In my early 60s now. In my mid-20s to mid-30s rode several times a week (road bike), did a few centuries, etc. At 35 moved to Japan. Brought my bike with me, but found it hard to ride for various reasons, including traffic. Slowly, bike riding faded from my life. The spark would occasionally light up and I would get the urge, though that's as far as it went.
Go forward several years, after adopting 3 kids and doing all of the details of life, my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After 5 1/2 years of a valiant fight for our family she finally passed away. Just before her passing, we had good opportunity to talk at the bedside about everything. So painful then, but wonderful memories now. She consistently urged me to continue on with life when she was gone and we talked about all of those details. She died in January 2013. She was 56, I was 57.
After recovery from that event, including the exhaustion of taking care of her in the final year, spring came and I began to look ahead more than just a day at a time. One of my decisions was to buy a new bike. Got a Specialized Roubaix at a local bike shop and started riding after all of those years. What a wonderful relief! I was ecstatic and could feel life coming back into my bones. Only lasted for about a year though. With other family events and distractions, the Roubaix got ignored, sitting in the storage closet. So many times I wanted to pull it out. But as time went on, I realized that getting back on the bike was not just pulling it from the rack and going down the street. No, I had to do some maintenance just to get it ride worthy, had to find my clothes, shoes, etc.
Life stabilized and my 2019 new year's resolution was to ride again (I never make new year's resolutions!). But I knew that I had to break down the actual getting on the bike to some steps. First, I took the bike to the shop to get a tune up. Then, I sorted through my clothes and other gear, and got them organized. Finally, I took my first ride. But, just in the local area because I wasn't sure how I would do.
Exhilaration! After my first 30-minute ride, just to make sure I knew how to do it, I could feel the endorphins circulating. Wow! Why did I wait so long? That was a week ago and I've been on 3 more rides, each about an hour, since. But I realize that I could easily get distracted with other things, just like before, so am trying to make my renewed habit stick. One idea is specific goal setting. Time/km per week, for example.
For me, riding has always been a way to free my mind from the grind as well as do good things to my body. The bike is just complex enough to keep me interested in the mechanical side of things, which keeps me involved and pushes me to ride. I hate running. What do runners think about? Their shoes? When I run, I only think about looking forward to stopping. With a bike, the list of things to consider about the bike (and buy) is endless, while the wind on your face on a warm spring day is the greatest feeling in the world.
Well, that turned into a longer blog than anticipated. Hope it encourages someone.