Riding a bicycle is one of the healthiest sports I can imagine
After an accident, I had a painful femoral neck fracture. Following an unsuccessful operation, I became a replacement made of titanium, hammered into my healthy upper leg bone. After I successfully started to walk again, I had several appointments with my doctor. In one of the meetings came up the question about "what kind of sports I could do". He told me that he would recommend only two sports, swimming and riding bicycles. He did not encourage me to run or do any ball sports, bouncing with my feet on the floor or any sudden, unnatural movement would lead me back to the operation table.
In the following years, I did not do much sports at all which resulted in serious weight gains. After some surprising photos and the clear weight on the scale showing 114kgs, it was time to move this body of mine. I started to run slowly and carefully to get at least into some kind of shape. The revelation came during a short-distance triathlon. From a young age, I was not very fond of swimming but I could get through. I felt best on the bike and the running part was ok.
As my favorite was clearly riding my bike, I thought about getting back on it. My daughter was already independent and my wife would kind of support me to the point that there was no obvious reason for me not to follow my plan - to start seriously riding after some 20 years off the bike!
The right bicycle
In the beginning, I felt great on my mountain bike which I later converted into a road bike with the same 26' tires. But after my first triathlon, I found out that this bike was not fast or efficient enough, I wasted a lot of energy to ride, catch and even overtake some competitors.
With this experience in mind, I kept the 26' mountain bike with road equipment but decided to buy a 'true' road bike and found an alloy frame with carbon stays (NTD1700=EUR51.32=USD55.20, 2023/6/14). I've built up the roadie with cheaper 9-speed Shimano Sora parts, shifted with integrated STI shifters. I had some good times with this bike, and my speed and ambitions started to grow on it significantly. Unfortunately, the frame cracked right over the bottom bracket shell and a possible repair would by far exceed its value - and I had to discard it.
I put the parts on my mountain/racing bike and invested in a light scandium alloy racing frame (NTD2500=EUR75.45/USD81.33), with a 1.200 kgs/56 cm frame weight it is lighter than the newest incarnations of brand-new American alloy frames in 2023! With a complete Shimano 105 (R7000) parts build I am still riding my dream bike today.
From the above background, my different bikes showed not only a growing experience with bike building but also an understanding of how this wonderful invention works as a whole, as a system. I would never expect anyone around my age of 60 years to go through the same way to evolve but there is one way to cut through the chase - to think about what you want to do with your bike. Do you want to use
- a city bike for visiting nearby friends or shopping
- a road bike sportive touring or even chasing some personal records
- a mountain bike for going off-road and discovering routes off the beaten track
- a new, modern gravel bike for challenging tours over rough terrain.
etc.
Even at an older age, I would not ride an e-bike or electric bike because it is neither environmentally - friendly nor encourages an active way of doing things. Not everyone like to work with the body or likes to sweat and challenge him- or herself. But cycling should be a sport in which your legs, not an electric engine, should move the bicycle from A to B.
I encourage everyone at an advanced age to take it easy but steadily, preferably regularly on a bike. I guarantee you, that after a few following days, you get automatically familiar with the bike and you will feel generally more active overall. It is not about chasing records but getting used to moving with your body, mind, and soul out of the comfort of a bicycle saddle. And your rosy cheeks will encourage your family to follow you...
Part 2 will follow soon!
Ride carefully, Gerhard
Quite a story! I agree swimming is very forgiving and beneficial for body as long as one is using proper/decent technique e.g. to not strain neck swimming water polo style. One issue could be chemicals in a pool, some people are sensitive to them and have a leak from nose without a cold or even worse, skin issues. And bicycle is a good way to get to pool or pond/lake/river! Myself, I never have liked running and prefer anything else to it.
Recently I did longer rides out of city following your example. I went on a FG over rather flat terrain with rolling hills and despite being cautious about ascends I never had to dismount and walk my bike…