Short rides and getting old

Many years ago when I was an MSF Instructor, I worked with a fellow Instructor who asked me "Are you a long rider or a short rider?" I asked him what he really meant and he said that he prefers taking short rides, usually no more than 30 minutes over taking multi hour or multi day rides. He said that a few minutes on a bike was enough for him, and more than that was just work. That's why, he said, he enjoyed teaching the Basic Rider's Course because it only involved a bit of riding on the little training bikes we used in those days. I still recall how I thought him a real oddball, as nothing excited me more than the thought of taking a multi day ride across the country. But that conversation was about 30 years ago.

Now as I approach 80 in a few weeks, and I still love riding, I find that I have become that same "short rider" that I thought was so odd in the past. I'm not limiting myself to short rides, but I do find that longer rides become more of a chore and less fun as the hours go on. The other day I took a great two hour ride to a favorite restaurant about 100 miles from home where my wife and I have gone many times. I fully enjoyed the ride, and had a great lunch. But the two hour ride home was not as much fun. I found I just wanted that ride to be over with. I was tired and the tiredness was stronger than the fun factor at that point. Maybe its just age getting to me, or maybe its the thought of riding that has become as important, or even more important than the riding itself. So now a "short ride" of an hour or so is what has become ideal for me.

All of this makes me wonder if in a few more years I should buy a Harley cruiser and be satisfied with a two mile ride to a local tavern, have a beer or two, and then do the two mile ride home. I know folks who consider that a good day of riding, and maybe someday I will be one of those folks.