year and her hopes begin with us traveling to Hawaii where I will participate in the Kona Ironman if I can get a lottery entry, then to motorhome around the country seeking out 5K to marathon events with me also participating in triathlons.

Biker395 

It's like you're reading my mind man. ~ Bart Simpson

There are times I wonder if it ALL isn't luck. I mean ... even if you chalk it all up to good decision making, weren't some of us born predispositioned with the brain chemistry to make those good decisions? Or the luck of being born in a family that encouraged good decision making?

I dunno .. too deep for me.

Hermes

Fate, chance, luck:

“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...”
― John Lennon

And

“Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.”
― Bryce Courtenay

And

“We can't choose our fate, but we can choose others. Be careful in knowing that.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Gerryattrick

This, and the original from fietsbob, sound as if they should be in the other recent thread about '' I guess it's true - if you don't use it you lose it''.

putupwet

dude... sorry, brah... no, wait... what's 2014 for "dude"?

so, that's it right there. don't second guess spending time dropping in on those people who happened to mostly be in the same school you were in for 4 years. I like your vector. roll.

tim

putupwet

So I just rolled up over the 50 bump in February. I've been fortunate and healthy, even with a reasonable list of injuries, damns, and what the hell is that's. Definitely degradation going on, but nothing that needs pharma, acupuncture, or chiropractic yanking yet. I became a bicycle commuter in February 2014 of my own choice and clock about 30-50 minutes per day depending on route, ride hard (and putupwet), and carry on with other usual activities such as hiking, paddling, sailing, etc. Next 10 years? I hope to be the same, but know I won't. I'll hurt more and move slower. I'll be shorter. I'll have eaten a lot of good food. Next 20 years? yesssss, medical technology will have advanced so far and I will have retained and even increased my economic value in the workforce that I can select (and pay for) my bio-age (hey, as long as we're making up the future, let's pick a good one.) 30 years? I'll have become young, wise (to an extent), and financially independent. My chica will have followed suit and we'll be rolling around laughing together. People of the planet will have become educated, observant, aware, and partisan politics will have evaporated. Scientists and SmartyPants will rule. The earth will begin recovering from our attempts to lay her bare and wasted. I'll be able to breathe in China, or that general region, whatever it will be called. That's the plan. Let's go!

volosong

Turn 63 in a month. Still have all the original parts and nothing ever broke. I feel greatly blessed. Other than Type-2 diabetes, no problems. If I lose about 25 pounds, I can get off the oral meds. Still working at the day-time mortgage-paying "job" and teaching two nights a week at the local community college. Looking forward to retirement, which is planned to happen in about three and a half more years.

Borrowed from the motorcycle world...I live to ride and ride to live.

CrankyFranky

Denvr, this one was a good 'un - thank you!

There's quite a kinship in both suffering and triumph. Cheers to all who are still in the game.

And kudos to Dudelsack for forgetting that he posted one clever reply, so he did another!

TrikeRider1961

52 and building up for a cross country ride next spring. I hope to enjoy life as much 10, 20, and 30 years from now, as I do today. I have a fantastic wife, and wonderful family and friends. Look forward to being able to make a "Rudy and Kay" post.

Dudelsack 

And that was with me off my meds, stressed out and lapsing into a psychotic frenzy.

Now that I'm sitting in someone else's house, looking at the pool in the back yard and boat in the channel, cup of coffee in my hand and in my Jammie's at noontime...well, it could really get weird.

jsjcat

I'm 60 soon to be 61 in September. Didn't start road biking centuries until last year when I was 59. My wife is four years younger than me and fit. Last year at the Courage ride in Iowa we got smoked by an 83 year old guy. I thought we could catch him. I'm not old as long as I'm breathing and can ride. Sure, younger folks can go faster and harder but who cares as long as you're in the game.

Terrierman

62. Got right shoulder rebuilt two days after Christmas due to a fall on the ice three weeks earlier. It's healed. Right knee will be replaced 8/19/14. Left Knee will be replaced 11/18/14. After the healing and rehab, I expect to be good for another 15 to 20 years of solid activity. Bike riding, fishing, canoeing, camping (for real, not in an RV), gardening. I love the outdoors and one has to be reasonably fit to enjoy it. I am and will stay that way.

OldTryGuy

Rebuilt???? Is that a total joint replacement or just putting things back together?

I need a total shoulder joint replacement along with a wrist fusion but my triathlons keep on getting in the way right. Maybe next year or .........

Terrierman

Tore rotator cuff completely off the bone and near full separation tear of the bicep at the shoulder. They put an anchor in and stitched everything back together, took off a smallish but irritating (catch) bone spur while they were in there. No total replacement but man did I underestimate what it was going to take to recover. Way harder than either of the back surgeries I had - but I was a lot younger then.

JimHatfield

At 71, just took up cycling (unless you count my newspaper delivery days in the '50s on my beloved Schwinn Black Phantom). Currently recovering from what I think is bursitis in my right hip which I aggravated riding 120 miles in six days on a bike trip through France and Germany. Funny, I used to use ice only in my drink.

autoteacher

60 t0 69 here.

I need to keep at it on a very regular basis. Afer an injury a few months ago, I slacked off and paid the price. I'm back to my regular routine and feel great. I'll be seing my cardiologist on Friday he usually gives me an A+. We shall see?

What I do:

5 minutes warm up on a stationary bike, stretch, out on the road with my bike for 5 miles (if time or weather permits) or on the staionary bike. Freeweights, and leg lifts.

Good diet, no wheat, no sugar, no booze. (good diet: I cheat, for my soul, occasionally)

See the grandkids as often as I can and I have a great wife and kids.

Still work