What I am looking for in a bicycle

Not one like this!

What I am looking for in a bicycle is a wide tired, wide gear range, loaded touring, chromemoly  framed bicycle.  A long, easy riding, let-go-of-the-handlebars and coast on long downhills bicycle.  A bicycle that can easily carry a week or two of camping gear, clothing and groceries in attached panniers while just as easily handling various quality pavement, gravel and dirt roads.  A bicycle that fits my body well and is comfortable for all day long bicycle rides.  A bicycle to pedal through the country to enjoy the scenic vistas and to camp at forested campsites.  A bicycle that is not fast or furious, but always finishes the long distance rides with style and class.  That's what I'm looking for.  It is called a touring bicycle.
In the mid to late 1980's, just about every bicycle manufacturing company made a touring bike.  Some, like the Trek 520, became legends among the 1976 Bike Centennial riders (now called Adventure Cycling).  Even small companies started up to only build a touring bicycle frame, where you had to install the components onto the frame in order to ride it.
Just in my close local circle of bicycling friends in the 1980's there was a Trek, a Cannondale, a Fuji and two Centurions.  All touring bicycles.  And we had some bicycles in our group that were used for touring that were not ever designed or intended to be used as touring bicycles.
Well, those glory days of bicycle touring are mostly gone now with only one or two companies still making lugged frames, everyone else choosing to weld the tubes without using lugs.  But riders still tour the globe.  Every year.  Most ride a handful of the same old touring bicycles.  Some ride with panniers, some ride pulling trailers loaded with their gear, some just ride.
Today in the United States of America you can still buy a new Trek 520, a Jamis Aurora Elite, a Fuji Touring, an REI Randonee or Safari, a Windsor Tourist, the Surly Long Haul Trucker, and bicycles still being built with lugs like the Rivendell Atlantis.  There are a few other touring models, some with flat bars, shorter seat stays or other modifications to meet more than just touring rider needs. Many of the 1980's bicycle companies like Centurion (my old touring bike) no longer exist.  These are on my small personal favorite list, but there are many others, especially ones made overseas.
For my money, I need a bicycle that I can maintain myself with my limited bike shop skills and one that leaves enough money on the table to still be able to purchase panniers, water bottles, bicycle computer and bike clothes.  The camping gear I already own.  While I will probably only tour once or twice a year, it is the all day riding and long-frame comfort that I am really looking for.  We'll look at some of these bicycles over the next few weeks and discuss their good and so-so points.  In the meantime, get out and ride what you have.

How I Started

As a child, bicycling was freedom.  It was also how I went fishing and camping.  In college, my used, rusted, bondo-colored, tensile steel Raleigh 10-speed was transportation to town and the country, but mostly it sat unused, a car being the better option with friends.  I was living in Chattanooga, TN in 1981 when I saw a story on TV about "mountain biking" as a new sport being created in the Bay Area of Marin County in California .  What intrigued me most was bicycling on a hiking trail, away from traffic and cars.

An online photo of the Schwinn Catalog, the Sierra is on the right.

I purchased a new, relatively inexpensive 10-speed from Sears, and quickly learned how to stop with my feet on the ground on long downhill runs; the steel rims wouldn't stop the bike when they were wet.  After a few close encounters with the car-kind, I sold the Sears bike and paid a whole lot more money for a mostly chrome molly Schwinn Sierra mountain bicycle, the only mountain bike sold in the area at that time.  I also purchased a bicycle helmet and a Velcro-mounted water bottle.  My first few rides on gravel back roads were liberating!   The professionally assembled bicycle had the smoothest rolling bearings of all the bikes I had owned (to then) and rode so well, I was captivated to find new places to ride.
My first hiking trail bike ride was to pedal along the base of Lookout Mountain on a gravel road through the forest, and pickup the hiking trail to the summit at Sunset Rock.  The almost vertical mountain hiking trail proved difficult, but where I couldn't ride, I pushed or carried the bike.  After the final vertical scramble up to the top of Sunset Rock, I finished my water bottle, enjoyed the view and considered how I was going home, down the main paved highways or via the hiking trail.  I chose the hiking trail and hung on for dear life, bouncing from rock to tree, basically in one long fall downhill on the steep trail, and was only partly upright at any time.  Shouting "sorry" to scared hikers who scrambled out of the way at the last second as I blew past them going way too fast, I somehow careened my way back to the gravel road and a much more reasonably slower pedaling passage back to my car.  I was stoked!  And primed!   The Chickamauga Battlefield became my main riding area after that, just down Missionary Ridge by car.  I could enjoy a 4 hour bike ride 3-4 days weekly and still make it to work on time (I worked second shift then) and that was my life until moving to Florida in the mid 1980's.

A Centurion Pro Tour 15 like mine, loaded for touring.  

Once in the Sunshine State my bicycling mileage increased by commuting to work and by riding longer weekend routes.  I purchased a lugged, Centurion Pro Tour 15 touring bicycle and a used Cannondale mountain bike, riding both as much as possible.  The Pro Tour quickly became my favorite bicycle and even though it was worn out when I sold it, I now wish I had kept it.  With my friend Bill, I made two bicycle tours of north Georgia's mountains; with my future wife a very memorable overnight tour to Lake Kissimmee State park where we listened to a raccoon eat our breakfast one night while the food bag was tied to a tree; and a few overnight camping trips with friends in the Ocala National Forest.  Many rides were all-day long, with several centuries ridden around the state.  I bicycled two back to back, ten thousand mile years and carried my children on local rides in bicycle baby safety seats.  We day hiked then also, mostly in the Smokey Mountains and since we lived close to Wekiva Springs State Park at the time, we hiked and bicycled there on the trails extensively.  Life was good.

A Cannondale Mountain Bike, and a gift for my wife.

In the early 1990's I moved to Colorado for a new job and continued bicycling to work when I could.  The winter weather and cold temperatures were rough to ride in, but with investments in the right clothing I could ride without freezing about half of the year.  I don't know how many times I called home for help picking me up.  However, riding in the mountains and foothills was awesome!  I grew to prefer road bicycling there, the mountain bike trails being only all up or all down, and very tough!  I had a custom road bicycle frame built by a friend and rode it until recently.  Ride the Rockies in 2001 was my premier bicycle ride in Colorado with the best support, the best route, the best of everything in one package.  It was also the best I had ever ridden and I was in the best health of my life (so far).  A couple years later, life changed and I was again living in Florida.

Along the Ride the Rockies 2001 Route.

Fast forward a few years and my bicycling here has mostly been on the local multi-use/bicycling trails, the traffic being very difficult to ride with here.  Once you get way out of town the roads seem better with fewer drivers.
My goal is to get back to riding a touring bike again.  I like the upright position, the ability to ride most anywhere, and to carry panniers for overnight camping trips on occasion.  It will fit well with my current riding style, biking locally on the bicycle trails with an occasional overnight road trip in the Ocala National Forest.

A Specialized Rockhopper Comp, like mine.

In the meantime, I'm riding my fourth mountain bike now, a 2002 Specialized Rockhopper Comp and I still get a rush when riding off road.  I can't believe it is 11 years old now.  I am pleased with how mountain bikes have changed with the times since my first Schwinn, and recently witnessed one of the new, 3-inch super-wide fat-tire models being ridden locally at Wekiva Springs.  We'll have to see how things go for my future bicycle tastes as I plan on bicycling more with my wife, while balancing backpacking, hiking, kayaking and family in the future.

AGE, not MPH

My 2002 Specialized Rockhopper Comp

Bicycling Over Fifty is about being "Fifty" being YEARS Of AGE, or older, not MPH as in going faster than "Fifty".
Those who just wish to get outside and enjoy life on two wheels, we're here for you.
After my wife and I met, some three states, two children, five houses, and seven jobs ago, we began our relationship by riding our bicycles together. We felt we couldn't give back to the world any better than writing about our rides, how healthy bicycling has been for us and all the cool places to ride to, wherever we happen to be.
We now live in central Florida, which means we can bicycle all winter. Summer is so very hot here, we don't bicycle much locally then.  We'll get out on "cooler" days when we can, or we will travel north to cooler temperatures.
We live close to a multi-use/bicycle trail, the Cross Seminole, which crosses our county and carries the Florida National Scenic Hiking Trail along its route.  The Cross Seminole Trail links to the Seminole-Wekiva Rail Trail via a pedestrian suspension bridge over Interstate 4, creating multiple bicycle rides over twenty miles long from home, without having to ride in traffic or pedal up long hills.  Both trails are planned to be extended over the next few years which will be exciting for us.  By adding a few, low car-speed road miles, bicycling from home can be any distance or style we want.  Going further, by adding some state highway miles, you can ride most anywhere in Florida.
So, welcome to our blog.