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

[Dogtrousers]

Motivations change as well. I used to be mildly obsessed with my Eddington number but once it hit 100 (100 x 100 milers) my motivation to torture myself by riding 100 miles tailed off, distances got shorter and hence fitness dropped and my ability to ride 100 miles went down too.

Also my wife has been unwell so I'm not so happy with disappearing all day and losing half a weekend quite so often as previously

 

[Ming the Merciless]

2 back-to-back bouts of flue

Being up a chimney won’t hsve been good for your lungs

 

[Jon George]

Going up our local steep hill (My wife calls it "Killer Hill") I had to stop halfway up short of breath. It got slowly worse and worse.

There is quite a steep rise coming out of Ipswich, close to where I live, called Bishop's Hill. I decided a long while ago that when I could no-longer get up it on one of my Fixed Gears, or my two-speed Brompton, I'd go electric. I think there are even more advances to come with them, even though they are now remarkable to what they once were.

 

[PaulSB]

I'm 71. Yes, but not directly due to age and I intend to return to my previous levels. I've alluded to this in the 50km/50m challenge thread. In June '24 I was hit by a tractor at +/-32/33 mph. This resulted in six months effectively off the bike. Last autumn my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and while she is perfectly "well" (not as daft as it sounds) this has resulted in understandable changes in our lives.

My riding has reduced from 2/3 times a week, 120/150 miles in total, often more in summer, to one ride of 50/60. Only 3100 miles in 2025, my target would be 5000+. I can still sit with youngsters, in their 50s, in a group and happily knock out 120 mile days. What has gone is my ability to climb, I can still ride all the local climbs but far slower than 18 months ago.

What I need is to return to my previous weekly rides and I am finding ways to reorganise life accordingly. I work with a PT, stretch out 4/5 times weekly and follow gym routines 3/4 times a week. I'm riding a very local loop, 16 miles and 1400 feet, to build the climbing when I'm short of time. I've shifted 3kgs and have another 4kg to go.

My two regular buddies, 65 and 69 have made huge improvements in the past 8/9 months. It's a question of what one wants, not age.

 

[All uphill]

For me at 70 the big change is in the desire to go far or fast - it's gone. I suspect a gradual reduction in testosterone levels is more significant than my body's ability to work hard.

In the eight years since I retired I have also worked out that I enjoy my bike rides far more when I stop to take pictures, drink a coffee, identify a bird song or a fungus or talk to someone along the way.

 

[Webbo2]

I turned 70 in June and sometimes my rides are slower than a couple of years ago but I think that’s mainly due to moving to the North York Moors from East Yorkshire. Round here it’s quite hard to find a flat ride. I go out with a local club and there are too many riders in my usual group I get put with the faster group. I can usually hang on but it’s type 2 fun🤣🤣🤣
One thing I notice with older riders is that often they just ride and don’t do anything to try and maintain or increase their speed. I usually do one or two interval sessions a week which seems help in stopping the slide in to decrepitude.😉

 

[ColinJ]

Has anybody else noticed how the CycleChat membership is ageing?!

It used to seem like most members were aged 30-60. Now I reckon it is more like 50-80!

Young riders, where are you? (Actually, I know where they probably are - over on Instagram, TikTok etc!)

 

[Dogtrousers]

Still, we're youngsters with our snazzy web forum. There's probably a cobweb infested Usenet group out there with three members aged 90.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I probably differ from many on this forum in that having given up cycling in my early twenties I didn’t start again until 15 years ago when I was 63. I had always been relatively fit and had had to give up sport because of joint problems but they didn’t seem to affect cycling.

Without ever recording speed or distance I could definitely feel that I was getting faster with less tiredness. I think my peak cycling fitness came about during the first Covid lockdown when I was doing 25/30 mile rides most days. Now, at 78, my cycling strength and fitness have dropped noticeably, probably coinciding with a layoff a few years back due to a fall which led to a pacemaker being fitted and more recently treatment for prostate cancer. In my case the slowdown has probably been health episode related rather than gradual, but difficult to be certain.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Young riders, where are you?

Not posting on this thread.

 

[Rusty Nails]

which seems help in stopping slowing the slide in to decrepitude.😉

FTFY
You are doing all the right things to delay the inevitable but, sorry to rain on your parade, decrepitude will win in the end.

 

[teeonethousand]

70 last July. I have only really been cycling since COVID and I do it for general exercise and recreational days out....mostly alone but days out with younger brother. Performance and stats is not the goal .

I started on a charity bike then hybrid now on a carbon gravel with 45 tyres and have definitely got fitter both in pace, distance and recovery.
However I am still not very quick and have only a plodding speed on decent hills. I can do a flattish 30miles at about 14.5 ave reducing to 12 or so if hilly. Earlier this week was 45mles & 1600ft climbing and blooming cold and the AVE was 12.2.

I do expect to get worse in future.

I have tried an electric mountain bike a couple of times, loved it and will definitely get an electric something, probably all-road, next.

 

[cyberknight]

The last few years have been a fight to regain fitness after separate issues all needing surgery meant i lost a lot of fitness which i would work hard to regain only to be hit with another injury , the latest one has been plaguing me since june and it is still not right so every time i think im regaining some form as it settles down the pain comes back and im back to square one .

 

[postman]

Don't tell Mrs P but i AM getting the bike out in 2026,it is my aim i need a break from care giving,it will do me a power of good.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Still, we're youngsters with our snazzy web forum. There's probably a cobweb infested Usenet group out there with three members aged 90.

Rec.bike.pennyfarthing