Very interesting responses, and a bit more serious than I expected - I was expecting more along the lines of stop wearing trainers etc.
‘You don’t stop playing when you get old, you get old when you stop playing’
Pretty much what I was going to say.
At work I used to suffer from imposter syndrome because I was young. Who's going to take me seriously? "Who's that snot-nosed kid think he's talking to?" Now I find myself going "when I was your age..." and "yeah, I'm old" but here's the rub: I've never thought I was the right age, I've somehow segued from being too young to being too old. How did that happen?
Age is just a number. Knee pads exist. Crack on while you still can, if you're leaving a pretty corpse then you've failed at life and there's no backsies.
4 years ago when my dad was 68 he fell off & seriously damaged his right shoulder, 2 years later he did the same to his left shoulder. In his early 60's he shagged his knee snowboarding which ended up needing a replacement last year. In his 50's he kind of fell off in a weird sideways fashion & hit a tree like a helicopter blade & really knackered his back.
The moral of the story is, make sure hurt yourself bad enough for prescription pain killers & you'll be reet.
‘You don’t stop playing when you get old, you get old when you stop playing’
or "Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional"
I'm 61, still getting the occasional PR on Strava, regarding my imminent retirement as an opportunity to develop some more skills on my unicycle. Gutted that I lost my age group KoM on Pink Heifer last month - obviously he must have been on an eBike!
I often think " I'm too old for this shit" but usually in relation to bureaucracy or work stuff
As regards biking? I doubt I will ever take the tandem to Glentress again but have been on my solo and still attempting to improve and even jump a little. Still ride a bike to work and still ride one for fun both road and offroad.
My folks, nor the in-laws or anyone else I know weren't still mucking about on bikes and chucking themselves down hills at 50. Looking back 25 years when I got married, MIL and FIL were 'like' old at 60 - they were working but didn't do much, and my folks at 50 weren't doing what I do now.
MIL has forgotten her own children are getting older - forgets two of her daughter's are around 60 - but they are both active.
My folks, and family just 'tut' - none of them are still mucking about doing 'risky stuff'. I badly broke my spine at 45 - OK it was a car vs me on the bike, but I'm still riding.
I hurt a bit more, and can struggle to get off a low settee after a few hours in the saddle (back packs in) but I'm not stopping. Nor am I getting an e-bike until my leg falls off - ex. roadie that just loves to suffer.
I caught and passed a younger lad on a decent hard tail on a mixed surface climb today - I had a good 20 years on him, and was out on my 30 year old Diamond Back MTB - I was expecting him to fly past on the flat as it was rough and my aris was killing me with no-suspension (left the FS at home as it's so muddy out and I was doing a quick 16 miles at lunch).
Fortunately, most of my cycling mates are a similar age and still going. I've had two mates drop dead in the last 12 months - a cyclist and a marathon runner, so never give up.
I'm cautious about injuries as some of my 'managers' aren't too impressed if you turn up in bits - the broken back had me off work 7 months.
That said, I discovered finding new things to do kept me feeling young and most importantly feeling well.
Racing became purgatory after 56 years old, and after the 41 seasons of racing, I discovered no great pleasure in just riding.
Meeting my wife to be on the rock and roll scene was the most luck I've ever had. We were pre covid jiving at least nine hours a week, and I'd never felt so alive and youthful.
The other things I do are just for pleasure, like boarding, sea swimming and walking. But the by product of those activities is feeling good and young at heart.
Millionaire factory racer in doesn’t-matter-if-he-gets-hurt-and-can’t-work-tomorrow shock
Three words.
Sports Injury insurance. Sports Cover Direct includes loss of income insurance, I'm sure there are others/better companies who do it as well.
Yes. Body boarding. Been learning for the last month in Spain/Portugal and have so far managed to hurt my back after being almost snapped in two backwards going over the falls, nearly drowned going around the washing machine 3x and most recently bruised my leg, stomach and bashed my hand so it's swollen up and 2 fingers won't bend properly after being smashed into the sand and landing on my board edge on.
Several tantrums and some tears my have occurred.
It wasn't meant to be this hard! Maybe I'm too old to start a new extreme sport plus i hate being the newbie everyone is secretly chuckling at.
The standard comment on the grid at vets road races is "remember that we have to go to work tomorrow". You bounce less as you age. But you age less if you bounce 😉
Skateboarding, however, is just constant impact with concrete. I had a groin strain falling off in the kitchen in February!
My mum was always thinking she was too old for things. At 74 she got an eBike and is all over South Shropshire nearly every day. She's going to need a new battery for it before long!
I am 50, came back from a snowboarding holiday earlier in the year with a very sore knee (which I couldn’t really understand because I had no incidents where I expected could have caused that much damage). After a month or so of pain I realised it wasn’t healing so went to the doctor, with the pain and swelling he suspected a torn meniscus, so had to go for an mri. Turns out it is just osteo arthritis and I just need to live with it from now on.
So 6+ months later, still in pain and yes I do feel too old for it. At least cycling so far seems to actually alleviate the pain a bit, wish I had realised that much earlier rather than spending the last 6 months of lockdown barely moving from my apartment.
MSP....I'm 9 years ahead of you, but a few years before you, I was diagnosed with osteo arthritis in my knee and told it was best to give up running. That was when I got into MTB, but also started taking supplements, starting with cod liver oil and then glucosomine sulphate. I still take them and my knee/s feel pretty good despite skiing twice a year and doing the odd run, so I'd suggest you give them a try and see if it helps? (takes a while to notice much though)
Pieface
When you see 70+ participants in a sport what do you think?
Idiots. 🙂
I mentioned it somewhere here on another thread, the most common cause of injury in older men is from trying to do the stuff younger men do.
Look after your body like you would a vintage car and you can still be competing in your 70s.
Last time I was skiing (about 10 yrs ago) I got chatting to a lad in his 80s on the chairlift. I was on skis and he was on a snowboard. He recommended that I gave him loads of room getting off the lift as he normally skis but decided to have a crack at snowboarding. No lessons, just hired a board and was heading to the top of the slope.
Huge respect, didn't hang around to see how it all panned out though 🙂
One thing I **** hate is youngsters in their 40s saying they are old. You’re in your sodding peak you weirdos!
^ this
I am 56 and I very rarely think I am too old but in March I fell quite badly and my binding was too tight meaning my ski stayed on.
A lot of these giving up skiing seems surprising ... I screwed a knee back in 2000/2001 hiring snowblades (which didn't have a binding). Came over a big jump and nothing but heather on the south facing slope... ironically the reason I hired was not using my own ski's because of the patchy coverage. I had to give up running as a result of this rather than age (never got round to the torn meniscus being removed) and a smashed ankle from earlier on the same side... but skiing is fine.
when i remembered that i had grey pubes, i realised that i was too old to chat up the barmaid.
"You didn't stop skateboarding because you got old, you got old because you stopped skateboarding".
Theres a lot of truth to this, its more about regularity for me, just like your job, if you keep doing it every day you get better at it. It's the same with sports. Ok, maybe not every day, but the point stands.
I'm 52 & from the age of around 6 when I hot my first bike, I haven't stopped riding, by that I mean recreationally, not just commuting.
I BMXed until my mid teens, then when mountain bikes came along I jumped on them. Haven't stopped since & I ride, on an equal footing with guys half my age, just because I never stopped & it just feels natural.
The BMX on the other hand, got on that a couple of weeks ago & it was like I'd never ridden it! It's been a few years & it's true when they say use it, or lose it! I know I could get back the feeling of it being normal, but it would take a good while now I think.
I’m 52, so “no longer a spring chicken” (as someone on here once told me!) but doing ok on the bike considering my dodgy back. I‘ve been doing personal training for the past 2 years and that’s really helped with my strength and robustness!
Anyway I rode my first ripstik at 45 then taught the kids to ride one. I still ride it.
LAT
when i remembered that i had grey pubes, i realised that i was too old to chat up the barmaid.
It's a matter of being appropriate.
Instead of drawing attention to the bulge at the front of your trousers, draw her attention to the bulge in your wallet. Seems to work for billionaires... 🙂
Started MTB at about 43-44 now turned 50 and just got my first Strava KOM 😀 Alright, it was an Ebike climb (and yes it was an EBike segment) but I'm in no hurry to grow up or stop having fun
No.
I used to play football at a fairly reasonable level with guys who got ‘too old for it’ in their mid thirties.
Madness.
It was probably one step beyond for them.
I’m 51 and still hitting some decent stuff on the bike. I noticed this summer I was a fraction slower than my son and his friends but I’m not sure if that’s me slowing down or them speeding up. Weight training / circuit type training will hopefully keep me going a bit longer
Turns out it is just osteo arthritis and I just need to live with it from now on.
Just? I have it in two places under my left kneecap as a result of my bike going out from underneath me at walking speed riding into town! No explanation for it, just turned onto a shared path, rough surface, and next thing I know I’m on the ground, my knee somehow went out and caught the full impact on the top centre of the cap, my left shoulder and the side of my face also took a hit, fortunately I was wearing a helmet, which took most of the impact; still got quite a graze on my cheekbone, could have been a lot worse...
Trouble is, my knee doesn’t really support me all that well now, the new longboard I bought during lockdown hasn’t been ridden, because when I tried, as I push with my right foot, my left knee wants to collapse sideways and wobbles, which does bugger-all for stability and security!
I must try some knee armour, the RaceFace d3o stuff is apparently very good, and give it a try again, and also sort out the bikes and do some riding - my confidence was knocked sideways, because I don’t know why I came off, so I have no trust in staying upright, with the risk of doing further damage to a knee that gives me continuing pain and discomfort.
Although the Zapain and Naproxen do help, and walking up to seven miles a day at work at least keeps up my mobility.
Oh, and I’m 67 next July...