shelbyfv

I rode with a great group for about 15 years. ,We rode all year, three or four times a week, usually 40-60 miles. Last year I started having problems with the heat and couldn't keep up in the summer. There were a few slower than me but I never wanted to be the one folks had to wait for. There is a slower, shorter distance group but they leave from the same location, about a 20 minute drive. I just can't get interested in driving that much to ride 30 miles. Now it's solo but I can see that it's time move on to other activities. Lots of great rides to remember!

ChromeChainstay

i ride with my best friend now. He is an ex pro from the 80's. I stopped riding with others and racing in 2005

he mainly rides in the 55tx13

he doesn't use that gear when we ride though 😳

bruce19

I'm 77 and down to a couple friends for Thursday night bourbon at my local tavern.

rsbob 

I rode for years with a very tight extended group of males and females ranging from 10 to 16 strong back in my 30s. Our pace was high as were the distances and our morale. Members of the group married one another, we had parties and all sorts of get togethers. To say we were tight was an understatement. Then people got married, had children, moved away for their professions and the group shrank to just a few. A few outlaws joined our group but fostered complaints from the larger club and our group was disbanded by the larger club. It never recovered.

So it doesn’t just take cold temps, prostate issues or what have you to break up a good group.

Getting back to the original question, of how do I cope? First, I count myself as very fortunate to have been part of such a wonderful thing and all the tremendous memories we created. I often look back at those days and smile. I no longer live in Seattle, but out in the sticks where there are far fewer people and no organized clubs to speak of, other than a very active mountain biking community. If I wanted to put my bike on the car and drive into Seattle, but have grown lazy that way.

I have ridden solo for so long that I am accustomed to picking the time of day when it warms up, or after I have walked the dog, or just feel like it, to go for a ride of whatever length and pace I want. I still miss the good times and how fast the time went by when we rode as a well oiled group. It was a marvelous time, but now I pick my own times and that is marvelous in its own way.

nomadmax 

Me too. But, the good thing is, they usually don't have the courage to say what they would on the internet.

fat biker

Pete,

Sorry to hear your dog has aged out.
May I ask the breed?
I expect I will have another dog soon, probably two.
My hope is, after my pending second hip replacement, to try cross country skiing, and I like to include my dogs on outdoor activities.

Thanks,
fat biker

staehpj1

She looks like a yellow lab, but oddly enough is actually a German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Corgi mix. She has been a wonderful companion always wanting to be at my side, good trail sense, great sense of direction and memory for trail directions, took voice commands and hand signals well, and would lead me if it was dark and my light failed or if I was lost (she always knew the way back and would lead just the right distance ahead). She only wandered off when and where we negotiated that it was okay. She knew what places she was allowed to go and how long it was okay to go off. She would listen if told to stay close. She wouldn't approach other trail users until I told her it was okay, with the exception of a few folks that were regulars and friends of hers.

She liked running with the bike, but I thought trail running was a better fit for going with a dog on steep hilly wooded trails.

The one time she would run off and not listen was when she would run across a deer she met as a new born fawn that she ran across and tried to mother. It was so new it was still wet and she was licking it off. She was probably lucky mama didn't stomp her. They became quick friends and remembered each other. She'd run off for a play session and go deaf to my calls when she'd run across that deer as it grew up for the first season if Its life. They were still interested in each other the next season, but kept some distance and just stared at each other from some distance.

In her old age she doesn't listen much and bosses us around. She needs help getting up from slippery floors so we have runners and rugs all over the place. She is on all kinds of medicines for all kinds of ailments. She will be 15 in May. The vet didn't think she was going to make it to 11 and she had some otherproblems that might have done her in, but she still seems to enjoy life, so we treat her like a well loved old grandmother living with us. I will be absolutely heartbroken when she passes.

fat biker

Pete,
Sounds like a great dog. Blessed you have been.
I have the cremains of my four dogs on the floor of the bathroom closet. Thinking, next camping trip I will scatter them. Man, they all loved camping.

fat biker, in tears

cyclezen

Cope? I ride...
It's always been difficult to avoid group rides, especially in my area... There are rides every day, often in various ride levels. Just a matter if you want company, or not.
I won't go into the littany of health ills - it's much too common a discussion with the many I know... and a particular challenge of mine.
Riding has and continues to carry me thru many things, challenges and adventures, comraderie and personal reflection.
I try to ride every day, if possible - but it's not always...
I often ride in a great varied group of younger racers thru older has-beens, all very compatible, with routes which allow us slower riders to rejoin at known places...
Then after-ride refreshments.
There's also a group of compatriots, some who ride regular, some who only come out for our meeting - Sat, we meet for coffee Mid-Morning and solve the World's problems...
We know and love each other - even knowing each of our numerous flaws.
I make it a mission to find others, from times past, who might belong to our Sat group, and have them join in - some successes with that...
We are all ex-racers of varying level and success, but all are strongly a part of the 'brotherhood', the ever turning wheel of the road and life.
We should all
Ride On
Yuri

Carbonfiberboy 

I've been doing the Sunday Ride with a group for about 25 years. There are about 120 riders on the Google Group. Now, maybe a max of 10 riders show up on a decent day. Other interests and aging out I think accounts for most of those who no longer show up. Many just can't keep up, even with the Laugher group. A few have gone to ebikes while geezers like me have spent the money on really, really low gears. The group has always done long rides, up to say 200k+. Some of us, like my wife and I, still come out for the Sunday Ride, but no longer do the long mountain rides. It's the friendships which keep us going, get us to come out and ride. Otherwise, we'd never see some of these folks..

The group has coped by gradually splitting into 3 riding groups, Rabbits, Goldilocks, and Laughers. We design routes which allow everyone to finish at about the same time, though they may not start at the same time, just from the same location. We also have a group tour once a year. Used to be we'd ride from town to town. Eventually the towns got too far apart and the packing and unpacking got to be a hassle. Now we go somewhere and do hub and spoke rides for a week, eat our meals together. It'll be a sad, sad day when we can't ride together anymore.

JoeyBike

It's EASY! Perhaps you are entering a new frontier and will soon be wondering how you ever put up with a group. Enjoy the PEACE!

big john

Sad.

Biker395 

Yea, I have to agree. I ride alone most of the time (more a matter of convenience and the fact that I am mostly retired), but I really enjoy good company. The way I look at it, people are wildcards. They can make the good much better, or the bad much worse. But if you hang with the right people, they can make the bad much better.

Speaking of aging out, the Eastern Sierra Double is this weekend. This is one of my favorite rides in the world, and I have done it oodles of times. This year, two of my 70+ endurance cycling friends are missing it (one because of a recent illness, the other because of a crash and a belief that he may be aging out).

I ain't the man I used to be either. In the past, I have started this ride with the late group, finished this ride in daylight, and at the end of the day, didn't want it to be over. It was too beautiful. This year, I am 10 pounds overweight, not in terribly good shape and still having chronic pelvic pain issues. Sometimes they manifest themselves while riding, and sometimes not.

So, this may be the first time I DNF on an organized ride. I've already made my peace with it. I'll do what I can as long as I can, and that will be it.

It should be nice just tooling around enjoying the scenery. And it is downhill all the way to the start at Bishop.


June Lake

big john

I've said it for years, the people make the ride. All those club rides over the same routes are made fun by having friends along. Little competitions, jokes and razzing, stories, and just friendship are the things that make bicycling more fun and memorable.

I know people who I've ridden bikes with for more than 35 years. Lifetime friendships made while riding. I, too, know people who have aged out and I miss them on rides and like to tell stories about some of them.

Some of the best people I've known have been met through riding. Riding alone is fine but there is so much more when sharing it with friends. Road trips to ride in the Eastern Sierra, overnighters, and even long tours. Experiences I never would have had if I only rode solo.

Have a great time in the mountains!

rsbob 

Used to ride every weekend, except winter when we skied together, with a good buddy. We road many club rides, and organized charity rides and even rode a tandem together. Having company of even one other person made time and the miles fly. He moved away and a few years later met my wife and we rode together, but not as hard core. Bought my friend’s tandem and my wife and I rode it for 5 years. Even banged out a century together.

Moved to the sticks and ride solo 99.9% of the time. Met a guy from Australia at a coffee shop and we did a ride together a couple of weeks ago, and it brought back the good times. We may be riding again this weekend with 500 other people. Haven’t done an organized ride like this in decades. Should be fun.

JoeyBike

We're not all lonely needy people out here.

big john

ok

cyclezen

for me, it's a balance... and being 100% 'dog', I can be enthusiastic to the max about most anything which suits...
the human condition is variable. If Thoreau needs his solitude, ok. It's ok to enjoy your solo-ness.
But never finding that companionable other seems a loss I'd not like to suffer...
humans are imperfect, as are all things in this imperfect Universe...
and sometimes that companionable being may not be human...
it makes our ride through life more interesting, wonderful, fulfilling.
A ride we think we've planned out, only to find out it's way different thaan we might have expected
hopefully, the best ride ever!

Ride On
Yuri