Chuck Schmidt was musing "I know there are guys still riding in their 80's but who knows if I'm one of them or not?"
It's fair to wonder about such things....of course we'll never know until we get there, but I'm thinking with good health (thanks to riding my bikes and a couple of glasses of Red each evening) I plan on riding for quite some time. In 1986 I rode my first of many 'Almost across Arizona...Grand Canyon to Mexico' tours. I was fairly new to cycling, did it on a whim. An elderly, white haired gentleman celebrated his 80th birthday on that tour. While I was lying in my tent bonking, he was drinking beer and eating birthday cake. That guy is my hero...every time I have a little ache in my hip or some little pain somewhere, that scene pops into my head, and I go out to the garage, pull one of my fixies (current favorite...early 70's R. International) off the hook and ride off into the breeze, dreaming of birthday cake and beer.
Pat Moffat Tempe, AZ where I've been having my double Americano and bagel on the Government's dime for nearly a year now......Hey Chuck...in 18 years I'll be over to ride that Pasadena route with you guys...You'll be 80. I'll be a badass 81. In my dream, nobody bonks.
-----Original Message-----
>From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
>Sent: Mar 10, 2006 2:00 PM
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]KOF Frames and Growing Old--aka I don't want to wait
>
>Lou Deeter wrote:
>>
>> Rob has a good point. I'm 55 years old. A five year wait for a new frame puts me in the "I don't know whether I'll even have knees" age. I mean, I haven't lived the California lifestyle that Chuck Schmidt has so I doubt I'll be riding 60 miles everyday like he does when I'm as old as he is now. :) And, while there are youngsters who have 1) a desire for a steel bike and 2) enough money to order a new one, my belief is that age of most of the members of this list is decidedly closer to 60 than to 30. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
>
>
>
>I was reading along thinking who's this old dude who rides 60 miles
>everyday and then realized you're talking about me! Actually, I try to
>ride 2 or 3 hours everyday so its more like 35 to 55 miles with the
>occasional guilt ridden 25 miler.
>
>But yeah, I was hanging around Richie Sachs booth last weekend, checking
>out his frame with his nervex lug interpretation (NEWVEX lugs) and
>asking about his 4+ year waiting list and doing the math. I'm 62 in two
>months (looking forward to that Gov. check to pay for my morning double
>Americano and bagel) and that would make me 66 when I'd get the thing.
>
>I know there are guys still riding in their 80s but who knows if I'm one
>of them or not? Anyway it was a new thing to factor in that I never
>gave a thought to before... ***sigh***
>
>Chuck "nobody gets out alive" Schmidt
>South Pasadena, Southern California
>
>.