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Chat with tiny older woman cyclist-- at market


shootingstar

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9 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I don’t see other people in my age bracket on the roads. Lots of them on the bike trails. Very few running Strava. I don’t count this year, I guess it’s a sabbatical.

Neither myself nor dearie have gotten in Strava.  Probably less than 20% of my riding is on roads.  We live in area where there's lots of choice to go in different directions and hook up multiple pathways to get to places / get tons of enjoyable exercise.  I choose road if I need to avoid congested pathway areas which  really is only a segment not 1,000 km. park pathway system in our city.

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10 minutes ago, F_in Ray Of Sunshine said:

Actually, no. Bike sales have been through the roof this year. Not sure hoe it breaks down demographically, but I’m sure it’s across the board.

Yea, I keep on hearing this. Lots of warning on local bike shops' websites about service lineups ....or worse, lack of bike choice to buy :( (which I would consider kinda serious because people are all sizes, shapes and preferences)...probably of some shipping chokepoints from overseas or from the U.S. for Canadian shops.

1 of my nephews for his summer job was putting together bikes ....for one of the cheaper retailers in Toronto.  He was out in the burbs at a warehouse..  

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19 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Sometimes I really do feel abit rare...as an older woman cycling for transportation daily in the city where I live.  Particularily in my age bracket.

And for sure, as someone of colour...cycling at my age in the city where I am.

You would be right at home here in SoCal. A very active culture with many folks well into their 70’s riding.  The public transit infrastructure isn’t great but people of color are the majority and there are large , Asians populations.

 

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15 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

You would be right at home here in SoCal. A very active culture with many folks well into their 70’s riding.  The public transit infrastructure isn’t great but people of color are the majority and there are large , Asians populations.

 

I think it MIGHT be abit truer in VAncovuer and also in Toronto for Asians cycling in noticeable numbers. But absolutely not here in Calgary. There is a sizable Asian-face population here but it's still car ...as the status symbol. Our winter weather is colder. I cannot even begin to stress, especially for recent immigrants...the car as a status symbol.  

It is noticeable to me however, good use of transit by same demographic...which doesn't mean alot of these folks are poor. They just live frugal lives.  I'm just saying this because there's an enormous judgement by some people in my area that taking transit means you're poor. Nope, not always true. 

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1 minute ago, shootingstar said:

She was Caucasian. Fair skin...pink but she protected her skin ..from all that heavy cycling and exposure to sun.  That's how unusual she was to me...in terms of her fitness, age, and size/demograhic also in the city where I am.

I don’t have a picture of my oldest sister but you would be impressed with her, shoot I am. She’s 72, works part time (because she wants to), rides her bike to work (her job is really close to home) is an active person who hikes, plays golf & tennis.  She’s a petit little thing and still so active for any person yet a 72 YO.  

Shes also a T2 diabetic but doesn’t fit the profile.

  • Heart 2
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35 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Lots of warning on local bike shops' websites about service lineups

I was on the Cannondale site yesterday and noticed the MSRPs had disappeared. Sure sign it’s seller’s market.

(Which sucks because I have a couple bikes to sell, but didn’t want to be bothered....now it’s too late in the season).

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53 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

It's just rare to women in my prairie city, 60's age range and up, cycling for transportation.

I saw an older woman on campus, riding across the quad, on a “Dutch style” bike. I noticed her because she came up behind a group of pedestrians and slowed down to match their pace. She was rock steady at walking speed, feet on the pedals. Low speed riding is NOT something a casual cyclist can do well. Then when she got to the bike rack, she did a cyclocross dismount and I thought “now THERE’S someone who knows her way around a bike....”😎

  • Heart 4
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2 hours ago, ChrisL said:

I don’t have a picture of my oldest sister but you would be impressed with her, shoot I am. She’s 72, works part time (because she wants to), rides her bike to work (her job is really close to home) is an active person who hikes, plays golf & tennis.  She’s a petit little thing and still so active for any person yet a 72 YO.  

Shes also a T2 diabetic but doesn’t fit the profile.

Now, that you've made me curious about what your sis looks like..

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1 hour ago, F_in Ray Of Sunshine said:

I saw an older woman on campus, riding across the quad, on a “Dutch style” bike. I noticed her because she came up behind a group of pedestrians and slowed down to match their pace. She was rock steady at walking speed, feet on the pedals. Low speed riding is NOT something a casual cyclist can do well. Then when she got to the bike rack, she did a cyclocross dismount and I thought “now THERE’S someone who knows her way around a bike....”😎

Be still your heart. :D

 

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1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

Now, that you've made me curious about what your sis looks like..

I just don’t have any pictures of my sisters on my phone... As my grandfathers were white, some of us are very fair completed and some very dark. Some have Asian features & some don't.  This sister is the fairest and has European features so is the “whitest” of all of us.   

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15 hours ago, ChrisL said:

You would be right at home here in SoCal. A very active culture with many folks well into their 70’s riding.  The public transit infrastructure isn’t great but people of color are the majority and there are large , Asians populations.

 

Yep - TONS of older cyclists in my area.  I'd say the sweet spot is 50-59, then 40-49, then 60-69, 30-39, 70+.  Cycling is a sport that goes great with older ages.  Sure, getting old can slow you down or cause some extra issues, but not horribly so.

I just reviewed Strava, and for two segments with 2,000 (hilly road segment) or 17,000 (family/n00b friendly segment) unique riders, the breakdown was close to my estimate! So, 20% or 15% of the Strava using riders (likely skews young), are 55+.  I was definitely "optimistic" to some extent, but I feel like the skew toward younger user of apps in general would make older folks under-represented in my numbers.

image.png.4d89fc5f46a347d6d05956bbd642bb21.png  image.png.e187f7b5d9d460d36011194c0a8830be.png

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