When will I learn I'm not in my 20s anymore?

[Darren.]

Sigh...

So my 3rd son left soccer in favor of mountain biking. Sons 
2 and 4 are still in the game.

I was quite the MTBer back in the early 90s, with a  rigid bike
and all that (rigid=no suspension at all). So I set up my old rigid
Trek for my boy to mess with (he rides a front suspension racing
MTB normally).

He's complaining to me that he can't do wheelies on it.

Here's where Stupid came in to the picture. I told son it is quite
simple as I used to do them all the time on that very same bike.

So I go out there, and show him. And I'm pulling an awesome
wheelie but I didn't go back down. I kept rotating past the 
vertical smashing onto my back with the stem smashing into
my knee like a hammer driven spike. Right into where my quad
meets the knee. That smarts bad. And I have just found blood
and gouges on back of my right arm...

I get up like I'm OK. I was embarrassed, hoped the neighbors
didn't see my wreck. My knee can only bend so many degrees
now. I've done plenty of R.I.C.E.. I'm probably 30-35 pounds
heavier than when I used to do this...

But I need to know from you Guys Of A Certain Age. Am I the
only one here who has done something like this only to be smacked
with Life's 2x4 of, "no, you can't do that anymore, you moron"....

What's your story?

[Senko lover]

Yolo, but you only die once too.

[BassnChris]

You are not alone my friend.

I have similar exercises of less than the brightest moments.

Alas, let me tell you that there will come a time ( most likely) when your brain goes into a sort of self preservation mode.

i believe that I have reached that point.

Now before I do something....my brain starts to run different scenarios very quickly.....that most often ( not 100% of the time) allows me to realize the things that could possibly go wrong.....and alter my course of action.

Good luck buddy......just remember we don't heal as quickly or completely as we did when we were younger.

[deaknh03]

1 hour ago, Senko lover said:

Yolo, but you only die once too.

You won't say Yolo when your middle aged..trust me. Yolo becomes no thank you.

[VolFan]

It's ok. You get over it once you die.

[fishwizzard]

I used to be a stagehand and could, when I was 19-25ish, pick up and carry a 4x8 ~120lb stage deck by myself.  It wasn't fun but I could carry them all day and not be too dead the next morning. 

I tried to do the same thing last year at age 37.  

It went about as well as expected.  I only hurt my pride, but it hurt for a week.  

[Gundog]

In my youth I considered myself a handman type. I helped build houses and would work all day and drink most of the night. Through heat, rain and even snow I would be building a deck or putting up siding.  Last weekend a friend asked if I would help him build a 12ft x 12ft playhouse for his granddaughters. I said sure, I'll be there at 8 am after working till 11pm the night before. I didn't wake up till 9. Well after 3 hours of framing out the base and laying out the flooring I was beat. Most of the rest of the day was spent telling him and his son what to do while I sat in the shade sipping lemonade. I did get on a ladder to help put up a drip edge but got a cramp in my calf muscle and almost fell off. 

[Skeeter Dan]

Getting old aint for sissies. When my brain tell me you can do this . My body say no you can't stupid.

[roadwarrior]

10 hours ago, Skeeter Dan said:

Getting old aint for sissies. When my brain tell me you can do this . My body say no you can't stupid.

No more lift & tote, but I can still back a trailer into the water!

[quanjig]

Yea, no. I am now the epitome of sedentary sportsman. Back in the late 70's early eighties I was playing very high level soccer when I tore my first ACL. A total of 3 ACL recons later, I'm happy to move at a brisk pace, mostly in a straight line!! I can and do ride my bike, mostly on paved surfaces with the occasional gravel or dirt thrown in for good measure! It took me a few times to figure out "I'm not as young as I used to be" but still enjoyed the journey along the way!!

[Bladesmith,]

I remember a time when the only sure way to get me to do something was to tell me I couldn't do stuff like that anymore. That still works but the body suffers more than it used to. I can still do anything I used to do, I just do it slower.

[lo n slo]

18 hours ago, Darren. said:

I kept rotating past the vertical smashing onto my back 

lmao

[fishinfiend]

lol nope

 

i'm 37 and I'm in the best shape of my life.

did used to be real fat most of my life so i could never have done a wheelie back then. 

[N Florida Mike]

In my 20s I worked on a farm.I could work hard all day with temps in the 90s doing all kinds of hard labor such as lifting 50 lb bags of fertilizer,land clearing,Shoveling soil mix,cutting trees down etc.Once the owner told me to dig a drainage ditch for 250-300 feet.It had to be 2-3 feet deep and angled slightly so it would drain right.Did it in about 6 hours if I remember correctly.Tools were. a mattock ,axe,and shovel.Went home slept good.Got up in the morning not tired or sore.

Fast forward 30 years.Now if I do some light tree work I'm sore for 2-3 days.Dumped the water out of a jboat. and my back hurt for a week so bad.I was throwing football with some kids at church.And my arm hurt for A YEAR.

My mind says I can ,but my body says no you can't!

[Gundog]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

 

I was throwing football with some kids at church.And my arm hurt for A YEAR.

 

Tell me about it. I use to play catch with my younger nephews, now I start by taking 2 ibuprofen cause I know its gonna hurt later. 

[Skeeter Dan]

9 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

No more lift & tote, but I can still back a trailer into the water!

And handy with a net.

[Fisher-O-men]

Reminds me of one of my most embarrassing moments.  I too started on a rigid MTB.  My first experience with a hard tail was painful.  I purposely rode into a ditch hoping to come out the other side unscathed.  Well the mushy forks collapsed further than I expected and the bike cartwheeled me to the far side.  After the initial "are you OK" everyone had a good laugh!  That was not the last time I was pitched, but the one I remember best.

As for the getting old thing,  I hate it!

[Columbia Craw]

You don't measure your age by how much you get hurt.  You measure your age by how long it takes to heal.

By the way... I have an 18 inch Rockhopper Pro Comp with all Ritchie components you can have for $1.00

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Columbia Craw said:

You don't measure your age by how much you get hurt.  You measure your age by how long it takes to heal.

Man, if that's the case than my age is right around . . . . forever !

A-Jay

[roadwarrior]

A-Jay, repost your workout routine video.

 

[Jaderose]

48 here and my body is the result of a misspent youth.  I have a titanium cage holding my spine together.  My ankles click and pop to the point that anyone that knows me knows when I'm coming.  Will need both knees replaced eventually.  Take Mobic for arthritic shoulder joints...and knees...and ankles...and back.  There will come a time when it's not the immediate activity that makes you hurt but the CUMULATIVE EFFECT of all the activities of your life.  I played football like a man possessed.  I water ski'd like a man with a death wish.  Same with dirt biking.  I worked in the oil fields of Southern Illinois.  I laid block foundations.  For all that, I still feel pretty good and I wouldn't go back and change a thing.  I bear a lot of scars I'm proud of because I've lived my life without fear (most of the time).  I've bungee jumped, belly flopped off 80 ft rock quarry walls, d**n near hung myself on gravel pit tree ropes, been set on fire.  I was always the "Hold my beer and watch this" guy.  I drank too much and did a lot of drugs.  The thing is though...I've had no midlife crisis.  I did it all.  Those oats got sown a long time ago.  Now...I fish.  I work.  I love my wife and my daughters.  I'm a very happy and content man.  I ache and I pop a couple of Advil and move on down the road with no regrets.  In the words of Hunter S. Thompson.......

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

[crypt]

53,still workout everyday. not as heavy as I used to but still squat with the best of em. work 10-11 hours a day,weekends are for fishing. have had bone fragments pulled out of wrist,elbows. reconstructive surgery on my left elbow,tendon wasn't attached for over 18 months,very painful.  now I can flip again !!!!!!!!!!!!  wouldn't trade any of of what I've been through for anything, I love it….

[Senko lover]

13 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Man, if that's the case than my age is right around . . . . forever !

A-Jay

Don't let him fool you, folks. The man is a beast.

[Fisher-O-men]

4 hours ago, Jaderose said:

48 here and my body is the result of a misspent youth.  I have a titanium cage holding my spine together.  My ankles click and pop to the point that anyone that knows me knows when I'm coming.  Will need both knees replaced eventually.  Take Mobic for arthritic shoulder joints...and knees...and ankles...and back.  There will come a time when it's not the immediate activity that makes you hurt but the CUMULATIVE EFFECT of all the activities of your life.  I played football like a man possessed.  I water ski'd like a man with a death wish.  Same with dirt biking.  I worked in the oil fields of Southern Illinois.  I laid block foundations.  For all that, I still feel pretty good and I wouldn't go back and change a thing.  I bear a lot of scars I'm proud of because I've lived my life without fear (most of the time).  I've bungee jumped, belly flopped off 80 ft rock quarry walls, d**n near hung myself on gravel pit tree ropes, been set on fire.  I was always the "Hold my beer and watch this" guy.  I drank too much and did a lot of drugs.  The thing is though...I've had no midlife crisis.  I did it all.  Those oats got sown a long time ago.  Now...I fish.  I work.  I love my wife and my daughters.  I'm a very happy and content man.  I ache and I pop a couple of Advil and move on down the road with no regrets.  In the words of Hunter S. Thompson.......

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

Now I get you avatar! 

[RAMBLER]

I'm 74 and the other day while talking to my doctor about aches and pains, for different reasons, I told him that "yesterday" when I was 18 none of this bothered me.  He just looked at me and chuckled.   Oh, where did the time go.  Now I,m exercising on a bowflex and stationary bike three days a week.  Can still cast for about 6 hours straight before I have to switch hands.  I keep an ace bandage in a bag, in the boat, that I have used once so I could keep casting.   People that haven't gotten old will tell you that age is just a state of mind.  I'd like to see what their mind is like when they're 70-80 or older.