After buying a bike in 2001 — his first with more than one gear — Mr. Norman, who lives in Alexandria, Va., signed up for six one-day rides along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which meanders between Cumberland, Md., and the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. The 25- to 40-mile trips were run by Senior Cycling Inc., a Loudoun Heights, Va., bike-tour operator specializing in rides for older adults. (Company slogan: “Old folks on spokes.”)
The first day out, Mr. Norman could barely crawl back into the van or sit on his sore bottom, but he was hooked. To build his stamina, he started riding one mile around his neighborhood 10 times a day. “All of us talk about how this brings back memories,” says Mr. Norman, who pedaled to Boy Scout meetings while growing up in Illinois. “I think it has added years to my life.”
Since his first journey, Mr. Norman has conquered multiday trips through the Florida Keys and central Florida, plus eight days in a row along the Erie Canal in upstate New York. This spring, he bought a RANS Fusion, a hybrid between a road bike and a recumbent — on which the cyclist is nearly lying on his or her back. That’s good when riding uphill because it allows him to put more pressure on the pedals.
For riders who get pooped, there’s no shame in summoning the sag wagon.
“It is social riding. We stretch it out all day long,” says Pat Blackmon, a 70-year-old retired house painter who is president of Senior Cycling. “I’ll keep it up as long as I can get the bikes on top of the van.”
Many companies will arrange itineraries fine-tuned to a riding group’s size, pace and sightseeing tastes. Georgia Geiger, her husband, John, and eight neighbors in the Royal Highlands retirement community in Leesburg, Fla., picked Carolina Tailwinds in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a specialized five-day ride along Chesapeake Bay in September partly because of lavish pampering on previous trips. One night, co-owner Anne Fleming stayed up late making breakfast so riders could eat during a ferry ride in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Ms. Geiger says.
