Keys’ first choice is mountain-biking (Mountain Bike Camp, Moab, UT)

Susan Keys is an Oregon State University associate professor and senior researcher, retired Johns Hopkins professor of counseling, a national authority on mental healthcare and suicide prevention, wife and mother of two, grandmother of two and an avid cyclist. Road biker or Mountain biker? Yes. Ask Keys about biking and she will begin by saying, “I didn’t start biking seriously until I was sixty …” 

Listen to Interview

Click the play button below to listen to this conversational podcast with Susan Keys, “I Didn’t Become an Athlete Until I was Sixty.” (Length: 20-min)

Keys enjoys road biking and mountain biking in Bend, Oregon.

Six years later Keys continues to be enmeshed in the sport; actively working with a professional coach, regularly attending cycling training camps and bike touring locally, nationally and abroad. I think you can best appreciate Keys’ personal story and her advice for new cyclists by hearing it firsthand.

Take a break from your busy schedule. Make yourself a smoothie and join us by listening to this podcast conversation, recorded during a 2015 visit to Bend, Oregon. In it you’ll hear:

• What motivated Keys to begin riding and what fuels her today at age sixty-six
• How her first bike was a barrier to confidence and proficiency
• How biking more slowly helped her shed forty pounds
• What it means to redefine “The Edge” as she contended with the psychological barrier of turning sixty-five
• What strategies enable her to surmount the mental challenges that arise when facing particularly difficult segments in a ride.

Listen to Interview

Click the play button below to listen to this conversational podcast with Susan Keys, “I Didn’t Become an Athlete Until I was Sixty.” (Length: 20-min)

Author: Carolyn @ RideLikeAGirlPortland.com

I am an avid cyclist, passionate about training and encouraging other women to discover the joys of cycling. I believe that if women have a learning environment that feels safe, is fun and includes the support of other women, they will naturally Learn, Laugh and Love it!