@Mick and you could trade a few stories, but even you have a few years on him.
2015-07-06 13:44:14
25
Bike Geezer- and proud of it!
I make a claim that I would like to test on this forum: I believe myself to be the (oldest)+(longest-continuous riding) cyclist in Pittsburgh, if not in Allegheny County (and maybe even beyond that). Note the "+"- I don't claim to be the oldest cyclist, nor necessarily (but probably am) the longest continuous one- and the LOCAL claim. Nor am I any great cyclist, content as I am with mostly-recreational, a few-times-per-week riding, except in the worst winter months, when I'm a total weather wimp. I probably ride about 1000 miles/year on average.
This is based on when I first started riding- 1970, right after graduating from college, my present age of 67, and my permanent residence in this area since then. Do the math and you get 45 years. I can tell you this for sure: in the early 70's there were very few adults on the road around here, and the few I ever saw were mostly older than I, and pretty likely not with us any more.
So what say you? Am I the Bike Geezer?
2015-07-06 13:18:19
I think you've got some competition, Geezer :-), because I'm 57 and I've been biking quite regularly since 1963, though many of those years I was not in Pennsylvania.
If we're going to declare a winner for this title I think you need to pick the formula or criterion more precisely.
2015-07-06 13:57:04
I believe Oscar Swan is still out there riding.
2015-07-06 13:57:07
George Schmidt's been around a long time too.
2015-07-06 18:09:07
At the Nada Regatta Valet Parking Sunday evening, our only bike during the final concert was ridden in by a gentleman who moved to Pittsburgh sometime in the 60's. Although he did not say if he had been riding continuously, he did point out he was born in .............................. 1930.
If nothing else, I think he could make a strong claim to the oldest cyclist in town.
2015-07-06 20:13:29
[ Self-disclosure stuff is always a bit weird. But here goes... ]
I was regularly bike-commuting from the beginning of the 70's through the mid-80's. Then slacked off; well, my frame broke and I didn't want to afford a (nice) new bike; also I lived walking distance from work. Eventually I got bored and got back to riding (mid 90's?). About 6-7 years ago I bought a bike computer so I know that I've been averaging 2-2,1k miles a year. Not anything close to elite but still pretty engaging. Oh and winter riding is fun. Do check it out; it's not like it means you have to get out there on those 12in-of-snow days, just remember to regularly hose off the salt.
I'm not as old as you. But I plan to keep riding. Maybe even getting to pile up more miles as I start to work less and have more time on my hands. I just kind of enjoy the whole thing, for some reason. Is this a cry for help? Maybe...
2015-07-06 21:29:32
Danny Chew has a t the moment close to >a href="http://www.dannychew.com/mileage.html">760.000 miles. Or to be more exact -- 757,000.
2015-07-07 00:25:31
I believe Oscar Swan is still out there riding.Yes, he is. I've talked to him while I was volunteering during this year Steel City Showdown. As usual he was on his oldracing bike in old leather helmet.
2015-07-07 00:28:34
And let's not forget Mary Shaw.
2015-07-07 19:26:53
#ForeverYoung I think Mary Shaw may be the youngest of us all. (no disrespect to anybody)
2015-07-07 21:03:32
There's attitude and there's chronology...
I'd agree it's best to keep the two separate in one's life.
2015-07-08 09:34:49
Well, I'm a geezer and proud. And I grew up here.
But for someone under 80 to think they might be the oldest (Age+continuous riding)? Please share what you are smoking, sir.
Or maybe not.
I'm really, like, 37. Aren't I?
2015-07-08 10:29:47
Just discovered that my email from this post went to my Yahoo mail, which I rarely check, and here I thought there were no challenges :) So the fun continues.
Fair enough, I have been asked to describe the criteria. Having created the title, so I get to write the formula:
BikeGeezerdom= (total # yr continuous riding in Allegheny County while continuously a resident of Allegheny County) + (current age), where "continuous riding" means simply you were on a bike a lot each year. For me, that equals 112. (For the record, I estimate I have ridden 30-35k miles in those years, but I never paid much attention to odometers the few times I had them).
Please note, "claiming" and "believing" are two different things. I don't know if I am- although I have no doubt I'm way up there- so I'm testing the claim in the most rigorous way I can imagine, among the elite bicyclists on this forum. Prove me wrong or the title is mine!
2015-07-21 18:17:51
Until very recently I would routinely pass Walter Goldburg on Schenley drive. He stopped at about 90 and has been in Pittsburgh since the 60s but I don't know about continuous. I can claim Allegheny start in 67 or 68 ( do training wheels count? ) but an inconvenient 26 year gap sort of kills 'continuous'.
Who remembers (or has) the Complete Book of Bicycling by Eugene Sloane? That was the bible of bicycling in the early 70s...
2015-07-22 05:26:15
Back then I had Richard's Bicycle Book by Richard Ballentine, 1st (then 2nd) edition. Not sure how they stacked up to other ones, but they were written very clearly and made you understand the principles of operation well enough to figure pretty much all you (or at least I) needed to know to keep rolling.
This was back when completely taking a bike apart and putting it back together seemed like a neat thing to spend your time on.
2015-07-23 00:20:23
I love this thread. Y'all are some magnificent crotchety old people and I am very much looking forward to joining that league one day.
2015-07-23 09:31:43
I remember Sloane's book. I loved it. It was the closest thing I had to a vision of what bicycling could be, and I read it over and over. The modern (and much better) equivalent is John Forester's Effective Cycling, which I highly recommend.
2015-07-23 10:10:47
"magnificent crotchety old people"- high praise indeed! It sounds like Walter deserves a title- but not BikeGeezer, of course, it remains mine until proven otherwise!
2015-07-25 07:50:12
@Millvale Borough.
Maybe you could win the "most delusional" award.
2015-07-29 11:36:42
Bike Geezer et al.:
What is it about cycling that makes it such a sustainable, long term activity for you? I have my own answer(s) to the question, having tried a long litany of hobbies over the last 25 years or so, but I am curious about what others find to be attractive and sustainable about cycling over the long term.
2015-08-19 18:56:45
I do not consider biking a "hobby" but a conscious transportation choice. I do enjoy riding, and sometimes go for a ride just to ride, but most of my riding is for transport.
That being said, my choices to continue riding into geezerdom are pretty much the same as when I continued to use my bike even after getting a drivers license. Cost, health, ecological impact, and pride at providing my own power across the face of the earth.
2015-08-19 19:45:04
Things that biking gives me:
1. Most efficient transportation (for the distances that I need)
2. Transcendent experience, without the purple yoga mat
3. Dancing, but without need for a partner (other than the bike)
[To forestall criticism: conventional realizations of 2 & 3 are still very much desirable for me.]
Or maybe it's just an id thing:
Who cares?
Who cares?
2015-08-19 22:05:32
For me, I think I'm in better physical condition at 56 than I was at 36. I am in decent financial condition because I was able to shrink my transportation expense almost an order of magnitude. I think I have found a new calling in life, learning what the rules really are and helping identify ways that we can better inform people what those rules are and how they help. And since there is no way anyone can convince me we can keep driving fuel-guzzling cars for decades to come, like we have the decades we have been alive, somebody needs to be showing the rest how not to, and I'm that somebody.
2015-08-20 06:59:10
I've always disliked the idea of supporting the war-based automotive and oil industries.
I mostly walked and rode buses for a few decades, but too much about PAT made me too angry too much of the time, so biking is my major transportation now.
2015-08-20 13:13:29