Cyling in Middle Age

I am forty-seven years old and before now I was never an athlete. Growing up I was more interested in poetry than sports. I was a member of the literary club in high school snubbing anything as physical as soccer or running. People ask me all the time, so what sport did you do before cycling? I look sheepishly and say, “none.” Before now, I was an avid couch potato without the slightest interest in anything that could be called exercise. I spent most of my time up in my head. I had well developed intellectual muscles but physically I was out of shape. For me, it is a unique experience to be developing my body as well as my mind.

In my first year of cycling, I rode over 6000 miles. It was a thrilling year of fast learning and improvement. I went from barely making it 25 miles down a bike trail to riding 200 miles a week during the summer months. I went from being scared of drafting with my partner, to riding with a club. My body changed too. I developed muscles I didn’t know I had in my legs and knees.

However, becoming an athlete at 47 is a different experience than becoming one at 27 (and even that is old in athlete years!). My body is aging and I have to be mindful of that even as I push it to find its limits. However, if there was ever a time to become an athlete now is the time. Before I started cycling, I was on the verge of developing a number of health problems, including elevated blood sugar and high blood pressure. Both of those conditions have resolved because I lost some weight and improved my health with riding. Cycling also helps me deal with my depression which (as I have written before) is critical for my well-being.

I also feel good about venturing into something new in middle-age. There are times, especially when I am riding with the twenty-something women of my team, that I wonder what AM I doing here? But for the most part, I feel that cycling is a new and exciting learning opportunity for me.

I have learned a lot about my body and what it means to be athletic, but most importantly I have learned about who I am and what I am made of. Cycling has caused me to be more disciplined (although I am still working on this). It has pushed me to be competitive when I am usually cooperative. It has allowed me to be cooperative when I work with other riders in a pace line, or teach riding to beginners. It has pushed me to overcome the years of “girl conditioning” which taught me that I am not good with mechanical things. It has made me think about what is important to me as an athlete and as a person.

As an older but newer rider, I do bring the experience of my life to the endeavor. I bring a perspective of having lived through many trials and come out the other side. I know I may never be the fastest racer or the top winner, but that is not important to me in the bigger scheme of things. What is important is that I am learning and growing and sharing with others the love of cycling.