Cycle Touring for Aging Baby Boomer

I am sixty-six years old and ride my Avenue motorcycle a hundred twenty-five miles a week on average. In the past eight years, I have ridden my motorbike for about forty,,000 miles, almost as many miles as I have driven my automobile. During the same duration, I began and bought a motorcycle shop and have become a certified bike fitter. I have even done bicycle excursions in Europe, ridden the California coast, scaled an 8200 mountain, and carried out numerous fundraising rides. I do not say this to boast; however, biking has given this getting older boomer a whole new lifestyle. If you had requested me ten years ago that I would grow to be a passionate bicycle owner, I might have laughed at you. At the time, I became a complete-time Methodist church pastor.

I turned into usually energetic in sports activities and cherished playing basketball. Unfortunately, because of rheumatoid arthritis, I should not raise my arm sufficiently to shoot a free throw. Like many boomers, I took up golf. That became even worse. I took lessons and went to golfing college, but in no way progressed. I was depressed. I couldn’t run and hated going to a gymnasium and sitting on a spin bike.

My denomination changed to planning a fundraising bicycle excursion for Habitat for Humanity from Fullerton, California, to San Diego, a hundred-mile experience. I think perhaps I may want to try and train for this trip. I dusted off my cheap mountain motorcycle and started to journey the sixteen-mile round trip to my church, and boy, did it hurt. I changed into approximately 30 lbs—overweight, which failed to assist. I determined to put on a few lighter tires, which helped a touch; however, natural relief got here from every parishioner. He said I should borrow his Carbon Avenue motorcycle, which was striking in his garage.

Slowly but honestly, I picked up speed, gained patience, and lost weight. I was still intimidated by hills, so I joined the Habitat experience at mile 30. It wasn’t clean. However, I completed the trip, and I became hooked. My subsequent undertaking became education for a bicycle excursion sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the MS 150. It is a hundred-and-fifty-mile journey over two days. Having a captive audience as a pastor, I could enhance over $ 3,500. I have determined to participate in fund-elevating bicycle excursions to be fulfilling. The experience is super, the human beings you meet are first-rate, and the most fantastic feeling comes from doing something for a superb motive.

This past summer, I participated in the California Coast Classic for the Arthritis Foundation. The tour included 520 miles from San Francisco to Santa Monica over eight days. It became a revel in of a lifetime, using the direction at 15 miles an hour and stopping to appreciate the view instead of whizzing by way of at 70 miles an hour. Camping along the way and making some remarkable friendships. Raising cash for arthritis studies changed into a no-brainer for me. If you are a growing old boomer like me, signing up for one of the many fundraising bicycle excursions is excellent to get started.

If you love to travel as my wife and I do, do it on two wheels. There is not anything quite like exploring the European u. S. Side and ancient villages on a bicycle. One of our great motorbike excursions changed into every week in Riccione, Italy. Riccione is placed on the Adriatic Sea, approximately eighty miles south of Venice. Riccione has over a dozen lodges that cater to cyclists, imparting exquisite everyday manual tours within the gorgeous surrounding hills. When you end your trip, you’re treated like royalty with high-quality food and drinks. Cycle traveling in Europe can be remarkably low-priced, specifically if arranged via nearby excursion operators. Most of Europe is hugely bike-pleasant. Drivers are courteous, and a maximum of the roads are well paved. This 12 months, we are organizing a motorcycle and barge ride along the Danube River in Austria. The Danube Cycle Path is one of Europe’s most famous points of interest.