Hope for immunity for the 'more senior' cyclist

[Ajax Bay]

"How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining" (BBC)

 

[Andy in Germany]

"How exercise in old age prevents the immune system from declining" (BBC)

I'm not in my old age yet, I do have asthma and colds would usually be severe: I'd take months to shake off a cold and a cough. When I started cycling I went from having four or five severe colds and coughs for a couple of months each year to two relatively mild cases in winter with a less virulent cough, and now to the current situation of one cold every couple of years or so. The more I cycled the less I had a cold.

That said when one does get through it often knocks me sideways, but that's every couple of years now.

 

[ColinJ]

Excellent news!

Literally a few seconds ago, I posted this in the retirement thread...

I'll just dig up a letter sent by Chris Crossland, the organiser of The Other Fleet Moss Randonee in 2006... I kept the letter because it made such an impression on me at the time. TOFMR was a 200 km audax event from Halifax up into the Yorkshire Dales and back via the fringes of The Forest of Bowland.

Chris C:

• Riders of this event will be accustomed to find me bringing noteworthy achievements to their attention, and this year is no exception... [list of achievements]... and a very hearty well done to 'D' [name withheld] who took delivery of his new Van Nicholas audax bike earlier in the week and, at the age of 77 (my emphasis) , was the senior rider, leaving many of the juniors in his wake. Some of the juniors may have noticed that he had a badly bruised left hand sustained in a cycling fall a few days earlier.Those of you left behind by 'D' may not be comforted to discover that he visited A&E the next day, where it was discovered that he had ridden the event with a broken hand.

Fleet Moss is a whacking big climb between Langstrothdale Chase (just beyond the end of Wharfedale) and Hawes in Wensleydale. It took me 75 km of chasing to finally catch 'D' and his mates, just before the summit of Fleet Moss. He was 27 years older than me, and I didn't have a broken hand...

Now if I can still be doing hilly 200s at the age of 77, even when injured, I'd settle for that !

I distinctly remember catching 'D' and his mates at the top of Fleet Moss. They were all in their late 70s. I saw them again later, arriving at event HQ as I was leaving after my coffee, cake and sandwiches. I finished the hilly 200 in 10 hours so they must have taken just under 11. They looked very fit and healthy. I am sure that most of us know sedentary people in their 50s who look like frail pensioners!

 

[steveindenmark]

So its a flip what goes first. Your immune system, your knees, or your neck. Thanks for that 😁

 

[ColinJ]

So its a flip what goes first. Your immune system, your knees, or your neck. Thanks for that 😁

Well, something has to give eventually, or the world would get rather cramped...