# Refuse to get old or ride to stay young?



## 1spd1way (Jun 30, 2006)

I spend way too much time on this forum.
As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
Or is my riding keeping me young?


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## 1Scorpion (Aug 8, 2021)

I’m having more fun riding than ever. I recently started mountain biking. I would say it’s keeping you young!


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## kosmo (Oct 27, 2004)

A little bit of both, I suspect!


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## LVLBTY (Jul 15, 2020)

Ride to stay active helps you enjoy getting older and wiser.


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## SteveF (Mar 5, 2004)

Quit for a month, see if it makes you feel older or younger.


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## CHIEF500 (Aug 30, 2012)

Yeah, gotta keep moving. I ride daily 8 - 10 miles a day with a few longer ones here and there. It keeps us young.


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## nayr497 (Nov 9, 2011)

1Scorpion said:


> I'm having more fun riding than ever. I recently started mountain biking. I would say it's keeping you young!


Got my first modern mountain bike last fall and WOW, I'm having a blast. Hadn't been on a mtb bike in years, and that was a rigid Giant with a triple crank.

After years of avid road riding, spending a weekend morning in the woods without cars is absolute bliss!

I've been on a bike daily for almost two decades now, can't imagine it any other way. I'm grateful every single day that I'm able to live mostly car-free.


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## Gumby_rider (Apr 18, 2017)

Hate to break it to you but nothing is going to keep you young. Stay active so you can still have fun.


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## nayr497 (Nov 9, 2011)

Well, we haven't defined the parameters of young/old, so we can't even have a proper argument  

But, for me, staying young is about still having fun and doing things you enjoy, even if you don't have the same freedom as you did when you were actually young. Having a 9-5, a partner, kids...can be a major grind. Staying young to me is accepting that responsibility, but still having fun.

I still ride bikes. I still play sports. I still do new, fun things, take adventures when I can. Getting "old" to me is throwing up your hands and spending all weekend indoors watching football, eating fast food, drinking lite beer, and being miserable.

Oh yeah, after a lifetime of sports and having playing top-level in college, my BODY is definitely getting older, doesn't recover like it did, doesn't perform like it did...but my mind is still that of a 20 year old, in good ways. (I don't appreciate dudes who just ride or fish or whatever all weekend and just shove the kids on their wife. That isn't cool.)


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

I don't think riding is refusing to grow up. i.e. kids stuff. Now I just think of it as interesting way to exercise. Peaceful like kayaking but more fitness oriented.


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## Eric F (May 25, 2021)

I raced MTB, road, and CX from '92-'04. I won a State Champ title in '04, and shortly after, I put my bike away. My body was tired, I was losing the motivation to suffer, and training the way I had been didn't allow me to be the kind of dad I wanted to be for my newborn daughter. I didn't really know how to ride just for the fun of riding. It was always training to go faster. I took that energy and shifted it into playing music (something I could practice at home). When my daughter got older, she started playing softball. That evolved into me becoming a coach, and her playing travel ball. Softball consumed us, and dictated the schedule of our family...and it still does. It's been worth every bit of it to watch my daughter excel at the game she loves, and I am excited about seeing her paly college ball next year.

In Dec. '19, I got back on my bike. I weighed 225 lbs., my BP was high, and my other health numbers weren't very good, either. I made a determined decision that it was time to get my body moving again. I started with trainer sessions in my garage, and then got back out on the road. As my fitness started returning, I began doing weekend group rides with people I used to ride with. By June '20, I had dropped 40 lbs, and my health numbers were improved. It felt good to be strong and (almost) fast again.

Currently, I'm holding steady at 180-185 lbs, and consistently on the bike 3-4 days/week. Sometimes I ride to get faster. Sometimes I ride to just enjoy the feel of the ground under my wheels. Sometimes I stop to take pics. My fitness is back to the point where I can do a lot of the local go-fast roadie group rides, but the competitiveness of those rides is less attractive to me than they used to be. I've had a better time grinding dirt on my 20+ year old singlespeed 26er.

My body aches a lot. Sometimes it's because I'm 52. Sometimes it's because I pushed the limits of my fitness, and my muscles are complaining - those times make me smile. I don't know that biking is making me feel younger, but it's sure helping me feel good about being the age I am. There were a lot of years when I didn't feel that way.


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## Eric F (May 25, 2021)

nayr497 said:


> ...drinking lite beer...


There is no excuse for that.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

You were born. And so you're free. So happy birthday


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## Rev Bubba (Jan 16, 2004)

1spd1way said:


> I spend way too much time on this forum.
> As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


Hopefully both.

Plan ahead. I plan to live to at least 102 so I can be retired as long as I worked. Not counting jobs in HS and College, that's 40 years of each. Thirty years to go and I have no plans to stop riding in the foreseeable future.


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## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

Young can be thought of as relative to your peers, if most of your friends are active cyclists, you will forget how 'old' other 'normal' people are in your age group. A few months ago a nurse was taking my blood pressure and commented: "you have the blood pressure of a teenager" - I assume he meant a healthy teenager. 

I ride for both fun and fitness, riding is the only exercise that I actually enjoy and look forward to. I ride about every other day, and I seem to be able to get pretty fast on about 5-8 hours per week.

Eric F, my story is very similar (except for the state champ part... but I was a respectable Expert 30 years ago). I got back into riding 10 years ago at age 44, and I'm currently 50-60 pounds below my peak; I'm road riding with the fast local guys (yes, they can and do drop me on the really fast sections). I've also been competitive in cat1 masters mtb, and C1/2 masters cyclocross, - keep at it and you will get fast again before long. My first 9 months or so back on the bike I would have a headache every night, be careful about over doing it, but keep at it.


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## acer66 (Oct 13, 2010)

1spd1way said:


> I spend way too much time on this forum.
> As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


Refusing to grow old and refusing to grow up are two very different things in my book.😉

First one is a given so I mark that off as nothing to worry about.
The second one on the other hand is something I pay close attention to because the often but also welcome mischief character of my inner child is something that makes life fun for me.

I like riding and that it potentially keeps the adult diaper years maybe a day or two further away is a much appreciated side effect.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Exercise literally lengthens telomeres. 
I suspect being impassioned about something does the same. 

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk


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## fredcook (Apr 2, 2009)

1spd1way said:


> Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


Both!


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

I'm convinced that mountain biking keeps you 10 years younger... or adds 10 years to your life (riding 3-5 times a wee). I've seen regular people my age and it looks scary.

It works two ways:

it is an active lifestyle and a form of sustainable exercise. It keeps the body, brain, system healthy. And it influences you to eat and sleep better.
it is fun and it gets you up in morning looking forward to the wonders life has to offer that day.

These two combined is really the fountain of youth. The minute you stop moving, and when you lose motivation and enthusiasm for life, you slowly wither, and age quickly.

fc


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## ToddWadd (Dec 11, 2020)

Wife and I started slowly on hybrids last October, discovered trails by our house bought FS bikes in Dec and Jan. Now ride at least 3/4 times a week on trails in our mid 50’s. We look forward to our late evening ride and beers. Can’t imagine riding w anyone else and have taken a few bike oriented trips. So hooked, and when I sneeze while lying in bed that fear of pain as I sneeze is gone completely. My body feels stronger we eat much better but still enjoy food. She recently slalomed on a lake trip, we’ve both had an incident or two falling off our bikes but luckily no injuries, we are in way better shape physically. I’ve rearranged life goals around our new fitness level. Very lucky to have trails we can ride to from our house ride 8-12 miles then chill as the sunsets. I definitely want a longer telomeres.


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

Mountain biking is great, but you also need to lift weights to keep your bones strong and build strong muscles

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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

I have an attitude and body mismatch.

This reminded me of a time at our ski club where a line of parents and my kids were asking when we'd be done. The we was skiers same age as my kids and me older than most of those parents. Earlier this summer a new dermatologist recognized me as not only a MTB rider but still doing it because of the mix of scars and scabs.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Francis Cebedo said:


> I've seen regular people my age and it looks scary.


The older I get the more I view this as fact vs anecdotal. Seeing friend's pics from highschool on FB that are doing the same ole thing can be downright shocking sometimes.

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## mrdimi (Oct 26, 2020)

A bit of both really, started riding in my 20's in the late '80's, took a hiatus. Started riding trails again last year with the advent of lock downs and it reignited my love of trail riding. Bought my first new bike in 20 years this year, '21 Norco Optic and having a blast relearning old skills and a bunch of new ones.


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## acer66 (Oct 13, 2010)

mrdimi said:


> A bit of both really, started riding in my 20's in the late '80's, took a hiatus. Started riding trails again last year with the advent of lock downs and it reignited my love of trail riding. Bought my first new bike in 20 years this year, '21 Norco Optic and having a blast relearning old skills and a bunch of new ones.


Similar here, I am riding on and off since around the early 90ties.
Never really "learned" to ride a mtb and I now dived deep back into it and I am really fascinated on how much I do not know or more how much there is to learn.


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## k2rider1964 (Apr 29, 2010)

I've been riding since 1988 and I keep doing it for the FUN factor. The exercise and health benefits are a bonus. I'm lucky enough to have a great wife who is okay with me traveling frequently to ride and riding areas away from home keeps the spark alive. We just went to Ely, NV for the first time and had a great time riding some new trails. I'm an adrenaline junky though and also love challenging trails. If I was just spinning around on blue trails. I'd have probably been done long ago.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Stay physically active (learn a new activity), eat a well balanced diet and don't eat crap food (stay away from overly processed, salt and sugar foods) and exercise your brain. Take part in complex movement. Our brains evolved around complex movement like making and using tools and escaping things trying to kill us. Animals in captivity have smaller brains as they simply lay around all day and do nothing.

Take care of your skin. It doesn't hurt to use sunscreen


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## nayr497 (Nov 9, 2011)

Long-sleeve sun shirts are about the best invention of my lifetime Love those things, makes putting on sunblock and getting out the door that much easier!

^^Love learning new things. Throughout my life I've always gone headlong into new things, loved them for awhile, gotten good, spent plenty of time, then casually float on to something new. Happened to me with road biking, something I never would have thought I'd do, as I played "ball sports" as a kid and couldn't imagine anything without physical contact or a scoreboard.

Now I'm onto tennis and mtb biking. I try to give myself something every day that I look forward to getting out of bed for. Usually pretty easy - as soon as I wake up I take my dogs on a good walk...and as soon as I need to head to my office, I jump on a bike! So, before most folks have chugged their first caffeinated beverage, I've had fun twice and gotten exercise twice!


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## hsakkire (Mar 6, 2010)

You have no choice but to grow older. But, never grow up. 

It's what I tell my kids all the time. 

The activities that are fun as a kid are still fun as an adult. Keep doing them. Never stop until your last breath. 

There's living and then there's existing.

There's a big difference between the two. It's what many have mentioned is shocking about their friends and peers. 



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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

1spd1way said:


> I spend way too much time on this forum.
> As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


First rule of fight club ...


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## BansheeRune (Nov 27, 2011)

1spd1way said:


> I spend way too much time on this forum.
> As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


So, you and so many are Toys R Us kids to this day. How the hell do I get the backward R anyway??

Therapy is what bikes provide. On every level, they are there for us.


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## Red Leg 2 (May 4, 2014)

1spd1way said:


> I spend way too much time on this forum.
> As my sweet-heart and I walk (limp) into our 60"s, I often wonder, Am I just refusing to grow up?
> Or is my riding keeping me young?


 It's all in the riding


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## NC_Foothills_Rider (11 mo ago)

WHALENARD said:


> Exercise literally lengthens telomeres.
> I suspect being impassioned about something does the same.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk


I agree 100%. Our 'mission' is what keeps us going, and regular exercise is what gives us the ability to keep going.

Sarcopenia is a terrible disease and it affects most American men over the age of 50. If you're over 50 and are skinny/in shape/jacked (different strokes right?) you're an anomaly among American men on average.

Just being average for 1970 is just about elite nowadays in terms of physique for older guys.

I lift and ride regularly. I'm not a body builder. I lift for functional athleticism, so I can better enjoy riding and strenuous hiking, and also reduce my risk of injury with extra lean muscle and improved flexibilty.

The goal is to be as fit/athletic/active as possible for as long as possible. Not to be on 18 presciptions, using a walker, and needing endless surgeries just to survive. I see so many boomers and even a lot of Gen-X people following that path and it looks like hell.

As far as 'old guy' fitness is concerned, PD Mangan is a good resource. Rougehealthandfitness.com . He's a PHD microbiologist and also coaches older men on fitness. He's 67, used to be a vegan marathon runner, then got wise. I'd rather look like the guy on the left. His advice really works.

:










Diet: Ted Naiman and the protein to energy ratio -- same weight -- 22 y/o vs 45 y/o













If there is a fountain of youth, it's literally lean muscle mass IMO. You maintain that by consuming adequate protein and by strength training.

Failure to do those things ends up with walkers, immobilty, and chonic disease until you die.

I reject that paradigm. My old doctor doesn't know **** about nutrition or health, and he doesn't heal anybody. Just endless pills and surgeries. And never an acknowledgement of the connection between diet and health.

Nope. But he does always have his prescription pad at the ready.

I say **** that.


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## ZX11 (Dec 24, 2020)

NC_Foothills_Rider said:


> As far as 'old guy' fitness is concerned, PD Mangan is a good resource. Rougehealthandfitness.com . He's a PHD microbiologist and also coaches older men on fitness. He's 67, used to be a vegan marathon runner, then got wise. I'd rather look like the guy on the left. His advice really works.
> 
> :
> 
> ...


True about the strength training being good. Great stuff.

However, the exercise guru's in those photos are assuredly on various steroids. Great muscle gains and fat loss on steroids such as TRT, HGH, SARM, etc. They have their own risks using such (cancer?, low self Testosterone). 

My issue is when they are on gear and sell their diets and exercise plans as a way to get to where they are. Injections of gear is a large part of their success but they claim it is their diet and exercise. It looks like, but only looks like, their programs give them the better gains than other exercise programs. So, people send them money for their exercise programs, diets, and supplements. Salesmen.


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## plummet (Jul 8, 2005)

Age is but a number. 

Get out there and enjoy what ever the f$%k you like and disregard everything else.


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## Drew H. (Oct 6, 2017)

I refuse to get old, my body strongly disagrees.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

NC_Foothills_Rider said:


> He's 67, used to be a vegan marathon runner, then got wise.



He gave up long distance running?


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