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I am proud I went out and did a 30/30 today, 30 miles at 30 degrees. I was trying to beat a cold front due here but didn't quite make it :)

I was impressed at how with better gear riding at 30 degrees was no problem. I thought I'd share what I was using and look for input and other ideas from the group.

Feet A-
Cotton socks (I couldn't find my wool ones)
Neophrene booties (good for wet but I like em over socks in cold weather)
Toe covers
My feet were no problems

Legs A
Thermal Tights - I just purchased a pair of these from Nashbar and do they ever do the job.

Body B-
Smartwool - merino wool base later (the best thing I have ever bought)
Winter Jersey - longsleeve brushed inside
Burley rain gear - I used this as a wind stopped
The inside of the burley was soaking after the ride but the jersey and baselayer did keep me dry. I guess I need to save up for a goretex jacket

Hands B+
Pearl Izumi lobster mitt gloves
They were warm but actually too sweaty

Head B-
Balaclava
I was warm but at my midway point I wished I had a backup packed as this one was wet.

I have never biked this late into the season before and I have never ever biked in December. As long as the ice stays off the roads I plan to try that in a few days.

Ride on!

Thought I'd take a minute to mention my favorite place to ride. Besides around my own home town of course!

Acadia National Park on the coast in Maine.

If you've never been, this is a beautiful National Park on Mount Desert Island. The park in itself is something to see, rocky Maine coast, the highest mountain on the east coast, (and you can drive, hike or bike up to the top), Bar Harbor to shop in, amazing old houses to gawk at, beautiful ponds to canoe in....I could go on and on. Oh and I can't forget the joy of eating a just caught lobster at a picnic table at the boat pier.

But the best part is the old Carriage paths. Rockefeller used to own almost all of the island. This is back in the horse and buggy days. He wanted somewhere for his friends to be able to ride their horses or take out their buggies, so he built miles of Carriage paths. Most of the paths are now owned by the National Park system. The paths weave through the interior of the island, interconnected every which way. They are ONLY for walkers, bikers and a few of them allow horses. There are old carriage houses at the start of some of them, and great old bridges on a lot of them.

The terrain is varied, something for almost everyone. There are a lot of possibilities for day trips. I've only gone during the fall, a half dozen times in the last couple decades. I imagine it gets crowded during the summer, but in the fall it is just a bicyclists dream.

I would recommend Acadia to everyone who enjoys the outdoors and biking.

Just found your sight. It's a little confusing when there seem to be several sights about bicycling. I joined the one with the most members.

Maybe we need to e mail the members of the other sights and get everybody to agree on one and abandon the rest?

So, I used to bike quite a bit, got away from it for awhile.

Started up again in the last couple years, nothing serious, but I do love to ride.

When I have more time I will list some of the places we have taken our bikes for vacations. There are a lot of bike friendly towns out there and biking is a great way to see the sights!

I would like to purchase a bike that is for just easy riding on flat paved surfaces. I am 65 years old and I ride at least 1 hour a day every day it isn't raining. I ride a Walmart type bike because before paying several hundred dollars for a bike I need to know if I would like it. When I've went to bike shops, and I've been to at least a dozen, I get some clerk/salesman that's a snot nosed little kid that has no idea what I'm talking about. Do any of u more mature riders have any suggestions?

I would have thought that there would be more than 44 people logging onto EONS who have an interest in biking.

Isn't this a national, in fact international, web site?

Especially, no members in the State of Florida, as far as I can tell.

Biking is one of the best ways to get excercise, and still be gentle on the joints, while seeing a good deal of country side.

Any comments?

Dave Smith

Hi guys and gals. Good to find a group that caters for the more senior of our populace. I am a fanatical cyclist, and no, people don't run screaming when they see me coming . I'm a fanatic but I don't preach. Ride road and mountain but recently have returned to the road big time and the mountain bikes languish in the garage.

Hello, And hope the wind is always at your back. I use to cycle a great deal, in the 80's and most of the 90's, and then I got hooked on sailing, well, now I am a land lover again, and after gazing this site, I got the fever to resume the ride.

Life is great, and there is a myraid of things to do, and so little time!!It brings me much joy to hear all your tales of the road, and off road adventures.

I use to ride on average 75 miles a day, with my best friend, and the two of us girls road over 4,000 miles one year. Over every mountain range and inch of the state of Oregon. (camping out) What a free feeling that was, and my favorite thing to do is hit the small towns all over the state to get the feel for the people, and awesome real people abound!

Favorite rides: Coast Hwy 101, the entire way, Cascade Lakes Highway, Columbia River Gorge Wash. State side, Napa Valley Wineries :), Joseph to the Coast. Oregon,Old MCKenzie HWY, Washington, Ca.,& Idaho They are all beautiful places, and what fun.

Again thanks for the inspiration, and once you hop in that saddle, and get the wind in your face, and the different perspective (than in a car) your on a never ending journey!

Life is to enjoy, so live!

One of the members of our group replied about the "elitists" out there on their expensive bicycles and expensive gear (hope you don't include a helmet when you mention gear???).

Ease up! There may be some "elitists" right here in our group! Now me, I'm a "middle of the roader" (pardon the pun)!

I know what you mean, but most cyclists are pretty good people. There are some people who ride comfort bicycles that can get a little disconcerting.

Look, there aren't that many of us (cyclists). Let's try to dwell on the positive side of the endeavor.

I can appreciate the guy who has an expensive bicycle and wears cycling clothes, etc., and I can also understand the person who buys a department store bicycle (I would like to talk him out of that purchase, but I'll save that for another post!) to satisfy his/her needs.

I'm starting to ramble--buy!

Cacci

A bike group for the over 50's...how kewl is that? I've been riding seriously since age 30 and have ridden in 17 states with a friend from Philadelphia. At age 59 I've found that staying with the front runners in a group is harder than it used to be. Just finishing with some groups is a good thing. I'm in Houston now but have ridden a lot in Washington, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennysylvania. Have always enjoyed a multi-day trip. Used to make it a camping trip but its more motel camping these days. I ride a Torelli road bike for the last 4 years. I wore out a Trek and a great Palo Alto. I built-up a LeMond bike but lost it before I rode it when the UPS truck I used to ship it to Washington got hit by a train and burned up. Have recently acquired a used Specialized mountain bike which provides some variety. Have found it surprisingly useful in Houston with the bayou trails and the urban riding.

Hoping to keep on biking into geezerhood...

Dwight Dawson

Wow people thanks for the great posts!

My wife and I live in Ottawa Canada and bike the trails in the area. Today we did a 25km (15 mile) spin from Beachwood Village to Hog's Back (return) in 1 hour 10 minutes with the tempature around 5C (42F) and strong winds along the Rideau River.

Lots of layers and gloves along with 2 PM sunshine made for a cool yet enjoyable ride on my 58th birthday.

Happy cyclying!