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

[Pat "5mph"]

I'm a bit younger than most posters on this thread, I'll be 63 in February.
I only started cycling at 48, I was working shifts, there was no convenient public transport, I wanted a better way to get to work.
The commute was 6 miles each way, I did it for 10 years, along with leisure rides alone or with a group.
I stopped riding for a year during Covid, lost my job, in addition I injured a knee through a freak accident.
I've been back riding for 4 years now, my speed is exactly as it was 10 years ago, 10mph max.
Distances, I can easily do 50 flattish miles, maybe more, just like 10 years ago.
I suspect if I was riding a road bike instead of my hefty commuters my performance would improve.
One day I'm going to try a road bike, actually I have one that has been hanging on my wall for years, I'm scared of it

 

[Ian H]

I rode my last 600 in 23 and my last 400 last year. Both of them felt somewhat hard. I think the COVID layoff started the rot, and now, at 72, I'm not ambitious for greater distances. Only ridden 200s this year. It's possible the mojo will return, but no pressure. I'm just waiting for the new fixed frame to arrive.

 

[Drago]

About to turn 58.

Strength still there, endurance not quite what it was. However, a house move means im not getting the the miles - I no longer do a 16 mile round trip on the bike just to buy minor groceries.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I've been back riding for 4 years now, my speed is exactly as it was 10 years ago, 10mph max.

Hang on a minute, I thought it was 5mph. You deceive us with your speedy ways.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Hang on a minute, I thought it was 5mph. You deceive us with your speedy ways.

That was an estimate before I got a Garmin
I only got the Garmin after I registered on here, didn't even know what a Garmin was

 

[wiggydiggy]

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!)

 

[MontyVeda]

A noticeable step.... a bout of pneumonia 3 years ago left me feeling fully fatigued for a good 8 months afterwards and I've not managed to rebuild the stamina in the years since. What was once a forty mile leisure ride is now a twenty mile slog on a good day.

 

[ktmbiker58]

It's very helpful to include regular strength training - I am 67 and do a couple of calisthenics sessions a week, both upper body with pullups etc and legs with Bulgarian spilit squats and similar. You need to maintain strength in order to maintain cardio fitness.

 

[ColinJ]

You need to maintain strength in order to maintain cardio fitness.

I don't think that is true, unless you are talking about a pretty minimal level of strength - I haven't been strong in my upper body since giving up my labouring job and going to university over 40 years ago.

Having said that, I do think that strength training is a good idea. I have just started doing some simple exercises with modest weight kettlebells. At some point I may buy heavier ones, but for now I would rather do more reps.

 

[katiewlx]

feels like a slow decline, covid absolutely played a part in that for me,though having asthma didnt help,and Ive dropped 2mph on my average speeds since then, across most distances where you know like wind,weather or terrain dont really play in as the factor. I kind of feel I could get that back if I totally devoted all my spare time to it, the point being it used to come without that kind of commitment.

so that is annoying as I do look at my old times sometimes and think how did I do those times, and why cant I do it now, but our bodies age and change as we get older,and women of a certain age certainly get that in spades for a while.

 

[HLaB]

Im a bit younger (just touching 50) but I put down a sudden decline in my early 40s to just getting older. It was actually a catastrophic iron deficiency caused by a cancer. After that was whipped out I had a steady increase in fitness until around 48. After that motivation weaned a bit and I've had a gradual decrease to date so far.

 

[Hacienda71]

I was quicker when I used to race. Still pretty quick at 54, but I don't do the miles I used to, probably average under 100 miles a week in the winter and don't feel the need to smash it on rides. Weigh about a stone over my race weight which tells in the hills.

 

[Bristolian]

Some interesting comments above From my early teens to mid 20's I was an avid road racer; even after I joined the Army at 16 I continued with civilian races as well as being a member of my unit cycling team. I also raced for my Corps and for the (now extinct) British Army of the Rhine but then me and the MoD had a falling out and I handed in my request for discharge. Throughout my Army career I was a fairly constant 63kg.

Once in civvy street the need to support a wife and two young children took over and cycling became just a way to get to work for a few years until I got a super job that had me jetting all over the world for eighteen years. That came to an end when my wife was forced to stop work due to various medical problems and I couldn't be away for weeks on end. I didn't cock my leg over a cross-bar top tube from 1990 to 2023 when I was gifted a Ridley Supercross bike which I rode for about six months before selling it (it was too big for me) to buy an old Specialized Allez road bike, which I'm still riding. Back in 2023 I was a fairly hefty 136kg

Is there a difference in my ability between 1990 and today? Oh, yeah but I guess it's a mixture of not riding for all those years and getting older (I was 71 in October 2025). But there has even been a decline in the past 12 months which I guess is mostly down to getting older. I'm a data geek so maintain a spreadsheet with all my rides logged with distance, average/max speeds, average/max cadence, average/max heart rate, height gained and calories burned - all according to the God Garmin. I'm seeing a reduction in my average speeds over the same routes and a lessening of my ability to power up even slight hills. In 2023 my average speed was 19.25mph, that dropped to 17.62 in 2024 and this year it has been a pretty devastating 13.5mph across the six regular routes that I ride. This year's drop may be due to me riding the longer routes more than the short ones, or maybe I'm just looking for an excuse 🤷‍♀️ Right now I'm a less hefty 109kg

For 2025 I plan to actually get a bike fit and introduce some strength training (which I've not done since I left Her Majesty's employ in the late 1970's) into my routine to see if that helps otherwise I might have to admit defeat and get an EAPC

Apologies for the length of this post and thanks to those that made it this far

PS: Two years after leaving the Army I joined the TA and did 21 years as a part-timer - sucker for punishment comes to mind

 

[Jon George]

PS: Two years after leaving the Army I joined the TA and did 21 years as a part-timer - sucker for punishment comes to mind

In all sincerity, thank you for your service.

 

[Mike Ayling]

Muscle mass starts to decrease in your mid forties and if you do don't do anything about it you can go from legs like tree trunks to legs like saplings as you age unless you continue to exercise.. I was not enjoying our club rides so I bought an ebike for my eightieth birthday.
Shortly thereafter the people who ran our Older Adults Strength and Balance upsold Mary and I to an additional small group class using leg press machines and heavier weights and lots of squats.
Now age 83 I can keep up with the club rides and only bring out the ebike for hilly rides.
I have a lot of sympathy for those who have had long covid because I have known people who have had it.
Continue to ride and exercise.