Who was that buff, mystery senior?

I posted an image I found awhile back of an older guy who has a pretty incredible build. I had no idea who the fellow was, and was unsure even whether the photo was a Photoshop production or an unretouched photo. Well, recently, I found some further information on this fellow and on the source for the photo.

The fellow's name is (was? I think he might be deceased now) John Turner, and in the photo I posted, he is said to be 67 years old. The face certainly fits that age group. John Turner is one of the seniors written about in the book "Growing Old Is Not for Sissies" by Etta Clark (see excerpts from from that book at google books here).

I do not have that book and have never read it, but from what I can gather by looking on google books, the picture I posted of John Turner appears on the back cover. John Turner was apparently a psychiatrist who lived in California and who devoted a fair amount of attention to fitness.

And he apparently did not discontinue his fitness pursuits after that photo was taken (in 1985, I believe). I managed to find another photo of him at age 79. He's definitely not in the sort of shape he was at the tender young age of 67, but he looks about as good as a guy can at age 79. For reference, I'll post the two photos side by side below (no, he didn't really get that much smaller with age :):

John Turner at age 67	John Turner at age79

On that note, we old-timers are still at it. We've managed to get in a few road days on the bike with the unseasonably warm weather--short rides of not more than about 15 miles, but it's too early in the season to worry about going much further. We'll break into the longer days gradually.

I felt I'd lost quite a bit of conditioning over the winter, despite our regular, if limited, stationary bike riding. But after the second day, I felt good and strong. So I didn't lose much.

We're off to do one of our twice-weekly JIM sessions soon. More later.

Officially on the road

I missed posting last month (again!). We've been at our fitness pursuits, apart from a ca 10-day layoff at the end of Feb./beginning of March. Haven't been doing intervals on the stationary bike this winter but have been meaning to start, as the on-road biking season approaches.

Speaking of which, owing to the unusually warm weather, we had our first on-road days over the weekend. Put in about 25 miles total over 2 days. Pretty lame, but we don't intend to start the season with overly-long days. I got a good workout nonetheless, and even had a bit of E.I.A. (exercise induced asthma) afterward.