Older riders: Has your strength/fitness gradually declined or in noticeable steps?

[Ming the Merciless]

Agree on the strength work. I’ve started doing 2-3 sessions a week now. Just functional body weight work, such as squats, dips, pull ups, press ups etc.

 

[Drago]

Oh aye, I still lifr and do bodyweight exercises 4 times a week, a full body workout. Nowhere near what I used to do, but still more rigorous than most folk half my age manage in the gym.

Now I've gone lighter I've reverted to dumnbells, which gives a nide secondary workout as the arm has to work harder to control and balance the more unstable (compared to a barbell) weight. Good for grip and those hard to pump forearm muscles.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Balance is the other work I do. There are balance beams and logs on the trim trail in the local park.

 

[Dogtrousers]

My balance is absolutely terrible. I do a stretching and balance session once a week, (which probably isn't enough but may be better than nothing - I hope) I'm frustratingly hopeless.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think what most of us are trying to follow is the black line, keeping above the disablement threshold for as long as possible. The orange line being your trajectory if you are mostly sedentary.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My balance is absolutely terrible. I do a stretching and balance session once a week, (which probably isn't enough but may be better than nothing - I hope) I'm frustratingly hopeless.

There’s lots of opportunities to work on balance in daily life as well. For instance I’ll balance on one leg whilst doing the washing up.

 

[Dogtrousers]

There’s lots of opportunities to work on balance in daily life as well. For instance I’ll balance on one leg whilst doing the washing up.

Yes I do the when cleaning my teeth.

 

[Webbo2]

Agree on the strength work. I’ve started doing 2-3 sessions a week now. Just functional body weight work, such as squats, dips, pull ups, press ups etc.

Yes it’s a must do as you age. I still rock climb 3 times a week although its indoors plus weights after one session and a finger board session after another.

 

[kingrollo]

I'm 62 - as an asthmatic never been fast. I always noticed my speeds would plummet in the colder months.
Late 50s my speeds declined quite a bit - I found I was only hitting what I call my target speeds in peak summer July/August.

Jan 2024 - I was diagnosed with coronary artery disease and June 2025 I had a heart attack.

Back on the bike - although it's an e assist bike.

Doing cardiac rehab - lots of cardio and just getting back into weight strength training.

 

[esoxlucius]

I have an old journal somewhere which documents every ride I've ever done from way back to the early 90's.

Back in the day I used to have dozens and dozens of regular rides and it became a bit of a challenge to try and beat my times on each ride.

I believe the original old journal is buried in the loft somewhere and this thread may have me digging it out!

I've moved house since so obviously don't ride any of my old routes anymore. But out of curiosity I can certainly ride down to my old house and return back there after my journey and compare my current times with the ones from yesteryear.

What I do know though is my average speed has always been between 26-30kph. That tells me one of two things.....either I was slacking when I was a lot younger, and maybe could have gone a lot faster if I'd have tried, or that for my current age I'm not doing too bad now.

 

[Pblakeney]

Anecdotal and small sample of one. I found that speed started to taper off slowly after 60 but it didn't really bother me too much. Still enjoying it. Performance fell off a cliff edge later due to health issues. The main problem is you do not know when these things will happen and they may not.

For the younger readers, I'd suggest doing your bucket list trips earlier rather than later. Don't wait for retirement. I'm certainly glad that I did.

 

[PaulSB]

My balance is absolutely terrible. I do a stretching and balance session once a week, (which probably isn't enough but may be better than nothing - I hope) I'm frustratingly hopeless.

You're right to work on this as it involves core and core strength is important to cyclists.

I stretch 4/5 times weekly for +/-25 minutes. I add to this one of two different weights routines. I have one for home and for the gym. Both routines involve balance moves.

There's a great deal you can do at home, without any equipment other than your body to address core and balance. Home workouts are great as no gym membership is involved, it's easy to find the odd hour to do it and there's no need to make a special journey. If I want to do gym work I tack it on to a supermarket run.

Forward and reverse lunge, single leg deadlift, squats, split squats etc. all pull the right muscle sets into action.

 

[Dogtrousers]

You're right to work on this as it involves core and core strength is important to cyclists.

I stretch 4/5 times weekly for +/-25 minutes. I add to this one of two different weights routines. I have one for home and for the gym. Both routines involve balance moves.

There's a great deal you can do at home, without any equipment other than your body to address core and balance. Forward and reverse lunge, single leg deadlift, squats, split squats etc. all pull the right muscle sets into action.

I've done lunges, squats, plank and stuff like that regularly for years. Probably 30 years or so (with a few gaps) I hate to think of the state I'd be in now if I hadn't.

Or maybe I've been wasting my time and I'm doomed.

 

[Moodyman]

Cyclists usually eschew strength training, but this is invaluable for general health and on the bike fitness.

Compound lifting is especially beneficial and as @PaulSB states, doing these single legs and arms improves balance and identifies the weaker side.

When you’re strong, you avoid injury and if you get injured, you bounce back quicker.

 

[CXRAndy]

I had a nasty cold/flu/covid in February.

It knocked me physically, Im slowly getting back to fitness, but it's taking far longer than I anticipated.