Cycling & Age

[GmanUK65]

How much does cycling fitness diminish as you age?

In my 30s I used to ride everywhere and on weekends cycle 40 to 50 miles on a hardball mountain bike along the trails and roads of Northumberland. I had a break for a while then late 40s and early 50s I got into road cycling and in that time done several centuries including a 140 mile ride. Two years ago I got into gravel grinding and riding a gravel bike and still am.

The past few years riding has been on and off with injuries (cyclin

 

[cougie uk]

From what i saw in my club it's more to do with practice. 70 year olds kicking the asses of 20 year olds.

Clearly there will be a decline but if you can ramp up the miles you can lessen this.

 

[All uphill]

I am cycling further and more frequently (but not faster) at 67 than ever before in my life. I know people 10 years older than me who do regular 40 mile rides in the lumpy South West.

Retirement can be a wonderful thing!

 

[Sharky]

70 year olds kicking the asses of 20 year olds.

Can be deceptive. There is one 75yr old in our patch, that does exactly that, but if you could wind the years back by 50, he was a pro, riding in the UK and on the continent and in six day races. Relative to his own standards, he has probably slowed quite a bit now.
But it does show that if you keep riding, you can achive good results still.

 

[Mo1959]

Speaking from experience sadly, I think an injury free body is much more important than age. I put as much, if not more effort into my exercise but disc herniations and two really bad episodes of sciatica on both sides which have left me with nerve damage/numbness and the legs feeling weaker than they should be for my age have slowed me down a lot more than the ageing process.

 

[nagden]

At 67 I am enjoying my cycling more than ever and am gradually increasing my distance. I would say my overall fitness is improving. The one thing I find is I take longer to recover from high intensity workouts. If I take this account then there are no problems.

 

[GmanUK65]

Good to see that there is hope in me yet. I've had a number of accidents and illnesses over the past 5 years that have kept me off my bike(s) for weeks at a time. I think the biggest problem hopefully is losing my mojo for cycling. I think club riding helps because it gives you the umph to get out and cycle with cycling mates which would help getting my mojo back. When I was road cycling I would ride with the club 2 to 3 times a week but now there is only one ride a week for gravel riding and due to past injuries it has knocked my confidence on the rough stuff when gravel riding with the club.

So maybe it's not my age (56) but my lack of mojo and confidence that is keeping me back and me blaming it on age. I think I should try pulling my finger out and get out on my bike more. This I am finding is difficult

 

[presta]

I was always better with stamina than fitness: I could keep going and going at a modest pace, but get too energetic and I'd be in for an early bath. As I grew older and my health failed, it was fitness that went down the plughole sooner and more than stamina.

 

[gavroche]

Age definitively slow you down but it doesn't make any difference to distance. It just takes a bit longer to get there.

 

[cyberknight]

Can be deceptive. There is one 75yr old in our patch, that does exactly that, but if you could wind the years back by 50, he was a pro, riding in the UK and on the continent and in six day races. Relative to his own standards, he has probably slowed quite a bit now.
But it does show that if you keep riding, you can achive good results still.

Adrian Timmis is my local ex pro apparently he's mad on zwift now but he's a monster from the times on segments on Strava

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It depends on your genetics and how much you are doing compared to younger. But of course depends how you define fitness.

 

[HLaB]

I don't think I have the same short term explosiveness at 46 but TT wise I am still getting quicker and other than position, there has been no significant change. I know that won't last forever but 🤞 it continues for a bit longer.

 

[GmanUK65]

Age definitively slow you down but it doesn't make any difference to distance. It just takes a bit longer to get there.

That's a good point. When I was road cycling it was distance I always thought more important, but getting it done in a quicker time was almost an important factor too as speed is a big thing with road cycling. I think I must get out of that mind set now as I'm not road cycling but gravel riding which does not involve speed. I think I should just take my time from now on

 

[All uphill]

Distance and speed are fine if they work for you, but they can also come to seem more important than enjoyment, which is when my motivation rapidly disappears.

I started gaining in fitness and doing longer distances when I went back to riding alone so that I could look at every little church I pass, watch a buzzard or just lean on a gate and enjoy the view.

Good luck in finding what works for you!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It’s funny isn’t it? When I was a teenager all you had was a click odometer which recorded how far you’d ridden. No speed, no comparisons, no concern. In this age of recording everything about a ride all these people who previously didn’t care (unless racing) are suddenly looking at a mate with a faster average and thinking …