Does anyone cycle?

I have ear/balance problems, but we have many cyclists around our country lanes.
The ‘proper’ Lycra clad cyclists who ride 4 abreast in the road and yell to each other as they whizz past, most of them sporting video cams on their helmets and wearing sun glasses.
Then we have the families on sunny days with little tots attached to their parents bikes with some kind of link.

They all seem to be having fun.

I’d need a 3-wheeler.

I have some lycra, purely for practicality, I have nothing to prove in my eighth decade, lycra is very comfy.

I wish I had been a serious cyclist in my younger days, like my husband but better late than never. On my own now, I learnt to maintain my own bikes and I have three. Kona coco, a very nice hybrid bike with tyres that will not easily puncture during hedge cutting season. A kalkhoff ebike that we bought in 2008, still going strong and very nice to ride when I want to go further. My latest bike is an islabike a janis road bike. Put away for winter now

I have hills all around in every direction and always come home sweaty, which is good. If I want a longer easy ride, I need to lift a bike into my car and travel to the somerset levels. The coco weighs 12.5kg and the janis is 11.5kg. I can still do that lifting

I carry puncture gear on my janis as it has skinny tyres. I carry a tool kit for my kalkhoff after a rubbing mis-alignment that caused my battery to die a long way from home at the top of a very steep hill. It was a long walk home that day. The rubber on my back tyre actually melted. I did change tyres and inners on that bike and they were a real b**ger to get on, had to use ties, they are now marathon schwalbe

I am looking at the forecast for today but rain is forecast and strong gusty winds. Oh well, onto my rebounder instead

We bought MzOops an electric bike to get her to her nearest shop, up a steep hill, then downhill for about 2 miles, down in Cornwall, apart from having to keep it in the sitting room at the moment, she loves it.

I love the bike!

I cycle a lot but because of health reasons I now use my super electric bike and can go the miles. We live just over the bridge and put the bikes on the back of the car and go to Wales to cycle, just love it over there, find cycling a bit boring in my local area. )Maybe we will see you one day Karmalady

Myself and Dh have a three wheeler urmstongran.
We have great fun on them.
We don`t ride them on the roads though far too dangerous.

Yes I cycle and I’m a member of a road bike club. It’s great and very good exercise. I haven’t done much yet this year as been waiting for the weather to improve. I’ve been going to spin class twice a week to try and keep my fitness levels up. Spin classes are tough. Would much prefer to be out on the real bike.

No, I recycle. DH has an exercise bike I've never even sat on. Too many steep hills and narrow lanes around here.Though we are on the Coast to Coast cycle route and a couple have electric bikes.

timetogo2016

Myself and Dh have a three wheeler urmstongran.
We have great fun on them.
We don`t ride them on the roads though far too dangerous.

Did you buy your three wheelers from a shop timetogo2016?

Too dangerous here. What cycleways we have no-one uses as they cause punctures to their bikes and the roads have terrible potholes at the side. I used to cycle to work years ago and loved it.

We don't see many cyclists here despite special lanes, etc. Most places are too far to cycle to for us oldies. We need better public transport.

I cycle …..my only form of transport ever apart from buses and trains

I apologies in advance! I live near a very busy dual carriage way, with a 50mph limit. The Council has spent God knows how much on a cycle way, dropped kerbs, etc that runs alongside and goes for miles, so can anyone tell me why most cyclists ignore it and use the main road? It causes havoc when buses have to pull out to pass and slows down all the traffic behind.
Genuine question - it puzzles me, as it would be a safer option.

George gran, could be the cycle lane is not wide enough, many are narrow and allows cars to come to close to you. Also do cars park on it, meaning it puts a cyclist in danger when having to go around it. That’s all I can think of.

I bought an electric bike in 2020 and use it as transport to work once the weather warms up, and the streets sweepers remove the gravel from the road shoulders. Most of my trips are short, under 5 km.
We don't have specified bike lanes in my town, so I have to be careful on certain roads during busy times, but I do love it.

Thanks for that ‘Barmey* but this is a wide track - maybe 10 or 12 feet with a six foot grass verge on long stretches separating it from the road. There are only 5 dropped kerbs in 5 miles, so hardly obstacles to ordinary cyclists, although I appreciate that some riding against the clock could find them a bit of a faff.

I was never that great on a bike in my younger days so now ....no. I live in London and the idea of a white line keeping you safe from the rest of the vehicles on the road is ludicrous in my opinion.

I cycle everywhere local, but I wouldn't call it sport. I don't have any special clothing. We are lucky here in Germany in that we have a very good infrastructure for bikes and I live in the Rhine valley so it's very flat.

DH does the whole MAMIL thing and has several outings planned with his chums this year. Not for me!

Cycling is our main form of transport for local trips and we are grateful for the cycleroutes locally.
We have done several long distance cycle rides over the years and enjoyed the Rhine path in Germany - following a river helps with the navigation!

Georgesgran it drives me nuts when cyclists ignore decent cyclepaths! Having said that we used to live in West London where the cycle path alongside the A4 was well known for having a covering of broken glass - not compatible with bike tyres. It was also used as a handy parking space by householders.

75 now and still cycling and mostly without battery power and I can still get up local hills, albeit counting cats eyes to the top. Maintenance is on-going, doing it all myself. I only average about an hour on my hybrid or road bikes, lightweight road bike has rock hard wheel pressures and is skinny and flighty. If out for longer with very steep hills then e bike it is. I ride by myself and an hour is enough for exercise without being bored

I did think, briefly, about replacing my e bike, bought top of the range german bike in 2008. I had to do some serious maintenance on that bike last autumn, I had replaced a split washer incorrectly on the back wheel axis and ended up walking a long way home. Took me a couple of days to fix things as I had to replace the back tyre and adjust gearing, brakes etc. My mistake and I learnt from it. It is still a lovely, very free-rolling quality bike but V brakes and not discs. V brakes are quite messy to adjust.

It is really nice to see a few more people out on their bikes and to have better increased protection from law, I have noticed many car drivers giving me more space

We (OH - 75 and I - 74) have a motor home and often go away for a few days, or longer. Always take our bikes with us. If we’re not away, we generally go for a longish cycle ride at the weekend.

I used to cycle locally but have recently given up and just walk instead. I'm getting old and doddery and our local cycle paths are quite hazardous now with litter, glass, dogs/people just wandering about etc. Of course, the local pot holes are being filled - just in time for Ride London next week.

I love my cycling! I belong to 4 groups and go out 3 times a week all year round. Like you Karmalady, I wish I had got into it when I was younger, but realistically, I never had the time.
Luckily we live in an area that is ideal for cycling, very flat with lots of cycle lanes and country paths and trails. It's costal though, so we get lots of wind! We usually do about 30 miles a trip.
I'm off with 17 other ladies between the ages of 55 and 80 on a cycling tour in Yorkshire next week. Now that e-bikes are available it means that older/weaker cyclists can still keep up.