There are times NOT to ride

Also I'm not that far from 40 and I have been nearly killed from heat exhaustion. Tldr, I did not drink much of any water for 3 hours doing concrete work in Ohio on a 101*f day. Ended up in the ER having serious issues.
Age sure can factor into it but Imo that's a heath thing more than an age thing. Many factors can sure play a roll here including unknowns to the person effected.
Imo if you trains yourself at your age, you could do just about anything within your limitations. Look at Joe Rogan. His is getting up In age and he just did 76 pushups on a bet. I would be lucky to do 20.
Age is not the real factor, it's what you have let your body become.
 
The heat there is no joke. I used to go surfing (sand boarding) the sand dunes when I was a kid. I took my kids there a few years ago and it was 118F outside and no shade anywhere and the temp climbing.

We were well covered wearing white clothes and hats. We climbed to the top of one of the dunes that was at least 100' (30m) tall, surfed it down and called it a day. Thankfully we were able to get into the car and drive away with the AC one. Those massive dunes are amazing to see if you ever get the chance. The ones we went on aren't the tallest ones but the ones where you can actually ride down. The tallest ones are more remote and are almost 700' high (200m).
 
'Death' Valley......it's in the name. The name would put me off, but that's me speaking as a cold, damp and windswept Brit.
I L-O-V-E Death Valley and have ridden it like 10 times.
Living in Northwest WA State, the weather is moderate and not a huge factor in our daily lives.
DV is s lot like motors, respect the danger, pay attention, or die!
I love the challenge of enjoying both activities.
I find contesting and surviving danger intoxicating to my brain. The famous father of the Flying Wallenda high wire family, when asked why he continued walking the wire after losing family members?
"Walking the wire is LIFE! Everything in between is only waiting!"
 
As reported with this event the medical helicopters were unable to fly in there that day. Once you hit about 120 degrees the density altitude (even below sea level) becomes such that all the rotor beating in the world makes it hard for some helicopters to get into the air. So these guys were only able to be reached, treated and evacuated by ground units. I live about 2 hours from there in Nevada and there is no way my non-air conditioned vehicles go out in this heat.

bob
 
I've only ridden in twice. Once at noon with temperature about 95F when we started. Before we started I got a bag of ice and put it into my jacket and knocked a few holes in it so when it melted the water would run down my legs. It was perfect except it looked like I pissed myself.
Coming back we went through around 3:00 am with nothing but the stars and owls out flying and it was marvelous.
 
That was back in the day when we drove with an atlas in the glovebox and you just drove around. This came about because I at the age of 18 back in 04 picked up hitchhikers. I took one from Frederick md to DC Capital. On my way home I got lost and ended up in WV. Found a ****o store, got some crappy VHSs and on the way to what I thought was the highway was this long road of sin. More motorcycles than cars. (Hells Angels)
It's a true story btw. Don't tell my mom!
 
A bucket list Beautiful place, I.HO.
 
24 years ago I was travelling round Australia. Somewhere north of Alice on the Stuart highway in the middle of nowhere we saw something small and shiny coming towards us out of the heat shimmer. It was a Harley 1200 Sportster with a tiny peanut tank and ridden by a guy in shorts and T shirt. It looked minute in that vast landscape where there was nothing and nobody about and nothing visible to the horizon where you could see the curvature of the earth. Where this guy had come from and where he was going I've no idea but I hope he got there OK.