Too Old For What?

"You're too old to ride a bike."

Someone told me that when I was, oh,  35 years old. Here I was thinking I had just become old enough to be President of the United States.  (For some reason, even though I never wanted the job, I always thought of that age as a milestone of some sort.) I guess that's how life works, at least in some people's minds:  Being old enough to do one thing means you're too old to do another.  

The man who made that assessment probably wasn't thinking that I had accumulated enough years, even if I'd never have enough votes to move into the White House. (Hey, that didn't stop someone, did it?)  He was about a quarter-century older than I was.  He also was the father of someone I rode with, who just happened to own the shop where I worked part-time when I wasn't working my regular job--or bike riding.

Needless to say, I've never subscribed to the notion that anyone is "too old" to ride a bike.  Certainly there are conditions, mainly health-related, that preclude people from mounting a saddle.  Some might be related to aging; others can strike in the prime of one's youth due to a crash or some other mishap.

Speaking of which:  on 21 October, Massachusetts resident Sue Scheible made what she admitted was a "hasty" U-turn.  Her tumble to the ground resulted in a fractured elbow.  Seeing her injury, an urgent care doctor advised her (in, I imagine, a tone of condescension that he thinks is his "bedside manner") that she should stop cycling because she's "too old."

And like the 81-year-old I hope to be, she said, "No way!"

Sue Scheible.  Photo by Bob Sears for the Patriot Ledger (Massachusetts)

Mind you, not long after she took her spill, I executed a "hasty" U turn that landed me on a Coney Island street.  While my injuries--a cut and a few scratches--weren't nearly as serious as hers, I have to wonder whether a provider would have told me what that doctor told Ms. Schieble even though I'm a good bit younger (but, by most definitions, not young).  Or what if someone younger still had shown up in the ER.  I can assure you that plenty of cyclists, skateboarders, runners and other active people young enough to be my grandchildren have had mishaps like mine--or hers.

Susan Scheible brought her bike to her local shop for a tune up and, a little less than a month ago, was back in the saddle.  

Too old--for what?  To be President?