Modern Vespa

Vintagescoot,

Hey, you went for the moment even with all the bangs and busts.
You are a strong spirit. Yes, we can't take the hits and bounce
back like we use to. Ride on amigo. Best to you.

Bob C

Bob, drop the diet soda, buddy.
Drink sparkling mineral water / club soda instead with a little lemon juice.
Sweeten with a little stevia extract or xylitol if you must.

You can research what that "diet" stuff (aspartame) does to your metabolism.

Fud,

I agree the diet coke stuff has a bad reputation. So, I
have been drinking more orange juice. I just like
Diet coke.

Bob C

My BMW riding buddies and I called it Vitamin I in the old days. Now my bone doc has me on 600mg Nyproxen (Aleve) to combat my A.G.E. related pains.

I'm only 64 and newly retired and I am definitely feeling the age. I also need to work on diet more, I have some mornings when it's crutches for about an hour to an hour and a half but then I can go pretty good still for chunks of time at heavy labor. Not all day like I used to, or maybe if I work hard all day I am taking it easy the next… or taking the next off.

I realize from reading above posts that it's precious. That's what I hear you saying, enjoy it to the fullest for as long as you can.

Several years ago taking the kids roller skating there was this old guy there skating around with all the kids, looked like some were his grandkids. Anyway he was having a great old time you could tell and I was envious he was older than me and I wasn't skating, I couldn't skate that good and I didn't want to hurt myself I had to work the next day.

It was just the last couple years I realized for me it was work. When I was a kid I endured dragging my bike up the hill to bomb down it and I some point I matured or aged and it was about going up the hills and not down them.

I have been a builder since I was very young and loved it right away. But I also always took breaks and I think those two things really loving what you are doing and breaks enabled me to be a fairly healthy 64 year old construction worker. And now working on basically rebuilding the house I am living in at my own pace keeps me physically and mentally fit. I am the old guy now skating around. I have just done it for so long it's my comfort zone now, it's where I'm graceful.

When I was young we could bring our dog to work with us and now I get to work with my animals again.

Stop eating those curries, Mike.

Age 79, I find riding my scoot to be far from challenging compared to other bodily tasks such as deep kneeling and asking of my worn out back to lift much or at angles. Aging is progressive of course and every month I seem to need a new test or procedure inspite of proper weight and healthy lifestyle.
Walking- a short list of my main hobbies would include hiking, too bad it's not so doable for me unless mostly level ground. Recent test called Brachial ankle ratio measures the blood flow to lower extremities and mines in a safe range (I'm not diabetic) so the legs sort of work unless talking ladders & steps with a load. I went from late Novemebr 2022 having climbed ladders all day long every day building a remote log cabin solo style, to after the holidays I could no longer carry groceries up the steps or climb a ladder. The next tests (wait, wait) is to measure my nerves pathways from lumber (very messed up for years) to my feet and knee doc says that could inhibit strength of climbing.
It's weird indeed, to say the least. I do have chronic heart disease and have a great cardiologist who says I'm still OK for regular activities as I can perform. It's sure not muscle tone as I had a bevy of ladders all over my build site and up and down, up and down all summer!
Yesterday was towards the end of my prostate adventure which was the biopsy day. Little to no pain today, noting at all like a vasectomy I had in 1980 which has you hurting a few days. Doc said there was no blood in my glands before he began nor are they abnormal in size. The next trick is to hear if and what types of cancers are there. Based on lesion size & PSA scores they choose to do the biopsy thing. We'll see.
If your using NSAIDS it's imperative that you get regular renal panels. Once upon a time in 1999 & 2000 when I had my CTS release surgeries that hand surgeon had me on huge doses of Celebrex (one pill = 8 OTC Aleves) and I had enhanced intervals opf blood monitoring all based on bad nerves from shoulders to left hand. That has evolved to some nerve damage that persisit but hand still works-well sort of.
As we age one must "pick their parties", for now ridings a very mild physical form of relaxation style activity still yet.
Me thinks I'm a long ways from choosing not to ride where ever I like. Walking, much less than I'd prefer. Bicycles are still easy for me if not grunting out a steep hill.
Many people either ignore or choose to not bother-whatever fits their mentality to do the testing that gives you information to maintain your lifestyle. Many will not allow knife work such as the hips, shoulder, hands I enjoy using. Medicare rules have me on knee steroid shots now numbering in the high teens each side and they do OK for ~ 2 months or so.
My latest magic Rx id Jardiance pill. The one you see on obnoxious TV ads as a Type 2 diabetes pill, note that at the end of that ad they mention the cardio benefits. It's extremely expensive and mine comers to me free via a foundation-man does it jumpstart your heart function. I think I've heard that Viagra does something similar for cardio but never been there, done that one.

I was recently off the hospital elevator and talking with a mid-50's age MX rider who gone back to riding with a new knee and tore it up, got repaired then an infection and now been w/o any knee waiting to kill infection and now getting yet another new knee. I told him about the hip doc patient I talked with who got a new hip then went back to senior weight lifting comp[etions and had to do it all again also with infections. As we know a few humans are gluttons for punishment.
My joints are either replaced or suffer from osteo which if one is lucky enough to live very long you'll get it. It either gets cut out entirely or keeps making you pop Ibuprofens or as in my case 3 month intervals of both shoulders and knee shots. Apparently my grinding knee joints don't yet meet the Medicare rules. I'm lucky as no canes or walkers, very mobile still.
Keep on keeping on!

KANTUCKID said:

"The next tests (wait, wait) is to measure my nerves pathways from lumber (very messed up for years) to my feet and knee doc says that could inhibit strength of climbing."

Yep, I had back surgery when I was 30 something and now it has affected my feet to where I have very little feeling in them. Keeps me from walking as much as I should or from standing long periods but not from riding! Having a good bone doc on retainer is a must as we battle A.G.E.

I also took Celebrex (generic) for a while and though it was great for pain, it caused my blood pressure to go up too high. Had to quit.

My Celebrex adventure was only for a year or so. As we age we need good kidney function to take advantage of things that help aged bodies. My latest e.g. is Jardiance taken for cardio. I told my joint doc that I'm gonna start lying about my activity level to enhance my chances of a back fix. Mine called for being left alone or a fusion per my 4th back doc visit, the 5th was insulative and a waste of time.

I'm 74 with my first scoot. I have had motorcycles off and on and rebuilt a bunch of them since age 20. I just got a derelict Yamaha BWS running for a friend of my son and that got me thinking. I love my little Vespa, I can't stop waxing it and taking things apart.

My arthritis person said "we do not manage arthritis we manage pain." That gave me a good head's up. After breaking my collar bone in 2 places (mountain biking) I started taking Tylenol for Arthritis and a bomber 400 mg Ibuprofen instead of narcotics and I found that combination so effective that before I do anything where I'm vertical for a while, like playing golf and volunteering, I take one of each. I'm waiting (this is Canada, we wait a long time) for a knee replacement.

One of our friends famously went to the doc for something and after that was dealt with, she was asked if there was anything else? She replied, "I'm having a lot of trouble with ARS." The doc left the room and after 10 minutes he came back and said he was sorry, he asked his colleagues and went online but he had no idea what ARS was. She said "age-related shit."

On the subject of continuing to ride as we age/over-come injury, I passed a small hurdle to get me back on the road to riding this spring. After my knee injury in February, I wasn't sure how this was going to impact my ability to ride once it warmed up a bit. Well, we hit 70F+ in Reno this weekend. So I changed oil and put fresh plugs and gasoline in the old motorcycle. I rolled it out of the garage and spent a few minutes figuring out how I was going to be able to kickstart it with a left knee that is 4 weeks post reconstruction. I made a few adjustments in my technique and it started within 5 or 6 kicks. I'm super happy that I won't be missing the riding season on top of missing the 2nd half of the ski season.

Sounds really good 🎶

75 here, and riding a bit less than I used to. Not so much because of any decline in abilities, but because the deterioration of my hearing creates great inconvenience. I am now totally deaf in my left ear and down to about 40% in the right. I now have a cochlear implant for my left ear and wear a high-powered hearing aid in the right ear.

It is the hardware that is the problem. My old hearing aids were compact enough that they didn't cause significant problems when worn under my helmet. The new hardware -- the ear-hung CI processor and magnetic headpiece, as well as the newer hearing aid -- are much more massive, and wearing them under any helmet I have yet found is extremely uncomfortable if not outright impossible.

So, I now ride without hearing assistance. If I'm riding with my wife, communication with her is possible only with sign language. I'm pretty much unable to hear sirens and car horns. This makes me feel unsafe. If I need to converse with someone at a stop, I need to fish my hearing aid -- at least -- out of my pocket and insert it... a pain in the ass.

So... I've been riding less because it's less fun and spontaneous. A year and a half ago, my wife and I bought each other a shiny red Mazda Miata roadster for our anniversary. We both had owned Miatas back in the '90s and remembered them fondly. With the top down (which it nearly aways is), it provides much of the open-air thrills of the Vespas, but with the obvious shortcomings of being a car instead of a scooter.

I guess I'll have to make do with appreciating the advantages of both!

Here in South Florida our population has an older average age. I feel this is reflected in our Vespa club. There are two of us that are 75 years old, we recently celebrated another member's 86th birthday party with a ride, and we met with a 82 y.o. man last week who owns a GTS and is interested in joining us. I do not know how long I will be able to ride, but it sure helps me feel younger than my age.

The average age of active riders in the 7 Bridges Scooter Club is now over 70.

We had a regular rider who was over 80 until his passing a few years ago.

He stopped riding when he kept getting lost on rides.

Bill

If that's ever my case, how will we know?
( sort of an inside joke as I believe I've treated Bill et.al. to a couple of detours).
We've had a couple of octagenarians on Wisconscoot, and our own Russ Bees will be back this year in his mid-80s.

The dementia thing is pretty sad, really Had a patient (in his later 70s tell me he'd intended to visit Chicago but made a wrong turn and wound up halfway to another city heading west instead of south. Seemed odd, but it happens. The next time I saw him, he left, then returned saying he couldn't find his car. A local police officer asked what the problem was, and volunteered to drive him around to look for it. I never saw him again.

A group of Vespa friends, all aged about 40, discussed where to meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because the wait staff there was attractive.
Ten years later, at age 50, the friends again discussed where to meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because the food was good and the wine selection excellent.
Ten years later, at age 60, the friends again discussed where to meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because they could dine in peace and quiet with a beautiful view of the ocean.
Ten years later, at age 70, the friends again discussed where to meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because it was wheel chair accessible and had an elevator.
Ten years later, at age 80, the friends again discussed where to meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed to meet at the Ocean View restaurant, because they had never been there before.

72, rode bikes for 50 years, switched to a scooter last year. Hopefully I will keep riding for many more years, but I don't plan to ignore reality and delude myself. While the chances of my being killed outright are low, the chances of a survivable accident putting me into a wheelchair for the rest of my life have increased substantially. I don't see as well, my neck won't turn as well, (at least something still gets stiff) and my balance has deteriorated. So I keep going to the gym, stay in reasonably good shape, and putter around like any normal old man ought to. It's a time of life to appreciate, rather than fight, slowing down.

You give me hope:
1) everyone male and female in my family have been between 87-95.
2) Last week I went for a 5 hour group ride and my Pixel Watch counted it for half of my weekly cardio goals. Going to do more now .
#scootforcardio lol

I've just turned 85, and I've been riding Vespas since 1959. Have just bought a new beige 2023 GTS300 HPE, my tenth Vespa, and loving it. So I plan to continue riding for many years yet.

For exercise I do Scottish Country Dancing twice a week. Keep telling myself I should walk more!

We would like to see some videos of this Scottish Country Dancing!
Who knows, maybe I could pick up some new moves.
I have been 2 stepping for the last 40 years!

If genetics count I may be okay. Dad rode his 750 Kawasaki until he was 89 and passed almost four years later. I'm 71.

I have a 750 bike, a 250 bike, a 250 scooter and a 168cc scooter. All stepping stones down if necessary. The 750 feels a little intimidating at the moment so it may not be around much longer. Of course there are smaller, lighter bikes out there that do interstate speeds easily so a 450 or 500 might enter the garage.

I also have a herd of doctors watching me so I hear my weaknesses all the time and have pills to counter them.