anyone up in their 30's still ride mountain bikes

I just turned 34 and have no plans of stopping. Most of the best riders I know are my age or older. I'm not doing big drops or anything, but really enjoy classic XC riding.
 
I'm 43. I used to ride a road bike a lot when I got the chance before my work took over. I also used to make a lot of titanium cogs and chainrings for mountain bikes and downhillers. I've made chainrings for human powered vehicles (the bikes with the aerodynamic bodies) to 100 teeth.
 
Canyon trails, roads, you name it.

At least once a week, when time permits.

Minimum 20 miles up to 40 miles depending on time and terrain.

2 bikes, a fully built old school Cannondale SM400 stealth hardtail, and a Giant NRS 2 monkey motion.

Can't say which I like better, but they both perform like I do. I'm 40 and smoke 10 Lucky Strikes a day.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
btboone said:
I'm 43. I used to ride a road bike a lot when I got the chance before my work took over. I also used to make a lot of titanium cogs and chainrings for mountain bikes and downhillers. I've made chainrings for human powered vehicles (the bikes with the aerodynamic bodies) to 100 teeth.
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What kind of speed can a couple get in a HPV on a level surface and mild winds if they put their mind to it?

100 teeth! :thumbup: Man, thats got to look cool if nothing else.
 
btboone said:
I'm 43. I used to ride a road bike a lot when I got the chance before my work took over. I also used to make a lot of titanium cogs and chainrings for mountain bikes and downhillers. I've made chainrings for human powered vehicles (the bikes with the aerodynamic bodies) to 100 teeth.
Click to expand...

Hey, I remember Boone Rings.
I guess that was you.
Seems like Ti never took off for that application.
Probably too expensive for the run of the mill rider.
I once had an XTR cluster on my bike which had the 3 largest cogs made out of Ti.
The granny warped/bent and always threw my chain into the spokes.
Guess Shimano didn't know what they were doing back then.
Good to meet you.
Lenny
 
I'm 49 - ride most weekends and and occasional 45 minute commute. It's the commute that has dropped off, traffic getting busier and more scary mostly. I used to ride it three days a week. Less than three a month now. Weekend riding - I have some very fit mates (same age). I'm the fat bloke at the rear and I don't take chances like I used to. As hwyhobo said, takes longer to heal/recover from a big biff - best avoided. I ride an aluminium hardtail. Tried a full suspension but I'm not doing downhill and the hardtail seems more Responsive and lighter (makes up for me).
 
At 35 I ride every chance I get!

My freeride hardtail is a Specialized Hard Rock Pro with alot of extras.

Image082.jpg


This is my downhill ride. An Intense M1. I have since upgraded the fork but I don't have an updated pic. The new fork is a Marzocchi Super Monster. I also upgraded the rear shock to a Fox.

a49d0b6e.jpg
 
We got a mess of guys on the job in their 40's and 50's who ride HARD and often. In fact they go out to Utah every year to just MB.
 
Temper said:
What kind of speed can a couple get in a HPV on a level surface and mild winds if they put their mind to it?

100 teeth! :thumbup: Man, thats got to look cool if nothing else.
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The record for those bikes on level ground and no wind is 81 MPH! The 100 tooth was for a tandem, and it set the tandem record of 65 MPH. The chainring is around 14" across. The big chainrings were aluminum. I actually have a former employee making the titanium chainrings again.
 
Wow! That has to be a blast, fastest I have ever been on my MTB was 53 Kph.

Got any pics?
 
My bike reference book, Bike Cult, has all the land-speed records, as well as the record for the extremely dangerous enterprise of motorpacing. That's riding behind a faired vehicle or train car using a bike with extremely high (usually compound) gearing.
It's not possible to even pedal the bike below 50 mph or so, the rider is towed to that speed. Then, the throttle of the vehicle is controlled by the rider via wireless control.
Speeds of over 100 mph have been obtained in this manner with a fairly conventional-looking bicycle, and even higher with streamlined machines.

Several people have been killed setting such records as well.
 
bigchainringinshop.jpg


Here's a picture of a 100 tooth chainring on the wall of my shop.

hpv1.jpg


Here's a picture of one of my bikes. This one ONLY had an 80 tooth sprocket. :)
 
So all I have to do is slap one of your fairings on my homebuilt recumbent, and I can dust all those fast guys at the local park! :D

Great looking rig!
 
Aerodynamics is a big deal for going faster on a bike. Something like 95% of the resistance comes from air drag when you go fast. This one can cruise pretty easily around 40 MPH. They weigh more, so going up hill is no fun, but they will scream going down hill.

The record for an hour on one of these is just over 52 miles! That will most certainly dust those guys at the park!
 
Reminds me of the fun my oldest son and I used to have on a tandem. Essentially with the air resistance of one but the power of two we would fly on downhills and the flat. Not so good uphill.
 
btboone said:
Aerodynamics is a big deal for going faster on a bike. Something like 95% of the resistance comes from air drag when you go fast.
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When I used to ride daily I could almost guess my speed to within a couple of Kph due to how much wind was hitting me.

So on a fairingless test, how much better is a recumbent compared to a standard set up?
 
Hi Temper-

Recumbents can fly on the flats and they are painfully slow on uphills. They're good for people who have occasional backpain and they have less visibility to traffic. It's all about trade-offs, really.

~ Blue Jays ~
 
My wife and I still have our Trek mountain bikes, but we just do mild trail riding at our age, 65 for me, 62 her. We go for rides on the C & O canal trail that goes from Washington D.C. to Cumberland Maryland. Once in a while we'll get our kids to drop us off and leave our car down river 20 miles or so and we'll make an over night campout out of it. With carriers on both bikes we can carry a small tent and gear for a short trip. If we go camping down at Assateque Island we take the bikes along for riding along the islands bike paths.

With the gas thing getting worse, we're stretching our social security money by using the bikes to go to the store for small runs. We both have Blackburn racks and nylon packs to put the groceries in.

So far I get about 5 miles per glass of ice tea.
 
Hi jackknife-

Just imagine what kind of mileage you'll get if you swap the iced tea for something like Ultra Fuel or Gatorade as your riding distances increase! Sounds like you're still having plenty of fun on your bicycles.

If you're keeping your riding to mild and well-maintained trails, you could always go with a smoother tire and gain even more efficiency. During the winter I transition my mountainbike to smooth tires for riding on pavement and it is a blast. When I return to rugged trail riding in the warmer months, the more aggressive tires are put back on the rims.

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Blue Jays said:
Hi jackknife-

Just imagine what kind of mileage you'll get if you swap the iced tea for something like Ultra Fuel or Gatorade as your riding distances increase! Sounds like you're still having plenty of fun on your bicycles.

If you're keeping your riding to mild and well-maintained trails, you could always go with a smoother tire and gain even more efficiency. During the winter I transition my mountainbike to smooth tires for riding on pavement and it is a blast. When I return to rugged trail riding in the warmer months, the more aggressive tires are put back on the rims.

~ Blue Jays ~
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Hey there Blue Jays,

Yeah, mild trails are all we do at this point in life. How much efficiency are we talking here? We've always used the knibby tires thinking we will have a better reliability with thorns, small bits of glass and stuff like that. Would'nt the smoother tires have a thinner construction?

As it is, we use a compromise tire that is not as hairy as the out and out mountain bike tires. More of a hybrid tire like you'd find on a suburban commuter bike. This seemed to us the best way to go, since we use our bikes in a suburban environment alot. Going to the library, store, ect.

I guess we're fossils, I've never heard of Ultra Fuel. What is it?
 
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