Discovering Midlives

FeedSpot has chosen Midlife Cycling as one of the top 70 midlife blogs to follow in 2026. MC was also included in FeedSpot’s list for 2025. That recognition has increased the number of readers and their sources, online and geographically. Of course I am pleased. 

There has been, for me, a benefit I never could have anticipated: I am learning, from that FeedSpot list, that there are other blogs written by other people (mostly women) in midlife. They discuss and illustrate diverse aspects of being in our stage of life, including everything from health and gained wisdom to style and relationships. 

It’s fascinating to learn other people’s points of view of being in the middle, however they define it, of their lives. While the particulars vary greatly, I see a common theme, whether or not it’s articulated directly:  We are living the truth of our lives, or at least moving towards it. There really is no other choice: We have come to realize that we can’t, for whatever reasons, continue to adopt the wishes, tastes, aspirations and roles, and to make the choices, others have decided were right for us. 

Those realizations, in part a result of learning about the experiences of others, especially women, in midlife, are one reason why I think the focus of my blog is shifting, however slightly, towards the “midlife” part of the title.  Of course, it also has to do with how my motivations for, and style of, cycling have changed in midlife. I have alluded to them, if in passing, in earlier posts. But I am still discovering what it means, for me anyway, to be a cyclist (and transgender woman) in midlife. If that journey parallels those of the women whose midlife blogs I’m discovering, it should be interesting and, hopefully, amazing.

They Voted For This Blog! Check Out Feedspot! Spread The Word,

 I would rather be elected than chosen, especially if it’s “Chosen” with a capital “C.” Why? Well, the latter has too many overtones and connotations of pre-determinism for my tastes. While it’s true that, for example, it would have been very unlikely for me to become a basketball player, ballerina or nuclear physicist, given my physical mental traits, I also have my doubts that I was destined to be at least some of what I’ve become, for better and worse.

So why am I giving you, dear reader, a discourse on fate?  Well, today is Election Day here in the US. Voting—or making choices of any kind—is antithetical to the idea that someone is foreordained to be our leader. That is one reason why I would much rather live in a democracy, however flawed and fragile, than in a monarchy or any other system in which leadership is hereditary.

That is also why I would rather be elected than Chosen. I have no plans to run for any sort of office, but I want people to select me and my work for our achieved merits rather than some actual or perceived quality I did nothing to achieve or deserve.

With those things in mind, I want to announce, with pride, that Midlife Cycling has been voted one of the Top 70 (#31, to be exact) midlife blogs on Feedspot.  

Please continue reading this blog, and others on the list: Midlife is an interesting and often exciting vantage point from which to experience, reflect and create.

Check out those blogs, and see Midlife Cycling’s place, on Feedspot:  https://bloggers.feedspot.com/midlife_blogs/?feed_id=5059845&_src=f2_newcampaign. 

I couldn’t have done it without Marlee!

Gates

 I pedaled through this “gate.” 

The Hell Gate Bridge was behind me.