Big "ditto" on all of the comments! Dorothy Sue Phillips has dragged my pathetic, sniveling self through numerous rides the last few years. I'm 53 and she's almost 20 years older than I am AND a cancer survivor. It is VERY humbling. She is one of my endurance heroes, along with Barbara M and Julie S. I still can't keep up with Tom VanGelder. He's 83 and can work harder and put in longer days than I can. He can drive farther and do with less sleep than I can. Here in Cody I have a 75 year old friend, Ann Ayres, who just rode her horse in the big 4th of July parade and won her division. I am surrounded by role models who say you just have to keep moving and working or you'll die. I'm running behind them saying..."I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....slow down!" :)
>I'm half way through my 70s. If I rest, then I'm dead. Exercise and activity, and brain exercise in particular, will keep any animal (including humans) alive and fit and mobile for longer than resting will. Rest when needed, keep moving the remainder of the time.
You’ve got that right! One day 3-4 years back I was lamenting the fact that my mother had just decided to sit around and decay to a friend in ridecamp who is about the same age as my mother, but who sometimes 1000 miles of endurance each year, and asked her how she does it.
She said, “Well, when I get up in the morning, I move like this.” (moves slowly). “And THEN I just keep moving until I am moving like THIS!” (strides vigorously). It was really funny as she did it, but a good lesson.
My mother passed on a year ago, and my friend did 810 miles last year.
I got another lesson my first serious year of endurance. Rode a tough 75 in the rain all day (and night - 6AM to 10:30 PM) with a couple of ladies certainly old enough to be my mother (both grannies, AFAIK), and I was almost 40 at the time. Those granny ladies rode my poor butt right into the dirt, and I didn’t dare whine, since I knew they’d tell me “Shut up and ride!” Never underestimate a granny lady.
