Greg Dobbs

Who said vigorous exercise doesn’t matter, especially among baby boomers?! When we get old enough for a few gray hairs, exercise becomes even more important. For BoomerCafé co-founder and executive editor Greg Dobbs, regular and demanding rides on his bicycle have actually saved his life.

There are century bike rides each summer in Colorado. “Century” means, a hundred … as in, a hundred miles. But by the time you’re anywhere near the hundred mile mark, especially on century rides in a state where the altitude of mountain roads rises into the quintuple digits, you’re counting not just every mile but every single foot, which is why I’ll go to pains to point out, the total mileage usually comes out to more like 102, 103 … I remember one that ended up at 108 miles.
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Fishing. It’s a sport or pastime that appeals to many baby boomers … but not all, as BoomerCafé co-founder and editor Greg Dobbs explains …

If you’re a fisherman — actually, I’m told these days the word is “fisherperson” — you might want to stop reading right here. You’re not going to like the rest of this.

Here’s why: I think fishing is crazy.

Aside from the profits of pulling in the catch I enjoy at any good restaurant, I can’t see why anyone wants to go fishing. True, I grew up in a city, so you could attribute my attitude to the fact that fishing wasn’t a big part of my childhood. But that city was San Francisco, the “City by the Bay,” which might make you think that as city-boys go, I’d be into fishing. But I’m not. I still think it’s crazy.

Case in point: among other things that I produce for the high definition television network HDNet, I cover the space program. That means I’m in Florida a lot! Our production crews and I always stay in Cocoa Beach, one of the closest communities to the Kennedy Space Center, and my one piece of personal pleasure whenever I can squeeze it in is to get up early in the morning and rent a retro bike from a nearby surf shop — no suspension, no gears, and the kind of foot brake we had when we were kids — and ride along the sand from Cocoa Beach to Cape Canaveral. It’s always pretty much the same route: 5-6 miles up, 5-6 miles back.

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If you are considering a visit to Russia, this story is for you — BoomerCafé co-founder and editor Greg Dobbs recently was there, on assignment for HDNet. It was his first visit to the country since covering news there for ABC in the 1980s.

It must be twenty years since I last came to Russia — ominously, in retrospect, it was the Soviet Union back then. So since getting to Moscow on Columbus Day a week ago (which they don’t celebrate here; go figure), I’ve been watching for what’s new and what’s not. There have obviously been changes on major levels — capitalism has taken over, personal freedoms can be exercised, and the politics of the nation have been like a ride on a roller coaster. Both on the surface and deep down, this looks like a New Russia. But it would be a mistake to assume the Russians look just like us.

My initial image of the New Russia came before my Aeroflot flight even took off for Moscow from London. First of all, it wasn’t a creaky old Tupolov, the homemade aircraft that was the mainstay of the Soviet airline Aeroflot (we used to nervously joke that “Aeroflot” meant “Will it float?”). Now, it’s a shiny new Airbus 321, complete with toilet seat covers in the bathrooms. And since my trip was destined at best to be 26 hours door-to-door, Colorado to Moscow, I was happy to note that in contrast to the old days, we left London pretty much on time. Nowadays, it’s not an all-proletariat plane either; there are two classes of service, although in a nod to the good old days, the front section where everything from the seats to the service is clearly First Class is humbly called Business Class. I wasn’t up front of course — I get no frequent flier perks out of my comfort zone — but even back where I sat in coach, there was a meal. Kind of an Old Russia meal but still — United, listen up — it was a meal!

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China is big news these days. But it was not as a journalist that BoomerCafé co-founder Greg Dobbs and his wife toured the crowded country that remains somewhat mysterious to westerners … they were on a well-earned vacation and had set out to learn all they could about China and its people. Now back home in the U.S., Greg shares his notes …

There are so many things to say about China: it is packed with people; it is now more modern than we dreamed; it is still more backward than we thought. But perhaps the most cogent question to ask about China, especially in relation to the United States, is, “And we’re scared of exactly what?”

Yes, China is huge: 1.3 billion people in a land mass not a whole lot bigger than ours; you feel it everywhere you go. Maybe the best metaphor for how many people there are is that when you’re walking down a sidewalk or through a store or a marketplace and your arm bumps someone else’s, no one says “Excuse me.” There’s no need; everyone expects to be bumped.

And yes, China’s economy is hot, growing at a faster rate than ours.

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BoomerCafé editor and co-founder Greg Dobbs has had a successful career and made a good living as a writer. He believes everyone has the ability to become a writer but talent begins with discipline and focus –

Because I’ve always been a writer — documentaries for HDNet Television, news stories for ABC News, opinion columns for Scripps-Howard, even a textbook for university-level journalism students — I’m often asked about my approach to writing. So, since we’re now soliciting pieces from baby boomers for BoomerCafé, I thought it might be helpful to include my response to a recent inquiry. A man in Corvallis, Oregon asked, what are the biggest obstacles to overcome when you’re beginning to write, and he named four categories: legal, political, physical, and mental.

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