Cycling: the Fountain of Youth?

Unless you believe the cosmetic commercials or plan to devote the rest of your financial resources to plastic surgery, you have probably realized that we are destined to look older with age. There are ways to prolong the inevitable, but eventually our age starts to show. We often see the physical limitations of age as well. The older we get, the slower we move - and the faster the world around us appears to pass us by.

From my observations, however, it seems that successful cycling does not depend on age.  Many people continue riding their bikes long after their jogging counterparts go in for knee replacement surgery. I have observed several "Senior Cyclists" (I don't know how else to put it - it is meant to be a term of kindness) putting in long and steady rides that make the young guys' knees buckle. Could cycling be a sort of Fountain of Youth?

My theory was put to the test this past weekend.  One of my neighbors, 70 years young, enjoys riding about 60 miles per week.  He rides his hybrid with a friend, or two, several times a week.  As it turns out, his biking pals were a little under the weather, so he asked me if my son and I would like to join him for a ride this past Saturday.  We were eager to oblige and asked him what sort of ride he had in mind.

"Oh, I don't know," he said, "Maybe we could head up to the Santa Fe Dam?"

It sounded like a great idea, but I knew the trip was a total of 45 miles and I didn't want to push him too hard.  He suggested we monitor how we felt along the way, and if needed we could turn back before reaching our goal.  Agreed!

It was a beautiful sunny day and the mountains to the NE were capped with snow - making for a great view for the first half of our ride.  My neighbor enjoyed riding/seeing some new terrain and the challenge of the longest ride he'd ever taken.  He easily kept pace the whole way!

(The only wrinkle in his cycling is that he doesn't like to change gears.  When the hill gets to be more than his gear will handle, he simply gets off his bike and walks.  I gently reminded him that he was riding a 21 speed bike.  A smile and an, "I know," is all I got out of him).

Truth be told, I think my son and I were more worn out than he was when we got back home.  I don't know if cycling is the Fountain of Youth, but I do know it doesn't exclude the more experienced generation of our society.  Here's to all the Senior Cyclists out there - roll on!