Getting Older

[PGlaves]

Here are three photos - the first - where we just rode 195 miles round trip for the annual (stupid) vehicle inspection of Big Red (Voni's R1100RS) with about 416,000 miles and my lightweight K75 with a mere 130K or so.

I turned 78 in February, just in time to celebrate my new little two-wheeler, shown in the second photo.

I started smoking around 1960 or '61 and finally quit in 2000, after smoking two to three packs a day. When I couldn't quit coughing I was promptly diagnosed with COPD. Initially they said chronic bronchitis but now they say Emphysema. Several years ago, after camping in forest fire smoke for a few days, and a couple of trips to the emergency room, we parked the bikes in storage in Libby Montana, bought a car and retreated home to Texas. After a month or so we went back with a trailer and got the bikes. My lungs were better then for a while. But ....

Now since the wheels on my new little two-wheeler didn't look like they would take the speed or distance I would need for a trailer I got a Portable Oxygen Concentrator that would sit on my bike seat, plug into the bike, and keep my Pulmonologist happy and me alive. That is the third photo.

So I can now still ride for hours as needed and get the oxygen my doctor insists I need.

Just Riding.

[mikegalbicka]

Hope that set up serves you well. Getting older ain't for the faint at heart. Keep pushing back against it like you are!

[fmdualexhaust]

Boy, that's a long way to go for an inspection!
Good on you for still riding.
The Wife has copd and several other ailments.
She can't ride any more.

[PGlaves]

Boy, that's a long way to go for an inspection!

But FM170 from Study Butte to Presidio (Texas) is so much fun to ride.

[6322]

Keep those wheels turn’in Paul and Voni. Ride easy.

[OldCamper]

I remember reading about your trip to the hospital that year, Paul.
We were out there then too, riding loops from our base camp. The sky was often surreal with a reddish brown haze that blocked the sunlight and there were fire crew camps in several places. We never actually saw flames but the smoke was uncomfortably thick at times.

Now that we are older many have needed to make adjustments to our riding ways. Trailering to a destination, riding smaller bikes, shorter days in the saddle, portable cpap machines and even O2 concentrators are all part of what many have needed to do to adjust to the realities of age.

But even a short ride on a small bike trailered to the right destination is still worth it all.

[GTRider]

Paul, I hope you and Voni can keep riding for many more miles and smiles! The portable O2 concentrator is a good move—my in-laws tried using portable tanks but found it too difficult to manage the inventory and status, even tho they lived in town and close to two hospitals and supply providers.
Keep rollin’!

Best,
DeVern

[Rich]

As we advance in age, every day above ground is a good day. Keep on a rolling!

[akbeemer]

Paul, attitude counts for a great deal in overcoming the challenges of advancing age while still living a life worth living. You seem to have a mindset that will help you overcome and continue riding. Carry on!!! You offer hope to us whipper-snappers.

[HSVPhil]

Rock On, P&V! Play the hand you’ve been dealt as best U can...

Hope y’all gots many more Miles & Smiles together along your Highway of Life...

No Oxygen packed this week pour moi, but I just got a steroid shot into my right eye today...

Hope to SEE Y’all in Doswell in June!
HSV-Phil & HSV-Karen

[PGlaves]

But even a short ride on a small bike trailered to the right destination is still worth it all.

Indeed!! Last year we spent a couple of weeks in the Wyoming Big Horn Mountains after years of just quickly passing through on the way to somewhere else.

[eastbay]

Good for you. My dad is 92 and still dancing. I’m 67 and have had to adjust to a more upright ride, an 1100rt.

[Visian]

Indeed!! Last year we spent a couple of weeks in the Wyoming Big Horn Mountains after years of just quickly passing through on the way to some way else.

In the Big Horns during Covid. Now the bike is in the back of the (new) van, no trailer!

[brownie0486]

Indeed!! Last year we spent a couple of weeks in the Wyoming Big Horn Mountains after years of just quickly passing through on the way to somewhere else.

Will be running through there mid August on our way back from Jackson Hole, through Cody to the Big Horn Mtns.. Like you, we've passed by on our way somewhere else, but this year we want to explore that area a little more.

As for getting old, just 5 years ago I could do 800 a day for days on end when necessary, preferred 4-600. Today, 400 is a long day for me and prefer 300-350 per day when traversing the US.

71 closing in on 72, fortunately the health has remained mostly good, yet I figure another 5 years and I may have to go to a trike.

[fmdualexhaust]

Will be running through there mid August on our way back from Jackson Hole, through Cody to the Big Horn Mtns.. Like you, we've passed by on our way somewhere else, but this year we want to explore that area a little more.

As for getting old, just 5 years ago I could do 800 a day for days on end when necessary, preferred 4-600. Today, 400 is a long day for me and prefer 300-350 per day when traversing the US.

71 closing in on 72, fortunately the health has remained mostly good, yet I figure another 5 years and I may have to go to a trike.

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