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When should we stop riding? -- perspectives of an older rider

This is pretty interesting. This thread has been going for eight years. There have been 36k views of it; twice the number of the closest second place in the 1Rider section. That says something that may invite some BARF dark humor (bring it on). When I started looking at this thread, came from questioning the wisdom of my getting back into it after being away from riding for 40 years. It has now been a year and a half since I took the Bay Area riding course with eldest son, and after watching him have all the fun with his first bike, a ninja 500, has been a little less than a year since I bought a 2001 500gs, and about four months since I traded up to the 2004 Honda 919. Obviously most inspiring is hearing about the riders 20+ years my senior, still in it, but was also taken by the rider, 65, about to retire, and his thought that this next stage will just leave him more time to ride, got me thinking about visiting baby boy at the Second Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington next year- a nice lazy ride up the coast- motel to motel, credit cards, rain gear, toothbrush and a change of clothes in the tank bag, tools under the seat, and no need to hurry.
 
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Carlo said:
There are several old-timers who were members of Oregon Vintage Motorcyclsts (plus numerous other clubs when they were younger) who didn't stop riding until they were literally on their deathbeds.
Roy Burke and Lydian Ascenzi were two who lived to be over 90, and still participated in club rides to the end on their modernized (Japanese made front forks with disc brakes) Indian Scouts, and were still very fast.
You can google both of those guys. Roy was an AMA Hall of Fame inductee.

I'm 65 now, about to retire, and I expect my riding is going to increase considerably.
Click to expand...

Riding makes life a little easier, doesn't it?

Ride for life, life for ride. :ride:ride:ride
 
Carlo said:
There are several old-timers who were members of Oregon Vintage Motorcyclsts (plus numerous other clubs when they were younger) who didn't stop riding until they were literally on their deathbeds.
Roy Burke and Lydian Ascenzi were two who lived to be over 90, and still participated in club rides to the end on their modernized (Japanese made front forks with disc brakes) Indian Scouts, and were still very fast.
You can google both of those guys. Roy was an AMA Hall of Fame inductee.

I'm 65 now, about to retire, and I expect my riding is going to increase considerably.
Click to expand...

Cool stuff. Good to hear.
I wish you well in retirement and riding Carlo!

Funny for me.. about a decade older than Hooli Pup it is my wife that wants/thinks I am getting too old to ride. Hell she is skert! I am not and feel like I am a better rider brain wise than ever.

Sure I have lost some of the skills I had in the dirt or on the race track, but I don't want to take it to the edge any more. The desire to push push has settled into the desire to have fun and enjoy the ride.
 
budman said:
The desire to push push has settled into the desire to have fun and enjoy the ride.
Click to expand...

That happened to me a few years ago... having each shoulders separated in different incidents a year apart finally proved to me I don't heal as fast as I used to. :|

Now when I want to push it, I take it to the track.









In the car! :teeth
 
My need to push-push has been self-censored by my hopes of non-injury. :teeth
 
Whut, stop riding ?

Now that I can afford any machine I want and know what to do with it?

Blasphemy I tell you. AND don't you dare give me an inch on the inside of a corner.
 
64 now but still riding "young". Gave up dirt last year, not athletic enough to enjoy challenges at Carnegie anymore. Still can tear it up with the best on a Street Fighter or Super Moto but now I'm contemplating what it'll be like in 10 years and I'm on a tear to make the most of the next decade before the inevitable happens.

While reflexes, flexibility and athleticism, and endurance is not what it used to be, there are some advantages to being an older motorcyclist. I can afford better bikes, better gear and better accommodations at ride's end. You get "smarter". And more selective of whom you ride with. You have more time to ride, so I'm off the grid when the herd is all out there. I prefer not to ride at night and I don't have "get-there-itis" anymore. I eat better & hydrate these days. And I choose to be "substance-free"...Partying these days takes longer to recover from!

Oh, yeah, HyperSports are no longer in my ergo range. No matter, an open triangle on a 'Fighter still affords me warp speeds to chase the tadpoles, but Grandpa can still drag an arthritic knee!
 
louemc said:
I'm 75, been riding for 60 years... And... That included "On any Sunday" Dirt/Mud, mountain trails, in the logging area's outside of Portland Ore., And desert racing outside of Bend Ore., And touring.... Longest time from home, living on the bike was, 4 1/2 months.

Mega miles of splitting lanes in the Bay Area.

When to quit? Have no answer.
Click to expand...

Lou's my hero.
 
Mostly biased opinions on this topic. The Dead do not speak and Maimed usually don't follow these forums anymore.
 
^^^^^ Little bit more to it, than that....

Riders that have been at it for a half-a-century, know how to safely do it.

So... do you want to hear from them?
 
saw a 82 yr old riding a s1000rr at a keigwins event right when bmw debuted it

then surprisingly i saw him at like 3 other trackdays that year

he had yellow/blk leathers

cool guy, living the dream riding the most powerful litrebike in the world at the time
 
FXCLM5 said:
saw a 82 yr old riding a s1000rr at a keigwins event right when bmw debuted it

then surprisingly i saw him at like 3 other trackdays that year

he had yellow/blk leathers

cool guy, living the dream riding the most powerful litrebike in the world at the time
Click to expand...

Locke McCorkle. He's a great guy. I used to do the Sunday Morning ride with him back in the late eighties, and he is still riding. He's also an amazing guy for what he has done in his life.
 
everytime i thought i was losing interest in riding, i pick up a new kind of riding...

loving trails, desert , adventure riding now...

has a mix of street riding only to 'explore' new to me areas...

planning a riding to the sierras and down to vegas...
 
I was at the cross roads too a couple of months ago. But I am only 40 and my reasons are completely different.

I have been riding for almost 25 years now, on and off for the last few years. Mainly due to kids - daycare pickups and drop offs. I finally started commuting regularly again for a year as both my kids started going to school and no more daycare. I started going out on the weekend rides again earlier this year with a friend of mine. Recently lost him to a motorcycle accident (single vehicle) and witnessed what kind of impact it has on his family. I am still commuting on my bike, but my weekend joy rides are done. I don't know if I will be able to do them anytime in the near future. My wife doesn't say "NO" for my commute, but I can clearly see the fear in her eyes, when I touch my bike.

Coming to the physical condition being the cause of quitting riding, I can see my reflexes have slowed down a little in the last couple of years. i have also come to realize that it is not the speed that gives me the thrill, it is the ride that thrills me. Doesn't have to be canyon carving during the weekends, i am happy just being on the saddle. So as long as I think I can do it safely, I will be riding.

Now, the million $ question is - when will I realize that i cannot do it safely anymore.
 
to beavis- wow, 40?!?! you need to read the above posts. While my kids were growing up there would have been no chance to ride, no time, taking the kids to school required a car, activities, and the most important thing, spending time with them,a lot of time, the best time, and there was no room for even thinking of getting back to riding. My two regrets are one: not getting back to it as soon as the youngest left for college 4 years ago, but I waited until last year when eldest decided he was interested in it and we took the bay area riders school course together. The second regret was selling my sportster when I moved to the City in 1971, stupidly thinking a vw bug was more practical. On the other hand, who knows what would have happened then. Now it's all good, commuting every day on the 919, some city, some hills, some freeway, one Doc Wong Sunday (way cool, learned a lot) and thinking about a lazy ride up the coast next year.

Read the posts, 40? 40= young
---------------------
rubber down
 
FXCLM5 said:
saw a 82 yr old riding a s1000rr at a keigwins event right when bmw debuted it

then surprisingly i saw him at like 3 other trackdays that year

he had yellow/blk leathers

cool guy, living the dream riding the most powerful litrebike in the world at the time
Click to expand...

His name is Loche and it was and is an HP4. I was lucky enough to meet him and his young group of riding buddies and had the honor of riding in the mountains with them every Sunday for a while. Until I bought a harley. All fast all great guys. All old enough to be my Gpa. Stop riding you say. Never I say
 
Yesterday;
Fuckin old people I tell ya...

Was out on the old like me (66) 998 just bee boppin around on my way to Harbor Freight to get some wonderful yet will fail after the second use because I have a 20% off coupon things.

Ima just doh dee doh mind wandering cruisin along on the freeway at 75 and here come some guys on modern tupperware torpedoes. They get ahead of me and start pickin it up so I hang.
As they see a challenge they turn it up a bit. We're rollin at no shit 150ish and I'm now in front, then my exit comes up and they follow. *Thank you very much baby jesus for no cops.

I'm in front on the slow down and they're on me as I do a nice stoppie at the bottom of the off ramp. The gas light was on so I pulled in to Sahib's a block away to gas up. They also pull in.

I take the helmet off revealing an old bald guy and they look at me with open mouths.

Yeah, this old turd will only go 164. Left an impression on them and they'll tell the story when they're my age.
 
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