# More old riders around than you realise.



## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

Recently we started a FB group Highland Classic Cycles. It's aimed broadly at the days of lugged steel bikes, but can include anything interesting.

This ride was intended to be mainly gravel so the choice of bikes was eclectic.

The over 50s group was well represented, and there was some old iron pulled out for the ride.

Our ride was on the Great Glen Way which started at sea level in Inverness and runs along the north side of Loch Ness of monster fame.

Despite a weather forecast of a clear sunny day, it started in thick freezing mist, and it didn't clear until we had climbed about 1,000 feet, at which point we all started overheating in the clear sky and sunshine.

But there were compensations. The turning point of the ride was at Rory's cafe for a feed. It's off a piece of singletrack, and is somewhat extempore.



Yup, that's the cafe.



Lashings of good food.



That's the track to the cafe.

And, yes the lad holding the spare bike is on a trike. Awesome rider. He's ridden that around and also across Iceland.

Then from there a longish road section so we could hurtle down Abriachan, a 1,000 foot descent in a short distance.

I learned one thing. If you take a mtb geared singlespeed on the road with bikes with road gearing, then a cycling term for the equivalent of valve bounce is needed... 

Great day out, and my legs got more of a workout than expected.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Great to see everyone out on their bikes!


^ I hope the piggy is just resting


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## Rider51 (Jun 6, 2015)

I love seeing this kind of stuff. We're going to live a long time, friends! 

The guy that leads local NEMBA rides just turned 70. He can out ride most of us. Maybe not lightning quick, but he has superb skills, and a very steady rider. I'd say 90% of the riders on these rides are over 40, and maybe a quarter of them over 50. None are true slow pokes. Most are very deft and can keep up a good pace.


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## Len Baird (Aug 1, 2017)

Shooting a boar for a trail lunch certainly kicks it up a notch.


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## Osco (Apr 4, 2013)

I stopped at a table in the woods once to eat and hydrate,
I swear I heard a hog snoring In the bushes right next to the table,
I got up on the table for a better look see, yep sound asleep.


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## Crankyone (Dec 8, 2014)

Hog snore! that there's poetry! and sounds downright Scottish!


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## mudflap (Feb 23, 2004)

Where legal, e-bikes are giving many of our older generation a last chance to hit the trails. I ride with a chap in his early 70's who is a Parkinson's patient who has just switched to an ebike. On his very nice old Niner RDO he was dead in the water. He has new life now. It's awesome.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

And then there's Robert Marchand, 106 years old.






Makes me feel like a youngster.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

mudflap said:


> Where legal, e-bikes are giving many of our older generation a last chance to hit the trails. I ride with a chap in his early 70's who is a Parkinson's patient who has just switched to an ebike. On his very nice old Niner RDO he was dead in the water. He has new life now. It's awesome.


This is why I switched from being an e-bike opponent to being an e-bike advocate.

I asked myself this question: At what age do I want to stop mountain biking?

My answer: I don't -- and won't -- ever want to stop mountain biking.

I don't know when the day will come but as certain as the sun rises and sets each day, the day that my skills and abilities have diminished to the point that I can't join my mates for spirited mountain bike rides will arrive. I hope that when that days comes, I'll be able to turn to an e-bike to allow me to continue to join my friends for our annual classic epic adventures.

I don't mean to turn this awesome thread into an e-bike battleground. Certainly there are those who disagree with me and I respect them and their right to a different opinion. I'm strictly speaking for myself. At 65 y/o, I expect that my day will arrive within the next decade. If I were ten years younger than I am, I'd probably still be an e-bike opponent. I don't want those damn things on my trails.
=sParty


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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

I'm sure it's all about aging baby boomers but one of our county trail pass sales show more and more senior sales each season. Quite a few who've been road riders for a long time have bought fat bikes. More and more they're riding year round.

I get entertained by seeing older riders out around sunrise. The trail complex closest to home has a lot of women who are 50+ riding there. I've seen young guys digging jumps get embarrassed after finding out the woman they were watching could be their mom.

Some are critical of the e bikes as has been mentioned, modern complex bikes, and modern trail building but they all contribute to a much changed MTB community. I don't think the models we had only years ago were sustainable. That was diggers making advanced stuff to suit themselves, racers not contributing, or when they did making crappy trails for race events. Now a well thought out trail inventory and programs for pre-NICA aged kids made a whole different scene.


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## Rider51 (Jun 6, 2015)

mudflap said:


> Where legal, e-bikes are giving many of our older generation a last chance to hit the trails. I ride with a chap in his early 70's who is a Parkinson's patient who has just switched to an ebike. On his very nice old Niner RDO he was dead in the water. He has new life now. It's awesome.


The topic of E Bikes came up among friends recently, and we're all pretty much against them, especially on trails. But we started to think more about it, and wondered that some people should be allowed. I think the example you gave is perfect. If I were on my favorite trail and came across the gentleman you mentioned, I wouldn't bat an eye, and would be happy for him.


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## mudflap (Feb 23, 2004)

Here's a thought on e-bikes: most are pedal assist. If you don't pedal you don't go, unlike most motorized bikes where pedaling isn't required.
Rather than consider e-bikes as motorized, they should find their own classification as a hybrid bicycle, something that still needs to be pedaled to operate.
When I see my riding bud cranking along on his e-bike, I'm seeing someone riding a bicycle, not a motorbike.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

I look on e-bikes the same way I look on derailleurs. 

A great way to keep the old and infirm on bikes and maintaining their health.

I always said when I get old and frail, i'm getting gears - which is why I have a 3 speed on my road bike - and one day I'll have an e-bike.


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## Mr Pig (Jun 25, 2008)

I was at Glentress today and it is encouraging to see the spread of ages on bikes. And sexes, there seems to be more women on the trails every year. 

Yes, I saw quite a few older people, fifty-plus, but none of them were on eBikes. I was passed by two fit-looking young lads on eBikes on a climb. The only other eBike I saw was high on the hill ridden by a fat guy who I reckon would have struggled to get up there without it. 

I too have no quarrel with employment of eBikes to help the infirm and disabled keep riding but I have to say that that's not what I'm seeing them used for.


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