JoeyBike

I have two geared bikes but neither has disk brakes, which is the main reason i got the 1x1 - also I didn't own any bike like that. All of my bikes are set up aggressively (saddle higher than handlebars by a lot) so the new Surly Lowside is more upright for sightseeing my new area as well as being urban and off road capable. It has a rear derailleur hanger so can be converted into a 1x9 if needed.

In flat Louisiana I have to pedal ALL THE TIME. Headwinds/tailwinds make me shift gears. I hardly ever touch my brakes.

In the hills I'll be standing on the pedals anyway going up and NOT PEDALING on the way down. And hitting the brakes A LOT. Hence the 1x1 with hydraulic disks.

Equipment-wise I believe I am prepared for any eventuality. I'm actually looking forward to flying down some hills!

Great advice on the multiple gears. Thanks. Done!

rsbob 

Quick personal bit. (Sorry OP to sidetrack). For the last 2 years I have been working on improving my climbing time out of the saddle on relatively short punchy climbs. Before I would just gear down. At 69, I have improved my duration and power while out of the saddle. Can’t say my peak watts on the flat are improving, but the ability to climb is far more important to me. Still prefer rides 60 miles or less because of tedious factor, but I also ride alone. When on longer rides in a group, 30 years ago, the time and miles would fly by.

And I don’t know about the ‘wiser’ part, but am getting better on the NYT Spelling Bee.

ofajen

Most of my riding the last four years has been single speed and it kind of forces this on you by default. The dark side is that I have lost any tolerance I may have had for slow, seated climbs.

Otto

JoeyBike

I'm with you on this. I don't like the view from down there in traffic. Rail-Trails would be my only use for a bent trike. I don't even have a way to carry one anywhere and I am definitely NOT a pickup truck owner. Full sized van? Maybe. Hopefully on my 100th birthday I'll have to figure that out.

Exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. Not that you and I are exactly the same but in a database, trends can be established over numbers of people. The database is in my head.

Just got thoroughly tested. Wore a monitor for 6 weeks. So far I'm free of defects in the heart area. Good to know before I start tackling hills.

My wife is a gym rat. She keeps bugging me to get some weight training going for bone strength. Just so incredibly boring not sure I could get motivated. Maybe I'll give it a go to be with her more.

I'm not an E-Bike fan. That would be my very last resort.

My wife is terrified on a bike. She would have a stroke riding with me on a tandem, unless she could take the reins. Then I'd have the stroke!

JoeyBike

My experience exactly and I'm not even in the hills yet! I practiced for two years on a smart trainer - tallest gear, out of the saddle, steady pace, some sprints but mostly a nice pace. After acquiring the single speed in May it was just natural to me. Out of the saddle to start rolling, out of the saddle to accelerate, out of the saddle over big bridges. No more grinding up long inclines in granny gear for me unless absolutely necessary. On the 1x1 that means PUSHING the danged bike. Yuck. Plenty of motivation to get stronger right there!

79pmooney

70 here. I took the opposite approach last Sept and rode the week long Cycle Oregon on an early '80s race bike. Skinny high pressure tires. And almost race gears, settling for a Campy race triple (52 or 3; I'd have to go out and look, 42, 30) and a 13-26 7-speed FW. So not what I raced years ago (53-42 x 13-19) but not low.

And what a blast! That bike is both fun, fun to ride and has the wonderful capability to extract everything this body has to offer and make that seem like just what I wanted to do all along. The week was hard. Last day; basically a flat 70 miles, had the potential to be a spirit killer. Fortunately for me, I came across a woman struggling worse than me and took it on as my task to gently teach her drafting techniques and protocol. Worked. She made it to the finish and 20 of my miles went by with my mind on the task, not the miles or the time.

There were several times when the bike was pure magic. Day 2, another long, flat day, open farm fields, very steady wind. Several right angle turns so the next quite a few miles are "this" wind. Made the turns, found the right gear and the bike/my body just hummed. Happened again on the coast highway only now it wasn't flat but same magic. And in the hills of the coast range - as capable up as my old race bike and so-completely-in-its-element coming down. A 110 psi 23c rear tire? Iffy country pavement including a 20' stretch of basically pothole bottom with the pothole lip at the end - 45 mph? NBD. Just did the slightly tensed legs and seat lift, firm grip on the drops like Vermont 45 years ago on a different race bike. Easy. And the bike? "We just did 20 feet. I could do 20 miles of this!"

The day will come when that bike will be too quick steering, too skinny tired, too yada yada for me but until then it will be delaying the aging process wonderfully. My other bikes are more staid but not tons more. My "good bike" is a ti custom, basically a custom fit 1980s Japanese sport bike. Maxes out at 28c and fenders. The Mooney can handle big tires but is still a Mooney with Peter's classic steering. So wonderful as a fix gear it will probably stay that way. Jessica J, my other ti bike is basically a late '80s race bike for a fictional world where gears and freewheeling never existed. Pure road, pure fix gear and from the first pedal stroke, pure race. Nor quite as hardcore as the bike I just described but it is fix gear and that is a real step harder!

And a Raleigh Competition with triple, CX extension levers and big tires for around town, the farmers market or I just want to cruise.

My mom rode 10 speeds up to age 85. Passed at 92. I probably won't get that far but I hope to ride 'till 7 years to go like her (or closer).

t2p

Don’t discount pedaling down hills … not yet at least … speed can be your friend …adding more speed on the downhills can often help you up the next hill … on the short rolling stuff especially … and sometimes with good entry speed you can just power up and over those short rollers without gearing down when you get out of the saddle

Carbonfiberboy 

My wife gave up riding outside on her bike after being run over by a 1-ton truck. Don't every watch that happen to your wife. But she's very happy on the back of my bike, loves it. She got to run with the big dogs. We've also been doing a 10-day backpack in the Cascades for 45 years. That's been really fun.

The gym is only boring if you're not giving your max. Your wife in an animal. Trust her to bring it on. First day have her find your 1 rep max in the squat rack. Oh yeah.

Carbonfiberboy 

Good to hear you've finally gone geared. I love my 1999 carbon Trek. It started out with 52-42-30 X 12-25 and has gradually, over the years became 52-39-26 X 11-30 at age 70 or so. Our tandem's low is now 26 X 40. Low gears are good. The Trek goes where it's pointed, a smooth ride even on skinny tires. I don't see today's offerings as being an improvement.

rowerek

Greenville SC area is in Piedmont region, it has some hills, most are moderate and rolling. In general one rarely sees a cyclist on the roads around Greenville, it is just not as popular as in other places and, what is far more important, not so safe. Cars, pickups rule the roads, cyclists are rarity, and only hard core would venture for longer rides on the surrounding country roads.
However, Greenville has Swamp Rabbit Trail system, very popular and highly recommended. Overall, Greenville is a good place to live, attractive downtown area, affordable housing (with the exception of the city center), mild climate, good health system, many recreational opportunities - well governed city.

https://greenvillerec.com/swamprabbit/

Trakhak

I loved riding my fixed-gear Specialized Langster on the hills of northern Baltimore County. (While riding through those hills one summer day decades ago, I asked an ex-pro who had raced throughout the U.S. and Europe where the best riding was, figuring he'd say "North of Milan" or "Colorado" or whatever. "Here," he said.)

But I promised myself that, when I hit 50, to protect my knees I'd stop doing those hills on that bike. Then I hit 50, but kept riding the bike. Another season won't hurt, I told myself.

Now I'm 72, and my left knee is getting pretty bad. So this past summer will have been the last time I regularly did hilly rides on that bike. Probably.

staehpj1

Yeah, when I biked across the country for the first time on the Trans America folks asked me after the trip where the best states for riding were. I'd have to think about it and would realize that I liked Oregon and Colorado a lot, but getting home to Maryland was pretty nice riding wise. Having ridden most of the states again since then I still feel that way. So yeah, Baltimore county is pretty great for riding. I miss riding there since I moved to Tallahassee.

There is pretty good mountain biking and trail running there as well.

Also I never bought into all the hype about what would and would not ruin your knees. All the guys who must spin 100 rpms at all times or their knees will asplode are either full of bs or have different knees and legs than I do. I always figured it was healthy to ride with a variety of cadences including some high and some low ones. Not saying a fixie is for every one, but I doubt that they are quite the knee killer folks claim. Maybe you should quit the fixie, maybe not. Maybe a few less teeth on that front ring next year?

Jay Turberville

Maybe put a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub on it (or even a two-speed kickback) and only drop to the the lower gear when you get a twinge.

FWIW, I found that climbing a 10% grade hill near my how was just the thing to improve my knee issues. I wasn't doing it on a fixed gear, but it seemed like the out of saddle riding was the trick. I'm hypothesizing that being out of saddle involves more of whichever muscles help stabilize the knee. A friend of mine reports a similar experience. Though he later updated and said that doing squats was even better.

JoeyBike

Thanks for the report. I'll be just a couple of miles south of Conestee trails. My new Surly Lowside is rocking 2.8" rubber for a reason. There are a couple of miles of very busy no-shoulder roads that I plan on riding the grassy berms whenever necessary. From Conestee i can hit quiet roads, bike lanes, wider roads, to access the Swamp Rabbit in two different locations. From there I can get just about anywhere in town. I'm more of an urban assault kind of rider anyway. The cowboys and hillbillies can rodeo those country roads in their diesel dualies to their heart's content. No fear of me getting in their way. And I have a couple of camo jerseys that should endear me to most of them.

dennis336

70 year old here.

I've cycled most of my life although not really serious (serious recreational, not racing) until my mid-50s.

While I check my average speed after a ride, it's not something I'm motivated to maximize so, while I'm pretty sure I've slowed down, I can't articulate by how much and how much is from the aging process vs. not being more diligent in my training to set, or at least approach, my personal bests.

I did my last century a couple years ago. I'm pretty confident I could still do them but my goals these past two seasons have been some bucket list hill climbs. At 69 years old, I've climbed Mount Mitchell in West North Carolina (last September) and this year cycled Going to the Sun Road and 20 miles of climbing on Beartooth Highway up to well over 10,000 feet. Then, throw in a more local climb up Mount Greylock in Northwest MA.

Feeling very fortunate to have had these accomplishments at this age. I want to stay optimistic that I'll be able to do similar rides for at least a few more years. Time will tell ... as the saying goes, "you may be able to delay Father Time, but you can't defeat Him".

banana jam 

Obviously written by someone who has no clue about this area. Stick to what you know. Everything you have stated is actually the opposite. Especially the affordable housing comment.

rsbob 

If we only had posts written by people who really know their subject matter, the forum would not only miss out on countless arguments, disagreements and shaming. It would only be about 1/2 by volume, which would remove 3/4s of the entertainment value.

JoeyBike

Having spent only a couple weeks exploring the Greenville area by car, and spying on pro riders and wanna-be (no offense) pro riders on Strava, I have to agree with the negative post up-thread. Sure, if I could maintain 20-25mph for an extended ride (25-50 miles), and/or a group rider, I might be pretty excited about the feeder and farm roads around there. But since I am more a 15-18 mph solo rider I can't really be in love with narrow, shoulderless, often poor sight line roads. Speed limits are usually 40 mph or less but we all know motorists will be 10-15 over that.

As for "affordable" housing, this is a matter of opinion. Our 90yo New Orleans home in a nice area is pretty much an even swap for a slightly larger house with a two car garage, brand new with a 10 year warranty. Property tax in NOLA is $600/month, in GVL it's $900 A YEAR! Auto insurance is half. Main drawback is the sad fact that I will be married to a dang car and sitting in ridiculous traffic to get just about anywhere. So add fuel costs and brake jobs (hilly to mountainous vs. NOLA flatlands).

Since I haven't actually cycled there yet, I don't know what I'm talking about either. Based on my experiences and what I saw from inside a car I'm hedging my bets and moving to mostly off road or urban cycling. Hanging a bike off my car will be the norm instead of the rare exception. (Add more fuel costs). Cycling anywhere from my neighborhood, unless major improvements to the main feeder road occurs, is just impractical, dangerous, and and frankly, not interesting.

If I were a pro rider there would be hundreds of fine roads worth cycling. As a peace-loving rec cyclist, I'll use my indoor trainer before I ride those roads I saw from my car windows.

Of Note:
I've been studying Strava Global Heat Maps of the Greenville area and surroundings. For those not familiar, a heat map shows in living color exactly where Strava cyclists (or runners) are actually going. Every month new data gets added for the past 12 months only. So it is very current and an awesome tool. Basically what it shows is roads or trails where a lot of people cycle OR where a few people cycle a whole lot. One person cycling a loop every day for 100 days shows up same as a hundred different cyclists doing that loop one time each day.

Then I started digging into the Strava Segments to find actual riders. What I discovered is that during 2022 and 2023 there are a few pro riders venturing out on those roads hundreds of times. In other words....very few INDIVIDUALS are cycling the terrain outside of the city itself. At least not linked to Strava anyway.

Data shows clearly that there just aren't many cyclists utilizing highways and farm roads anymore. I imagine due to the rapid growth of the population and slow growth of adequate infrastructure to contain all of the new traffic = more cars passing per mile. If I look back on Strava Segments 10 years ago there were many many more cyclists on those roads. This is not opinion. It's hard data. I don't know the WHY just yet, but I know it's a fact.

banana jam 

I don't use strava so can't comment. Rarely use a cycling computer unless checking out a new route. We live downtown, and prices for houses have almost doubled in ~ 5 yrs. Out in the suburbs it's a different story. Plenty of low traffic country type roads exist in this area, and there are tons of bike riders. With the unregulated development the infrastructure has not improved much, lots more traffic on mediocre roads. Single speed will be fine for the SRT otherwise...some of the mtb people enjoy them on trails, never been my thing. And with your speeds mentioned there are plenty of group rides you'd fit right in with. Good luck with your re-settlement.

Doug64

During the time when I was between 64 and 80 years old, my wife and I have bike toured over 22,000 miles, about a total of 2 years, in 11 different countries. This included several short seasons or cancelled tours due to Covid, shoulder surgeries due to a skiing crash and a bike crash, and a broken leg while telemark skiing last April.

We also do a lot of training/utility/recreational rides. My wife's "new" 10 year old touring bike has over 28,000 miles on it. It is her favorite, but she also rides 2 other bikes, a road bike and her old touring bike.

The point of all this BS is to keep going as long as you can. I plan to keep going until I can't remember where I parked my bike.

Joe F

66 year old single track mountain biker here. Still pushing hard and doing all the technicals. On the 12mi trail I typically ride, I have been losing about a minute a year over the last 10 years. I am ok with that as if I can maintain it and only be 20min slower at 76 than I was at 56 I'll be pretty happy! The main decline for me seems to be in my legs rather than in my cardiovascular fitness. They start to give out before my lungs and heart are ready to wrap it up. The last mile or so of the trail I ride is uphill and it has become more of an ordeal in recent years than it used to be. By the time I finish they are complete rubber.

Flip Flop Rider

wow you look 35 in your pic

Flip Flop Rider

there's a trail that runs through Greenville, Swamp Rabbit. I drove over and rode it one time. You can get some good miles there with no cars (except for the bizarre intersections where you cross a busy highway). Heard don't ride it at night

Flip Flop Rider

used to live nearby..that's mountain biking area

Wildwood 

Funny, I thought Greenville was a cycling centric area. George Hincapie and all...