If staying active is important at any age, after 50 it becomes even more important. Perhaps even a priority.
After many demanding years, when work, family and so many other responsibilities required much of our focus and dedication, there comes a time when, little by little, we begin to free ourselves and regain some of the freedom that was inevitably limited for a while.
And most of us reach this stage of life physically capable, with energy and, above all, with so much still to live for.
Preserving that energy becomes essential. For our bodies, naturally, but also for our minds and our self-esteem.
Keeping moving, taking care of ourselves, breaking away from routine, looking for new challenges and keeping our curiosity alive are all part of our desire to remain active.
But staying active doesn't mean doing everything faster, travelling greater distances or competing with anyone.
It means understanding that life still has so much to offer and that we should make the most of it.
Perhaps the time has finally come to do some of those things we kept putting off for years.
Travel to that place we've always wanted to visit. Try something different. Rediscover something we once loved. Or simply embrace new challenges.
Perhaps now with less hurry and more attention to everything around us. With a greater desire to enjoy, discover, feel and create good memories.
Because if there is one thing time teaches us, it is this:
to appreciate things differently.
And suddenly, we have more freedom
Perhaps we don't always realise it.
After so many years of organising our lives around work, family, schedules and responsibilities, we begin to regain something extraordinarily important:
FREEDOM.
Freedom to decide what we want to do with our time. To travel. To try something new. To change our plans simply because we feel like it.
Or even to do absolutely nothing.
After so many years of having our lives shaped by responsibilities, perhaps we also need to relearn how to enjoy our own freedom.
And that may be one of the greatest opportunities this stage of life has to offer.
And a bicycle can be a wonderful companion
It can even be an important step towards (re)discovering that freedom.
Cycling is a simple and accessible way to stay active. We are outdoors, we keep our bodies moving and, above all, we can do it at our own pace.
But a bicycle gives us something more.
An extraordinary feeling of FREEDOM.
We can simply set off. Choose a road, change direction, stop whenever we feel like it and continue when we want to.
We don't need to go fast, compete or even have a destination.
We just need to pedal.
Perhaps that is why, so many years after we first learned to ride a bicycle, it can still give us exactly that same feeling:
we are the ones who choose the road.
And if you're coming to Lisbon...
If you identify with this desire to stay active, regain your freedom and make the most of every moment, and you're planning to visit Lisbon, then a bicycle can be a wonderful way to discover the city and some of its treasures.
And I say this from personal experience.
I'm over 50 and getting closer to 60, and I'm probably a good example of this rediscovery of freedom through a bicycle.
For many years, I hardly cycled at all. It was only at this stage of my life — my own Golden Age — that I returned to cycling, and the bicycle began to mean something very special to me: staying active, the desire to explore and discover, embracing new challenges and experiencing an incredible sense of freedom.
It has taken me to places I had never been, given me experiences I probably would never have had and shown me that there were — and still are — so many roads left to explore.
But this isn't just a personal reflection.
Over many years and thousands of bike tours, I've had the opportunity to cycle and talk with many people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s.
And the same subject has come up countless times:
the freedom we begin to regain, the time we finally start to have for ourselves, the things we never got around to doing, the places we still want to discover and the awareness that life still has so much to offer us.
People from different countries and cultures, with completely different life stories, often end up sharing remarkably similar feelings.
Perhaps because I belong to this generation too, I understand so well what they're talking about.
And perhaps that is also why I believe that staying active, remaining curious, embracing new challenges and preserving our freedom are some of the best ways to enjoy this stage of life.
Some of the people who join us cycle regularly. Others haven't ridden a bicycle for many years. And many have never tried an e-bike before.
For them, the e-bike often turns out to be a wonderful surprise. We are still pedalling and staying active, but we can choose how much effort we want to make.
Climbs become easier, we can comfortably cover greater distances and focus on what really matters: enjoying the journey and discovering what surrounds us.
And for those who have never ridden one before, trying an e-bike is another new experience to discover.
And that is precisely why we believe the Golden Age can be a wonderful time for new cycling adventures in Lisbon.
All you need is to know how to ride a bicycle, a desire to stay active and, above all, a desire to discover.
Discover Lisbon and its neighbourhoods. Ride up to its viewpoints. Cycle alongside the Tagus. Or venture further and explore the natural beauty of Sintra, reach the Atlantic in Cascais or discover the landscapes, vineyards and beaches of Arrábida.
Always with time.
Time to stop, to look around, to talk, to take a photograph or simply to spend a few minutes enjoying the view.
E-bikes make all of this more comfortable and help us go further, but what really matters is still what we discover along the way.
Because a bike tour can be much more than a few hours of cycling. It can become an unforgettable experience, a story to tell and a memory we carry with us.
Perhaps it's a place we didn't know existed. An unexpected conversation. A landscape that leaves us speechless. Or simply that feeling of freedom we thought we had forgotten.
And when the ride is over, the number of kilometres we've covered is probably what matters least.
What matters is that we've stayed active.
What matters is that we've discovered something new.
What matters is that we've enjoyed every moment.
And, above all, what matters is that wonderful feeling that there is still so much to discover, so much to experience and so many roads left to explore.
Perhaps that is what the Golden Age is really about:
having the freedom to keep choosing our own road — and the desire to ride it.
