How long will you continue cycling?

moving back home is a bit of headache in so many ways

i think you may have a point there.. it could be a bit of jealousy on their part. they shouldn't see you as a bloke doing kid's stuff, they need to lighten up a bit. Also owning a car or learning to drive is not necessarily a requirement in life. useful perhaps, but expensive. No one should depend on their parents, but in these difficult times, suspect you are in a similiar situation like most.

Remember also that your parents and their wellbeing will become your responsibility one day. The less time you spend with them, the more you'll appreciate them..

#notetoself - next time missus complains about the grease marks on the kitchen floor, demand two weeks notice for removal of any spiders or replacing of light bulbs##

Hopefully for as long as possible.

Last summer I used to love cycling with my mum and dad down the country roads - they'd only want to go for 15 miles but just spending the time with them was brilliant. I like to think I'll do the same with my kids when they are older.

I not only see cycling as a hobby/ enjoyment It's also a way for me to keep fit. I really do admire these chaps who I see out on the weekends riding old touring/audax bikes, hopefully that will be me one day.

My Dad's 80 and cycles most days, is out with 3 clubs a week winter and summer, I'm not competitative but I hope to do at least as well...
So at least the next 30 years would be my plan.http://www.lfgss.com/picture.php?albumid=1495&pictureid=8821

Great pic!

As Ed says, the day my balance is too iffy to take to the lanes on two wheels, I'm going for one of these:

![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4931996250_dfd3cc44de_z.jpg)

You've had one too many lad!

Why would anyone stop cycling?

until im dead

as long as I am able.

Can't wait to be one of those sinewy old duffers on an ancient bike that breezes past you whilst you're puffing up some hill somewhere.

"Morning!"

spot on!

I once met an old guy who looked a bit lost on the way out of south London. We were both heading for Brighton to see the finish of Tour de France stage in 1994. He was then 77, I was very much younger. He had few teeth left but plenty of his wife's ginger cake (parkin) to keep him going.

After 50 miles I was stuggling to match his pace. He had cycled for 3 days from his home north of Manchester to see the Tour. The next day we cycled to see the Tour near Portsmouth. He then set off back to Manchester.

He had plenty of cycling stories. He claimed to have cycled every day since he got a bike for his 13th birthday. He kept going until he was 85 when he crashed in Spain. He also had a bronze medal from the 1936 Olympics. (picture)

Quite an inspiration, to meet someone like that by chance while cycling.
Harry Hill died in January 2009 aged 92.

I'll be riding till around 10 years after i would have died had i not cycled daily (as cycling could add around 10 years onto your life)

Definitely till i'm old enough for my son to gaze at me in admiration of the fact that i can still peg it up crouch hill on 60 gear inches fixed

until they broke my neck

Until I get fit or dead. The race is on....

I take inspiration from the likes of clubman on here.

He can still lay down a decent pace and keep going with people 30 years younger than himself. He has great form on a bike, and an a great economy of energy. Plus when sitting down for tea and cake he has as deviant a sense of humour as anyone else.

Chapeau to Chris, if I can be half the cyclist he is at that age I will be a very happy man.

Well thank you, I feel very flattered and generally in a better mood than I was a few moments ago before I read this.

However, I'm not sure I'm really old enough to be held out as an example. For the moment I will post an obituary I have just written for a clubmate which I hope you will find worth reading. I will have some photographs to add to this in the next day or two.
Obituary

**Ethel Brambleby 1917-2010. **

A Life in Cycling.

Ethel’s first time trial was a club 30 in November 1933 and her final appearance was in August 2000 in the Rosslyn Ladies 12 mile event. In the intervening two thirds of a century it seems that cycle sport and cycling generally were rarely far from her mind.

That 30 was ridden just a few days after joining her first club, The Aldershot C.C. As is so often the case in our sport there had been at least one cyclist in the family before her, in this instance it was her dad who had ridden for the Charlotteville before the Great War. He had suggested that his young daughter should join his old club, but here perhaps we first see a feature of Ethel’s personality – a determination to be her own woman and fully in charge of her own destiny. It was she who decided which club to join.

Determination is an invaluable quality for any athlete and Ethel was never short of it. Apart from the difficulties we are all familiar with she had to overcome the strong prejudice which still existed in the nineteen thirties against women riding competitively. The start of her time trial career was in men’s events with the Border C.A. The Road Racing Council (forerunner of CTT) quickly stepped in and banned this practice. Women were only to ride against women. 

Perhaps this opposition was the spur to her undying enthusiasm, and it was probably the cause of her early involvement with the Women’s Road Record Association: it is believed that she was present at the inaugural meeting in October 1934. This youthful entry into sports politics arose because the Road Records Association, which had its origins in a rebellion against the NCU, refused to acknowledge women’s records and consequently spawned its own rebel organisation – The WRRA.

Ethel’s connection here led to one of the high points in her career when she took the London – Birmingham record with a time of 6 hours 17 minutes. She also took the tandem London – Birmingham (5hours 23mins.) and London – Bath and back (11 hours 51 mins.), both partnered by Flossie Wren. All these were in 1937.

Ethel’s talents were not restricted to the saddle: she wrote lucidly and often amusingly, publishing a number of articles in Cycling (the weekly) and elsewhere. Here is a quotation from the Hounslow club magazine.

   “I have ridden every distance, massed start, track and tandem, I have held four national records and currently hold 28 VTTA group records. I have ridden about forty 12 hour events and three 24’s. I was at my best from 1936at the age of nineteen to the outbreak of war, and then again between the ages of 60 and 65, but my best ever year ever was when I was 68. I then rode a 25 faster than Eileen Sheridan did as an amateur, and did a better 50 than Marguerite Wilson, so why didn’t I do it when I was young? Girls seldom realise their potential; I didn’t know how to try then, and now I’m too old. Don’t make the same mistake – make the most of every ride”

Although she identifies the years of her age from sixty to sixty five as her best, it’s worth mentioning here that she won the Merseyside Ladies CA 24 in 1973, ‘74 and ’75, her best mileage being in the third year – 354.85, which is still the Hounslow’s ladies record. The ‘fast’ 25 she refers to having ridden at the age of 68 was 1.6.08, slow by modern standards but she records elsewhere that her first ever 25 in 1934 was won with a 1 hour 9 minute ride. The winner, still wearing the plus fours in which he had ridden crossed the road to congratulate for her 1 hour 19 minute debut saying “one day you too will do a nine.” She says she “went home on cloud nine.” The year of this short six was 1985 and this was her final appearance in the 3 distance BBAR table. The CTT website only goes back to 1965, but in the annual record of those two decades Ethel’s name appears fourteen times.

Apart from racing Ethel organised events, including national championships, held many committee positions and was chair of the VTTA from 1970-75. With her husband Les she donated the trophy for the CTT Ladies BAR. In her own words she toured, with Les, “from Norway to Israel, and from Eastern Turkey to California.”

Ethel Rolph, as she then was, met her husband Les through her tandem partner Flossie Wren and they married in 1939. From then on her profession would have been described as ‘housewife’, although Ken Ryall jokingly suggested it should have been ‘professional cyclist’. They had two sons, Richard and Paul; sadly Paul predeceased his parents in 1996, and Les followed in 1998, Richard survives.

It is evident that a full appreciation of Ethel’s life would almost amount to a history of cycling, particularly as reflected by women’s time trialling. As a branch of cycle sport time trialling is remarkable for its persistence – it currently has little publicity and virtually no external finance, yet it is still with us and shows little sign of going away. The sport only continues because of the devotion of individuals like Ethel and Les who, without any incentive in terms of fame or money, carry on with their support year in, year out.

Ethel’s departure is a great loss to the club and to cycling generally.

January 2011.

^wow what a fantastic obituary clubman and an inspiration for all cyclists.. RIP Ethel

One thing is for sure; there aren't enough Ethel's in the world now. I had an aunt Ethel, and though lots of other "retro" names have come back - Lilly, Daisy, Pheobe (another aunt), Ethel awaits.

Though it is a traditional Scottish man's name.

as in Ethelred the Unready
king of englerland 978 - 1013 and 1014 - 1016..

Makes you wonder what happened in 13-14....

Can't imagine stopping, really. My mum's mid-60s and rides daily, albeit sedately on whichever of her Hercules Balmorals is least broken that day.

My mum rides her dad's bike which he bought in his teens. He was born in 1903 and she's a very sprightly 74.

Although a very recent cyclist, I reckon I'll do that longer than running which I also love. Besides, replacement knees, hips and shoulders are possible on the NHS.

Wish there were more older women cyclists around.

Untill they make hover bikes/ boards/ cars.

as long as physically possible, seeing as Im 40 this month probably about 15 days more then

wow, I wouldn't have guessed more than early 30s!!

until next week thursday. frankly, i've had enough.

wow, thanks clubman, Ethal's story is really inspirational.

A cracking obituary, clubman. You really bring Ethel's awesome achievements to life, and humble us lazy young 'uns for not putting more into our riding.

Sunday morning 10, anyone?

And how many on here could honestly manage a 1.6.08 25 miler?

RIP Ethel.

wow, I wouldn't have guessed more than early 30s!!

What, with that leathery kipper? He's nearer looking fifty, if we're honest!

lolz

for as long as i live.

i drove a car for about 10 years (WAC) and did virtually no riding.

and i now feel that i missed out and have some catching up to do.

This thread is awesome with some great stories.

I have spent my life on bikes with the exception of a couple of years (where I lost my way) and will be riding until I'm dead or physically can't.

If I make it that far I want to be like my grandparents. They met riding with the CTC in Yorksire in the 1930's and spent their lives cycle touring. My gran only gave up cycling in her mid 80's when joint problems forced it on her. She was devastated. She was still doing 100 mile rides with the CTC at 80. My Grandad died last year at 93 and was still riding right till the end, though the rides had dropped down to just a couple a week and only around 20-25 miles but well into his late 80's he was doing some pretty epic rides.