If you used to ride a bike but no longer, why did you stop? Did you find a better activity? get bored with cycling? or heaven forbid, get hurt? What advice would you give to those of us who are still riding in our middle age? I was reading some of the old posts in the “How was your ride?” thread and noticed many posters who used to share their rides are no longer posting. Some have obviously left the Flob, but some are still posting in other threads but are just not sharing their rides anymore. I’m not as strong as I was 10 years ago when I was enjoying off-road mountain biking. I sold my mtb a few years ago and switched to a road bike. I find that road riding is something I can continue doing into my old age, or maybe not?
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I was MTB rider back home and switched to road biking in Taipei.
I think it makes me fitter. I’m happier to continue cycling on roads in my advancing age than out in the wilderness.
Taiwan mountain roads and riverside bike paths are superb in my opinion.
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Baby born earlier this year, so hardly been out. I’ve booked a week Morzine in the summer which I’m sure is going to completely ruin me. Hopefully some regular commuting when I get back to the UK will help.
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Stray dogs–or dogs that aren’t stray but are either let loose or not kept on tight leashes in the countryside.
I cycle, but stick to riverside parks rather than going more rural. Sick of cycling along and then a big, angry, snarling beast comes rushing at me.
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I stopped because I bought a scooter. Takes me where I need to be within a fraction of the time a bike used to take me.
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Weather is too hot, crap traffic, poor respect for bike riders. In Austin, it was because the city got too hilly.
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I need new knees. Was nicely into my 17th comeback with two “races” lined up when a bit of cartilage came loose in my left knee. I’ve already had the right knee scraped. I can run on the leg but it’s the repetitive nature of pedaling that causes issues. Might look at total knee replacement next. Or buy an e road bike.
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Before coming to Taiwan, a bike was my only mode of transport. I was putting in 160+km/week on the saddle and foreswore ever using motorized transportation. I moved to Taiwan, bought a scooter, and gained 70 lbs seemingly overnight. Have purchased bikes here, but have found excuses not to ride more compelling. Currently, the bike I’ve always dreamed of owning is sitting in my kitchen with flat tires and laying on a guilt trip larger than even my wife could come up with.
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Two reasons for me (although I haven’t quit completely). The first is that we got a dog a little over a year ago. We got him in the countryside of Jian (next to Hualien City) and he’s, well, a country dog. He needs some time outdoors and so I take him hiking just about every Saturday morning. He really is built to be outdoors and that’s obvious when I take him up the mountain.
The second reason is that as I get older I’m finding that it’s harder to stay fit in my favorite sport of swimming. I need to swim more often now to get anywhere close to the times I was getting just a few years ago.
That’s about it. I think if I could work from home permanently I would squeeze in a ride maybe about once every two weeks. It would probably be a short ride but in the mountains and long enough to make me feel that joy of being in the saddle.
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I slowly (over the last years) find it a bit harder to motivate myself to get on a bike, but once I am on it, I am perfectly ok.
Rides do start to become more tiring, and as they are effecting the activities of the rest of the day, longer rides need a bit more “planning” than just jump on the bike and be freshly back after 3 or 4 hours.
Also noticed the last years that it takes more time to get back in shape after some weeks of inactivity.
The plenty of rain this year, specially at the beginning, did not help too.
Finally, I am also more involved in other hobbies, all taking time, and even a “retired” day still only has 24 hours …
To keep the motivation high, for me a yearly / monthly / weekly mileage target does help a lot, and often makes me jump on the bike the last day to make up on mileage.
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Walking a dog in outside forest areas is a joy to behold, I could easily give up cycling for that.
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Only about 200m of that is actually in a forested area. The rest is on a road up to a temple. Lots of shade and it’s quiet with a few cars and scooters so the dog stays off the leash. Oh and I alternate between running and walking and always have a personal best time on my mind (I like to make everything into a race). It’s just 3k up (a bit under 300m elevation) and then 3k of all walking back down, but I thoroughly enjoy that hour or so.
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Reminds me of bumping into a bunch of middle aged aborignal local guys and their mountain dog on the yushan trail entrance , they were getting paid to check out the trail.
Nice life.
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Back problems and to a lesser extent knee problems. If they didn’t hurt when cycling ,I would be doing it daily!
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What about your son? I remember you got him that bike I recommended. Your stop riding doesn’t mean cycling has fallen by the wayside for him too (no pun intended), right?
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Unfortunately, this has meant that he’s not cycling either. I keep meaning to change our routine, but a swim on Sunday afternoon together (when we both have time now) always seems to make more sense.
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Remember, kids grow up fast. Before you know it, that frame will be too small for him.
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I’ve been chased by an angry, snarling dog in the riverside park in Yonghe where there are always people walking, jogging and cycling. It can happen wherever temperamental dogs roam.
Sorry to hear that. Were you grinding when you should have been spinning? I sometimes see guys grinding uphill in the big chainring to build their leg muscles apparently. They’ll get big muscles alright but at the expense of their knees.
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No. My knees are wrecked through footy not cycling.
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I find it so much easier to fit swimming into a schedule: often less time, but also not as weather dependent.
Best thing that ever happened to my cycling was covid shutting down pools for a while. If I wanted to exercise, I basically had to get on the bike, even on days when the weather would have had me swimming instead.
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