sydney_b

Anyone really get into cycling and touring after 30? My DH was wondering how many others might have taken up this habit later in life.

/s

USAZorro

I used to ride pretty regularly until I was about 22, but then did nothing until I was 45. I haven't really done any actual touring yet, but I'm hoping to do some next summer. Does that count?

Machka 

I started cycling "seriously" when I was 23.
I started racing when I was 31.
I started randonneuring when I was 34.
I did my first tour (3 days, fully supported) when I was 28, but I did what I consider my first real tour (a week+, unsupported) when I was 36 ... that's when I would say I really got into touring.

podunk

Hi, I'm the DH in question. First-time poster. I was born in '67, and am
enjoying my new shared passion with sydney_b, who is being very
patient with me.

I'm reading this thread eagerly...just wanted to introduce myself: I'm
a software engineer. I live in Lincoln, NE but work in Omaha. Fortunately
my company was formerly located in Lincoln, and for the time being
they run a couple of Limo Buses back & forth so that i don't have to
drive. (In fact, I carry a portable electric guitar & headphones and
get 2 hours of practice on the bus each day.)

Today I started commuting on my <mumble>Giant Prodigy</mumble> to
the Bus stop. Here's my route.

Hello everybody.

rep

Sure, my wife started long-haul self-contained touring at about age 30. We did a nice 800 mile tour around western Montana and Alberta, then a trip through the Yukon, then in Maui, and some trips in Utah. Then after we started working in Germany we've done various trips in Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Czech, and Luxembourgh. We've done lots of day rides in other places, but I figure you only mean the non-supported, bring your own gear and camp, multi-day tours. She's not real fast, but she is good for 100 km a day or thereabouts in the rain. Writing this, I feel pretty damn lucky in my choice of wife, you know? We've gone on at least one multi-day tour a year since she started touring, and we just bought our long awaited Rohloff hubs so I guess we have to keep touring till they wear out.

dogpound

though I've been cycling for over 10 years, I did my first self supported tour last year at 34

cooker

I only did light recreational riding as a kid, and up to about age 24. Then I hardly rode at all until 1992 (age 40) when I started my current 120-140 days per year commuting (5 km). I have increased my mileage a bit every year since then and would like to tour at some point.

lubers

I started riding at the age of 48, bought my first bike a 2002 Fuji Royale and did the BAK after putting on 800 miles in three months to get in shape. Been hooked ever since. Now am 52 and still loving it. I now have purchased a Cannondale T800 and can't wait for our first tour in June.

Jeff

The Rabbit

Hi, I'm rep's wife and I thought I'd just add a little perspective. I did my first bike tour when I was 36. Prior to that I had commuted by bike for many years but I suffered from an undiagnosed mal-absorption disease so I was chronically malnourished and never had the stamina for long distances. In the fall of 1997, the doctors were finally able to diagnose my problem. Within a few weeks I wasn’t anemic for the first time in my life. The following summer, I did my first multi-day bike tour with REP. In two weeks, we road round trip from our home in Bozeman MT to Glacier National Park and Cardston Alberta. Since then we have toured in the Yukon, Hawaii, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, France, Austria and the Czech republic. All of our tours have been unsupported. We camp nearly all the time and cook many of our own meals.

I have found that bike touring is absolutely the most enjoyable way to travel. You move along at a speed that is fast enough to cover a lot of territory and yet never too fast to see what you’re passing. It’s never a problem to stop and take a closer look. Because we are unsupported, we can change our plans on a dime and stop whenever something interesting comes along.

The only really drawback I've found to having picked up bicycle touring in my mid-thirties is that we can no longer squeeze in enough hiking and backpacking.

vosyer

I am planning my first trans- America at age 53. Going along on the adventure are four others and I will be the youngest and the oldest will be 62. Many of my long distance riding friends ar in their 40's and
50's - age is not the limiting factor. Time, Money, physical shape are just to name a few.

acantor

I bought my first touring bike when I was 23, and did many day trips until I was 42, when I spent about two weeks in Alsace and Burgundy. So it "only" took me 19 years to realize my touring ambitions for the first time.

Subsequently, I have gone on several multi-day tours, including a trip over the Alps when I was 48.

Marylandnewbie

Like most posters after riding a lot in HS, I fell off the wagon. At 42 I started bike commuting, 24 miles a day. Now I'm doing 30 and 40 mile fun rides on the weekend and am set to do a 200 mile charity ride this summer. Its never too late to start serious biking. I find the more I do, the more I want to do and the more I enjoy it.

Travelinguyrt

I was encouraged to start riding again by a local bud who rides all the time and does long tours himself
May '04 bought a new TREK in June flew to Paris and started a 4 month trip by my self thru Europe, didn't camp used BnBs northern France Normandy beaches the Loire, Rhine and Moselle valleys, Brussels Brugges, A/Dam Berlin potsdam Dresden, Prague Budapest the Danube Bikeway to Vienna, Salzburg , then hopped an o'nite train ti Milan and rode into NW Italy and back to Paris
Most fantastic time of my life, my own speed my own places to visit, though I do wish I had someone with me to share the excitement

One sees so many diff things when at a slower pace than in a car or on a train, plus you meet people everywhere who are interested in you and your journey

Make up a clever little card to hand out to folks along the way with your e mail addy on it.

bikebuddha 

I probably rode less then 10 miles between the ages of 20 and 32. Thousands of miles a year since then.

mtnroads

Yeah, I think most of us discovered it after 40.

podunk

That's interesting. Is there anybody out there who stayed with cycling thoughout their whole life?

Bikepacker67

Same here.... exactly.

And I'm DH's age now.. 39, and average about 150 miles / week when not touring.

Bikepacker67

Ohh and BTW Sydney, tell DH that he can eat like TWO horses on tour, and STILL keep the belly at bay.

arctos

<< Is there anybody out there who stayed with cycling thoughout their whole life?>> podunk


Biking since age 3; Self-supported touring yearly since age 27; Divide Ride in 2003; still at it at age 62 with a long list of places yet to experience around the world.

Biking and touring have preserved what little sanity that I think I have.

Bikepacker67

And the more insane the adventure, the saner one becomes.

Machka 

Me.

I started cycling when I was 6 years old and cycled a lot all the way up to about the age of 18. Then my cycling quantity dropped quite a bit, but I never went a year without cycling a bit. Then, as I mentioned before, I started cycling seriously again when I was 23.

But a lot of the reason for that is because of my father, who has been into cycling ever since I can remember.


Incidentally, I'll just toss this bit of info out there. If you've got any inclination at all to get into long distance cycling, the average age of a Randonneur is about 50 years old. There are younger Randonneurs out there (in their mid-20s) ... and there are older Randonneurs out there (in their 70s and 80s). I hope I'm still riding 1200K randonnees in my 70s!!

sandlapper

I been cycling most of my life and I am 64 years old. I only started doing tours a couple of years ago. last year I did over 6000 miles about half of them was touring. This is my favorite part about cycling. I meet a lot of great folks and get see the country up and close which for me makes it worthwhile.

BorisBob

I am almost 50, touring is still enjoying me as nothing else ... a photo of my last 4 day & 450km tour I finished on Monday.

stokell

I had a bike when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s. I biked to work in my 20s when no one was doing it. I didn't pick up a bike again until I was 45 when I started bike commuting again. That got me into touring and now pushing 60; that's almost all I do.

My peers think I'm nuts. There is nothing I enjoy more than taking off for a weekend of bike touring and stealth camping.

podunk

That's encouraging. At the moment I'm working to get the belly at bay. I'll enjoy the shift towards keeping it there.