This "Ride Your Age!" crap is for the birds
 

...or for the young-uns, at least.

For my 61st birthday today the missus said "let's ride over to [area we haven't been to in almost a year], I designed a route that's 63 miles." I said "hey, apparently everyone's into this Ride Your Age! thing nowadays, can you make it 61 miles instead?" She did some tweaks to the RWGPS file, said "I think we're set" and so this morning after coffee we set out.

Now, bear in mind, ever since COVID -- so >18 months -- we've almost completely stopped doing group rides, and without multiple drafting/pacelining partners the will to go long and hard has dwindled considerably. So whereas two years ago a typical Saturday ride for us would be 65-85 miles with 3-6 other like-minded cyclists, for the past year-and-a-half it's been more like 30-40 miles with just me and Ms. Wonderful, very rarely joined by one other rider. In these last ~18 months I think I've ridden more than 60 miles maybe 5 times total.

And then thanks to RWGPS not quite understanding precisely how gerrymandered the MUP here is (that was supposed to make up only 15 miles of those 61) I rode quite a bit more than my age today. Let's just say that I'm all set for the next 7 years.

And *#%^&@ do my legs hurt now! This is crazy. From now on I'm gonna Ride My Age! in metric. :)

100 minus your age is the correct formula. For me that would be 100 - 82 equaling 18 miles. That's much more to my liking!

I did it for the first time this year on my 57th. I don't know that I will or will not do it again, but if I do, I will do it on my Domane instead of a 38 year old steel bike like I did this time.

Happy birthday to you by the way.

I think the last time I did that was at 64, 5 years ago. I do not see myself doing it again. It is not the amount of miles, it is the set amount that just is not making any sense to me these days. I rarely set single ride miles/speed goals, anymore. I now like to ride more casual while mixing it up with surfaces, pace and stops for whatever reason. Even stopping back home to change bikes. Although, having said that, if I was to get to age 100 and still riding, it would be an accomplishment to do 100 miles that day, no matter how long it took.

I did it a few years ago but it's rarely warm enough for me at that time as my birthday is the end of January. And although I'm in Florida, in the panhandle it still gets cold in the winter. Sometimes. I did 62 miles on my 61st birthday and the high that day was a record 86. The following year, the high was 37. Haven't had a birthday warm enough since.

Love RWGPS for exploring new areas but like you experienced it can have it's own mind sometimes. Like you group rides have been a lot fewer the last couple of years. I still like going long and my goal is to keep doing it as much as I can. But I enjoy roads with less hills now, a lunch stop somewhere, slower speeds and maybe a road or area I haven't ridden before.

We used to do "double our age rides" for our birthday but not sure about that as the years are adding up. One year we did 211 miles so maybe I should bank some of those for future years**********

I like that idea go-bike :thumb: My 64th fell just after the EC Velo Cotton Century in Sept. so getting my miles in a organized ride setting with a couple of sag stops was much easier, I just needed to get a couple of miles in before the start. I even got a keepsake for the event with the metric century white wrist band, which led me to decide I need to accessorize and make wrist bands my thing :) ...everybody needs a "thing" right? 2 bike-related and one breast cancer pink (Mom died at 57 with BC)

https://ecvelo.org/ccc

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6fadece4c7.jpg

Maybe ride one’s mental age. :thumb:

I’m 60 and did 64 miles. But if I act like a teenager riding a bike then I should ride 15 miles.

HTFU! And plan on some longer training rides next year.

You want to go metric even before you hit the metric century age?

I'll normally plan on a few extra miles when I ride my age or a metric, just to make sure I hit the mark.

Was the map off by 420 miles in a 15 mile stretch, or did rock faces/buildings/tree cover make you lose GPS lock and add spurious excursions to the track?

I easily did it in my 50s when I commuted every day. It merely required a time commitment.

Due to circumstances I didn't do 59 last year.

Since I lost my commute last year I have been riding 50% longer rides, but a little less often. And I'm gonna be 60. So I'm not sure.

I know I'll do 60 km, and if I have the time and stamina, I'll do 60. I've been thinking of routes all year.

To be clear what I'm about to say is not a prescription for anyone else. I've never been into the "ride your age" thing. And, for the past few years I've been riding what I want to ride. Which is to say, less miles at a higher pace. My psyche is that of a TT not a distance rider. Always has been. This at age 75.

I think in the route-planning portion of the app it just underestimated the linear distance covered by a lot of tiny twisty portions. And then during the actual riding portion the turn-by-turn directions seemed to get easily confused by those very same tiny twisty turns, though I don't think that contributed extra miles, just extra exasperation on our part.

If you've done a lot of century type rides in the past you can get back to longer rides with a little preparation. Covid changed things for most of us and I went from doing club rides every weekend to lots of solo rides. Started back doing smaller group rides and was feeling pretty good around the time of my 67th birthday in April so I did an old favorite ride of about 80 miles with 7700 feet of climbing. Finished with headwinds for miles, too. I went by myself so I wouldn't have to chase anyone and I didn't have any problems but it seemed very long and I wanted it to be over before it was.

This past Saturday I rode 75 miles with 12 other riders. Less than 5000 feet of climbing and being with others makes it more fun, especially since I was not last. Still, it was a long day on the bike and I don't know if I want to keep doing 75+ miles very often.

It's just a gee-whiz thing. If you don't ride it for your birthday then I'll never know if you don't tell.

Right. And everyone gets to make their own rules. It's their birthday after all.

I'm 77, so a big no. My longest rides of 2021 were 50 miles.

My birthday is in November when it's generally pretty cool here in Central Washington, so I don't do the ride your age thing; however, a few years ago, I went for a seven mile ride, stopped at home for a cup of tea, and finished up with three more miles. That was the only time I've ridden my age on my birthday--seven tea three.

I missed the chance to ride my 100k age. That's 100km = 62.1371 miles. 62nd birthday + 50 days.

Most of the "ride my age" local riders seem to have November or December birthdays. Not optimal!

Clever, but you can do a birthday ride any time of year.

I don't do it every year - if my birthday falls on a work day or bad weather, it might not happen. At present (age 60), it is no big deal at all. But it can't last indefinitely. I figure 65 at age 65 should be no problem. unless misfortune intervenes. 70 at 70 seems like a challenge, but it would be fantastic. 75 at 75 would be a blessing. 80 at 80? A miracle, I suppose.

And I've never considered "riding my age" to require the exact number of miles. For me it's "greater than or equal to...."

I take the Ride your Age thing as an annual undertaking. My birthday falls mid-July so I have been able to hit the goal pretty close to my birthday. I will confess to seeking the flattest route, even riding a 20 mile out and back 3 times and then adding the extra miles needed.

in younger years, I always had the goal of at least 1 century per year. Generally met. Santa Cruz to Monterey, via various routes got me the result.



Ride your bike. Long or short, fast or slow, just keep the rubber side down. That’s most important at our age.

That tends to be what I like, too. I mostly ride solo and don’t usually have the time, interest or stamina to do a 60 mile solo ride on a SS MTB. 20-35 mile rides seem just about right.

Otto

Doing a birthday ride (or a birthday-and-a-half, if you were born in the middle of winter!) is certainly a personal choice.

Most people don't ride a bike with any regularity, period. It's not a challenge when you're in your early teens. I didn't start until I hit 50 (and missed a potentially embarrassing display of plastic crows on the lawn of my workplace!). It was an achievable challenge.

And if I live long enough, I'll probably get to a point where I physically can't ride my age in miles. With luck, it'll be another decade or more after than until I can't ride my age in km.

For me, RYA is a celebration: I'm not there yet!

The last time I did a "do your age" thing was when I was 50, and I ran it:) I Planned on reducing the distance by 1 mile every year after my 50th, but I was severely injured in a climbing accident, which put an end to my running.

I'm 71 and rode 104 miles one Sunday in October. I got a new bike in August (Cervelo Calendonia) and wanted to do a Century on it, so I did. I also did a Century the year before on my old bike (Specialized Diverge) and was thinking I'd make it an annual event. I'm not sure how many more years I can keep up that "tradition," but I didn't have any trouble doing the distance either time.