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.