Health and bike touring over 50?
06-23-19, 06:43 AM
#26
Pennylane Splitter
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You don't have to go out for weeks at a time, just figure out what type of bicycle travel you like. I do a few multi-day rides each year, and I use hotels and hostels for lodging at night. This keeps the total weight of the bicycle (including bags) to a minimum. And you don't have to schedule yourself to do XX miles each day - take days off to visit a local area you are in. I've also used Amtrak to get me and my bicycle to a distant location where I started a tour from, sometimes ended it, too.
06-23-19, 11:41 AM
#27
Mad bike riding scientist
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I have been elk hunting around the Gunnison area. Silver Jack Lake area if you are familiar. I have thought that would be a fun tour in the summer. Just not sure where all I would want to go. The elevation was tough hunting. It may really zap me on a bike. What are some area's you tour around that great state?
Riding over Trail Ridge Road is a great ride but there ain’t much air up there.
I did a bikepacking ride last year (haven’t written it up yet) from Colorado Springs on Gold Camp Road to Cripple Creek, down Phantom Canyon Road to Cañon City and then back to Cripple Creek on Shelf Road. I returned on Gold Camp to Colorado Springs. I’d ride down Shelf if I did it again because Shelf is steeper than Phantom Canyon (stage road vs railroad). It was about 160 miles.
I’ve been considering a bunch of bikepacking trips this year but winter just won’t let go. (Steamboat got 24” of snow on June 21!!!!!) Nothing I want to do is currently open and may not open for the year.
There are many more than I can detail.
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Stuart Black
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
06-25-19, 09:30 AM
#29
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Now that I am older I am less brazen. Hell 50 seems like a million years ago and I am only 60 now. But at 50 I was way more bold. Never really worried that I could not complete a tour. Now I struggle to not let it psych me out. But I try to remember I am more fit than most people 40 years younger than me. Kid that do nothing but sit on the couch and play video games.
06-25-19, 10:42 AM
#30
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Thats interesting ! Some years ago now I met an author of a best selling cycle touring book, rather not name them as it might cause them some embarrassment, and they told me that now they were older they weren't too sure if they could do it again. Mainly because they were more naïve before the tour than they were after and now they would worry far more about getting hi jacked & robbed enroute.
06-25-19, 01:47 PM
#31
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Depends where you're touring. In my region most cycle tourists are either younger (20-30) Europeans on big international tours or older NA's (50-60+). The last people I have talked to on tours were Swiss, Scottish, Dutch and German. Hijacking and robbery aren't really a thing in Canada.
06-25-19, 01:53 PM
#32
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The biggest change is that I need a larger mattress than I used to use for camping. But nothing beats a good night's sleep.
07-05-19, 08:50 AM
#33
Firm but gentle
Men’s *ahem* Health
Sit on your arse bones and not the nerves, blood vessels, and cables that operate your “area of concern.” If the Lone Ranger gets numb or you feel a hammering of the crotch you’re doing it wrong. I don’t care about all those studies that link cycling to impotence. Pro Tour riders have no more issues than the rest of the population their age, and those guys spend many hours trying to be aero and concentrating on power versus us regular folk who can reposition anytime we feel like it.
