Are you Over 50 and STILL SHREDDING?
- Thread starter gonehuntnpowder
- Start date
Turn 51 this year. Riding an 18 early release turbo cat 153. Still trying to improve. This year my plan is bow ties and hop overs. Want to upgrade to an alpha cat before next season. I love the sport. I don't plan on slowing down for years yet. Makes me feel like a kid again when your ripping thru the powder, climbing technical trees runs, using the natural terrain features to play on, etc
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For all the old sob’s that may not have any experience with the Jackson Hole Hillclimb let me tell you that hill is one mean bastard. Video does not do it justice. That hill is crazy steep and full of rocks and stumps and all form of nasties. You have to have stones big enough you need a wheel borrow to carry them to attempt climb it. The catch net usually gets 3-4 times as many customers as the top gets.
With all of that I (and old snowmobiles everywhere) have a new HERO.
61 year old FARON GILBERT went over the top!!!!!!!!
With all of that I (and old snowmobiles everywhere) have a new HERO.
61 year old FARON GILBERT went over the top!!!!!!!!
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I got my new Snowest a couple of days ago. For years the first thing I have done when it arrives is to read Steve Janes editorial. I am saddened to read he is retiring. Steve called out the winners and the losers. His opinions spoke for the riders not the dollars.
HE WILL BE MISSED!!!!!!
Anyone else besides me started training for the new season yet?
Come September 1st its always time for me to "Get Back in Shape" for sledding.
Summer is a time for Chips and Salsa, and I always manage to put on a few pounds.
NOW its time to take them back off and start working on Endurance Training once again to get read for some High Altitude Adventures!!
Come September 1st its always time for me to "Get Back in Shape" for sledding.
Summer is a time for Chips and Salsa, and I always manage to put on a few pounds.
NOW its time to take them back off and start working on Endurance Training once again to get read for some High Altitude Adventures!!
V
volcano buster
Well-known member
Been on it since last riding season but continue with tendonitis in my right forearm.
76 now, 77 by time season starts....staying in shape has become year-round for me because it takes too much mental effort to get back into it for hunting/sledding seasons......i work with my hand dumbbells, 10-15 lbs for 20 minutes during the morning news and also during the evening news....go to gym for 40 minute workout 4 times a week doing mostly heavier weights and of course rowing for 10 minutes for overall back.....for aerobics i go to the local ski area, park truck and hike to the ridge line 3 times a week, takes about two hours with no rest stops....a small cadre of enthusiasts keep the trail open almost all winter, but occasionally we get snowed out for a week or two, but as soon as the snow settles, we're back into it....i still maintain my weight the same as when i was in college, which helps immensely....sled this year is new mountain cat 800 with clutching, full exhaust, belt drive, and boards....hoping for a better snow year than last....
IMPRESSED!
Ya, the older we get the HARDER it becomes to bounce back and it IS easier to just STAY IN SHAPE all year round.
Gotta give tribute to the guys on the thread who are over 70 or who overcome physical issues. For the rest of us, this is a pissing on the rock contest (are you old enough or rural enough for that phrase?).
I rode with Kenny when he was 80 and older. He was on the mountain, winter or summer nearly everyday for about two decades after retirement-- 87 or 88, I think. I rode with Bob and Jack into their eighties, and others in their 70s. It wasn't trail riding. I hope to make it that far.
Sledding has been central to me for years. I had the good fortune in about 1965, at eight years-old, to ride a Skidoo Alpine at a new years party. After that, it was whatever I had to do to try to get a ride, two up or whatever. Days at race events,meaning out anywhere, bumming rides, etc.
Dad bought a 67 Alpine for ice fishing and chores. Mighty 299. Spent many many hours on that. He added a 65 (?) Alpine 249 cc and a 65 Olympic 249.
In about 1967 one neighbor was the Scorpion dealer. A year later,, he changed to John Deere. About 1970, friends had a Ski Whiz and a Scorpion Stinger and an older scorpion. I got hours and hours in thanks to all of them.
1971, I worked for a Texaco owner who was also the Skidoo dealer. No rides there....went down the street to the Standard and worked there for more than three years. One manager (he didn’t make it a year, I took over at almost 16 years old) had a 775 TnT. What a monster and a Blast! Finally got a Doo ride from the dealer/former employer on a factory demo Free Air. The wonder was that it tached at over 9K rpm.
Dad bought a 1973 Scorpion Stinger 340. Great fun but I liked the friend's 1969 Stinger riding position.
Raced local drags and sort of cross country races--got rides because I was lighter than the owners.
1973, the new Scorpion dealer let me take recreational rides on his race sled, pipes and all. Elliot Ridge, cornice drops, Rabbit Ears, Gore Pass. Still not sure why he did that.
In 71 to 72, I was the vice president of our town snowmobile club, ran most of the meetings. Barely old enough for an elk license, not old enough for a drvers license.
Bought the 65 Olympic at about 17. Being young and dumb, I could straddle it, grab it by the running boards, and pick it up and position it. Best way to ride it was like a trials bike.
Out of the sport for seven years, got my JD. Back in, and got ambushed by a 1981 El Tigre in the first fifty yards off the trailer, injured my pride and lost my glasses, no other harm. Sleds had come a LONG way. Over the next decades, my sleds included a Yami Exciter, Tigre, Powder Special, SLT, RMKs, Dragon, XP and now the best, an eight -fidy Doo.
I was in physical rehab for years and spent even more years in the gym. I had two back surgeries, shoulder surgery, hernia surgery, and cancer surgery that resulted in two more hernia repairs.The thing that kept me going was the commitment that I was going to ride. When I woke up after back surgery 1, I knew I had to ride. That idea has kept me going, kept me sane for years. Made it back on the sled when others questioned it would ever happen.
57 years later, I am still trying to learn to ride.
I rode with Kenny when he was 80 and older. He was on the mountain, winter or summer nearly everyday for about two decades after retirement-- 87 or 88, I think. I rode with Bob and Jack into their eighties, and others in their 70s. It wasn't trail riding. I hope to make it that far.
Sledding has been central to me for years. I had the good fortune in about 1965, at eight years-old, to ride a Skidoo Alpine at a new years party. After that, it was whatever I had to do to try to get a ride, two up or whatever. Days at race events,meaning out anywhere, bumming rides, etc.
Dad bought a 67 Alpine for ice fishing and chores. Mighty 299. Spent many many hours on that. He added a 65 (?) Alpine 249 cc and a 65 Olympic 249.
In about 1967 one neighbor was the Scorpion dealer. A year later,, he changed to John Deere. About 1970, friends had a Ski Whiz and a Scorpion Stinger and an older scorpion. I got hours and hours in thanks to all of them.
1971, I worked for a Texaco owner who was also the Skidoo dealer. No rides there....went down the street to the Standard and worked there for more than three years. One manager (he didn’t make it a year, I took over at almost 16 years old) had a 775 TnT. What a monster and a Blast! Finally got a Doo ride from the dealer/former employer on a factory demo Free Air. The wonder was that it tached at over 9K rpm.
Dad bought a 1973 Scorpion Stinger 340. Great fun but I liked the friend's 1969 Stinger riding position.
Raced local drags and sort of cross country races--got rides because I was lighter than the owners.
1973, the new Scorpion dealer let me take recreational rides on his race sled, pipes and all. Elliot Ridge, cornice drops, Rabbit Ears, Gore Pass. Still not sure why he did that.
In 71 to 72, I was the vice president of our town snowmobile club, ran most of the meetings. Barely old enough for an elk license, not old enough for a drvers license.
Bought the 65 Olympic at about 17. Being young and dumb, I could straddle it, grab it by the running boards, and pick it up and position it. Best way to ride it was like a trials bike.
Out of the sport for seven years, got my JD. Back in, and got ambushed by a 1981 El Tigre in the first fifty yards off the trailer, injured my pride and lost my glasses, no other harm. Sleds had come a LONG way. Over the next decades, my sleds included a Yami Exciter, Tigre, Powder Special, SLT, RMKs, Dragon, XP and now the best, an eight -fidy Doo.
I was in physical rehab for years and spent even more years in the gym. I had two back surgeries, shoulder surgery, hernia surgery, and cancer surgery that resulted in two more hernia repairs.The thing that kept me going was the commitment that I was going to ride. When I woke up after back surgery 1, I knew I had to ride. That idea has kept me going, kept me sane for years. Made it back on the sled when others questioned it would ever happen.
57 years later, I am still trying to learn to ride.
52yrs old still having fun.
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Good to see we've got a few more 70+ fellers chiming in. Best advice I can give is think young and keep charging. And like some of the others have said, develop an exercise routine and stick to it. Beats the hell out of sitting on your ass eating Cheetos.
Hope we have a great winter with lots of "WHITE".
Hope we have a great winter with lots of "WHITE".
I’m 53 and hope to be able to go for many more years!
Patiently waiting for my new Turbo to arrive, makes me feel like a kid again!
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Patiently waiting for my new Turbo to arrive, makes me feel like a kid again!
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69 years young waiting patiently for Fresh ? Powder and the new sled.... 850 PRO RMK MATRYX SLASH 165 2.75"
53 now and 54 is just around the corner. I believe that we only slow down if we allow the idea of our age to slow us down. I just picked up my new Hardcore on Friday. First new machine in 12 years. No plans to slow down anytime soon.
62 years young, pick up my new Ski Doo 850 summit Edge tomorrow, 
59 trying to keep up with the 19 yr old kid & his buddies. I can still out ride a couple of them! Been riding for 50 yrs. Experience matters but always trying to learn & improve. Shout out to my mom who rode Wolf Creek last November for her 81st birthday & also the Snowies in February. Her biggest comment: "Wish we would have had sleds like these when I was younger!"
I can't believe this is still going. I think I was 69 when it started now I'm 73 and a riding friend is 85. At this point I'm learning to pace myself and let some of the younger crowd do the work. I did find out the older you get, the more CC's you think you need though. It's still fun.
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