Fifty Plus (50+) - Boy I'm old and slow

New poster here folks. Been riding for close to 30 year. I'm just shy of 54. Used to be MUCH faster. So 15 years ago I lived back east. Rode with friends. Was pretty flat. And of course I was 15 years younger. Used to do 50 milers a couple time a week in the summer. Used to average 17.5-18.5mph when in shape. Moved to the rural mountains of NM 15 years ago. It's REAL hilly here. Don't seem to make it up on the downhill side. I almost never see other riders out here. Couple weeks ago got dropped badly by a guy in his 60's who was 70 miles into a century..I was 15 miles into a 25 miler.

Today, 35 miles is a lot and I average 13 or so. My weight isn't that off from 15 years ago. I KNOW I'm a bit lazier..and not riding with others enhances that. Since the "old" guy dropped me I've been pushing a bit harder, but still light years from what I used to do.

Not a big deal really. don;t race. I ride for the physical and mental benefits. Just curios how the rest of the over-50 crowd fairs compared to wen they were in their 40's?

Are you near Silver City? My wife and I visit out there sometimes, we have friends that live there. If so, I'll look you up next time we're in town!

Rick / OCRR

PS: I'm 59 and like to climb up mountain roads on my bike!

Rick, we live in the other side of the state. The Sacramento Mountains. Similar terrain to the Gila Wilderness. I've grown to like climbing, just not that good at it! 7000 feet above sea level here

So what make you different to most of us? I used to be one of those Ultra Fit youngsters but didn't take up cycling till I was 42. I found cycling hard for a couple of years but got into long distance riding in 1992. Offroad then but I still had to train for the 100 mile enduros.

Kept riding hard till 2001 and then had a medical problem and tailed off- tailed off a lot and even thought about going roadie to get an easier time. BUT in late 2002 set myself a goal. A goal that I knew was hard. To do that 100 miler that I has last done in 97. Trained for it and the big part of the training was the mental aspect. WHY am I doing this? The legs hurt- and the lungs- and the butt after 6 hours non stop riding:innocent:

But In June 2003 I did that ride. Did it in the same time I had done it in 97 and "Enjoyed" it so much that I entered for the following year and did it in my best time ever.

For the last 3 years I have gone to the dark side and now ride road. Not in preference to offroad but the body just won't take the lumps and bumps any more. I found it so easy- I set myself another goal and climbed Ventoux in 2007.

So set yourself a goal. Not too easy- but one you know you can attain. You do 35 miles at present- so how about a metric century by the end of the year. You will have to put some effort in and training will not be easy. Just having that goal will spur you on. Riding will have more put into it- it will have to- and speed- distance and enjoyment will return. Well perhaps not the enjoyment for a while until the legs and lungs come in but even that will come.

stapfam..never said i was different! When i was 35 I rode all the time with a buddy. We were very evenly matched. There was always an "old" guy that dropped us then!

Part of it is time. I'm 18 months into a new start up. I may set a goal of ridding 55 miles before my 55 b'day. Wife. Business. House. Ain't like it used to be.

BTW I rode with some mountain bike guys when i was younger. Boy did I get hurt. More than getting my blackbelt

stapfam..never said i was different!

What I should have said is that most of us have the same problem. And the goal of 55 miles by your birthday is ideal- but will only be the start of the next stage of riding.

And if you have just "Discovered" hills- rest assured they are hard. I live in a hilly area and I still find them hard- but what an achievement when you can ride then just a little faster- in a higher gear- or not be as tired at the top as last time.

Hills are tough. I know part of this is mental..I used to push more. That's why a goal is good!

I do have a goal this year. It's a 39 mile road..to the first real town I hit going south from home. The miles are no biggie obviously, I've done 35. BUT the last 6 miles down to town are down hill. Not huge,,but it's uphill coming home so I always turn around when I get to that point. I will do that this year. It will be a stretch of road I haven;t riden since moving here 15 yrs ago.

Chip...welcome to the forums, and congrats on your 'new' resolve to enjoy the ride. I am here in flat Kansas but have enough hills to know what you are talking about. We have wind here too which you have to get used to. Whether it is wind or hills you just have to knuckle down and go the pace that gets the job done. Practice makes perfect.
Again Welcome.

Welcome to our merry band. It's amazing how fast your body can improve if you work at it. Put together a plan or schedule and try to stick with it. Oh, and having a goal is always a good idea.

I think that you're doing it wrong.

It sounds to me like you're trying to compare yourself either to somebody else or, worse, some idealized vision of yourself. Those comparisons are always going to come up wanting.

Try to focus on having fun. Some fun things are even more so when done slowly.

54 years old? Can't remember back that far!
Am 76. Quit riding double centuries and centuries in my late 60s.
Still riding 100+ miles a week.
Ride down that hill and come back up it . . . you can do it.
Use your gears, that's what you've got them for.
No, can't average 20+ mph any more, but still can kick in a good short sprint!
Keep at it . . .
Can hardly wait 'til I get older!

"Boy I'm old and slow "

I hate it when folks in their 50's complain about how "old" they are.

Like ZT, I can't wait to get older - it sure beats the alternative, and a youthful outlook makes things a lot better.

Ride for FUN and smiles, and the rest comes easy.

70 in 4 months.

Just keep riding and push yourself just a little, you will improve over time. But on the other hand were not 20 years old any longer.

As my mother would say “ Getting old sucks but it sure beats the alternative”
the woman sure did have a way with words.

"The spirit are willing but the flesh are weak" is about the best way to describe my current "abilities" as compared to when I was younger.

FWIW, I believe that you are suffering from a lack of competitiveness. Not that this is bad, per se. Instead, you don't feel like you have to push yourself to enjoy your riding. Which is fine and is better than sitting in a Lazyboy with a remote in one hand and a beer in the other every day/all day.

I, OTOH, push myself as best I can and I still fail. Miserably and often. :(

I've been riding for almost 40 years now. I'm enjoying it now more than ever. Speed is not a goal any more. (This applies to my motorcycle riding too.) Now it's about being smooth, consistent, aware of the area I'm riding in and most important, having fun.

Someone once said to me, "Hey! You're not a professional bike racer. You never were. For most of us there is no prize money or trophy. So why are you in such a hurry? Do you want your ride to be over quickly or what?"

Thanks for al the posts folks. I am NOT complaining. I'm in better shape than most people my age. Don't get sick. Don't have medical problems. Most 50 yr olds can't imagine a 30 mile bike ride. We're an elite group. I guess I always compare yourself to others, or yourself. That said, I ride for me, and have always enjoyed the psychological effects as much or more than the physical..of course how can you separate the two? This is the first year I realize I can't do what I used to in my 30's. Went back to karate after a 10 yr. hiatus, pulled too many things and threw in the towel. Guess that's life. I think it beats the alternative !

ANd oh, yeah. We get wind here too. Spring really sucks. 25mph winds are a good day. I average 13mph. Do the math. BUT it hits at least 45-50 almost every day through the winter. So I left my wind trainer in NJ!

ANd oh, yeah. We get wind here too. Spring really sucks. 25mph winds are a good day. I average 13mph. Do the math. BUT it hits at least 45-50 almost every day through the winter. So I left my wind trainer in NJ!

Wind??

Wouldn't know how to ride if we didn't have wind.

After a bit one gets used to it, just like hills.

Where in NM?

My sis lives in Ruidoso.

Welcome to the club, if you ever need/want answers or opinions to your problems, issues, concerns, this is the right place. The folks oon this board have done seen it all, and are nice enough to give a straight answer(but still young enough to have some fun).




Not a big deal really. don;t race. I ride for the physical and mental benefits. Just curios how the rest of the over-50 crowd fairs compared to wen they were in their 40's?

Who cares, your still on wheels aren't ya? Seems to me you have the right attitude, Enjoy the ride.
And if you do enjoy the ride, you ride more, and get better, in body, mind and soul.

Just, Enjoy the ride.

Welcome and hope this puts things in proper view:

Two of us "pensioners"(as the French press called Lance) were grinding up a climb last month. I was moaning about not being able to climb better. My riding partner put it in a different light. He said for our age group we are better than 95% of all cyclists in the USA. Keep at it it will come back.

I've turned this query into the "What should I be able to do at my age?" question. I live in eastern CT and all I can say is it's not flat. And, of course, starting the season at 20 lbs over my "cycling" weight, hills are my downfall. For a frame of referrence, I am an ex-college football & baseball player, just turned age 63 and my "ideal" weight is probably around 175 lbs. (I'm still 10 lbs short of the goal) At a natural 5'10" (now down to 5'9") this is not exactly a Tour de France cyclists' body. There are two "truths" I've come to recently. One is: if I treat cycling like I'm in training for some major event, I'm eventually going to say "the hell with it" and go have a beer. Two is: I can do a lot more than I thought I could. These are my truths and should not be taken as my prescription for everyone else. I recently gave up riding with my club on weekends because a typical ride is 4 hours long. I just don't want to spend my Saturday doing that. Instead, I ride during the week solo doing my several TT routes so I can measure my improvement. These are typically 1-3 hr. rides which start on a plateau go down into the flats and then require you to climb back up a series of hills. Today, despite 3 weeks off the bike, due to an episode of the gout and a drawn out affair with pneumonia which ended two weeks ago, I managed my 29 mi. ride at 16 mph. This is actually better than I was doing last year at season's end. And, I'm a lot happier just riding and setting my own goals for improvement. Imagine that! Age 63 and looking for and getting improvement. IMHO, this is the best thing about cycling. Enjoy your rides.

Welcome, ya I get dropped all the time, sometimes up kids on stingray's, LOL!! Still I really have enjoyed my everyother day rides, WHEN we have sunshine which seems ONLY for a 3 hour time slot in the morning this summer?? Yep, there drying to dust in TX. and we here in So. Colorado are trying not to float away with the constant daily rains, (arrrrrrrrrugh!) I even took off my computer so now I just ride and don't worry about what other's can do or how agonizingly SLOW I ride going UP HILL! ;)

Welcome. Don't worry about getting dropped, unless your a TDF racer there will always be someone who will drop you and if you are like a lot of us - sometimes that guy is older and a lot fatter:eek:.

I was a lone rider all my life until about 14 yrs ago I discovered club rides, I considered myself a good rider until I found out what a strong rider was - I got dropped all the time. I tried to keep up until eventually I developed knee problems and went back to being a lone rider. About 6 years ago I picked up a riding friend who was stronger than I and I hated when he would wait on me (he never complained) - so I worked harder to get stronger. My knee acted up again. I then discovered how to protect my knee and found through hard work and a lot of training I could ride the club rides and stopped getting dropped all the time. Now I have moved up and am challenging myself with stronger groups - sometime I get dropped but I don't care about that, I know eventually I will be strong enough to keep up and then I'll move to the next stronger group. For me it's not about beating other riders, it's about that feeling when you hit a small roller you crank the power up and actually accelerate going up the hill, it's about the feeling of riding with others, enjoying the pace and still being able to hold a conversation w/o panting like a dog. I actually go out and seek hills to challenge myself on, sometimes it's not about how fast you go its just about getting up the hill and then being able to recover quickly, it's also about realizing that if I can do that steep long grade even at 4mph I can easily motor up that roller and immediately gear up and accellerate at the top. It's about the thrill of what your body can make the bike do when you are a little bit stronger.

Enjoy the ride.

I am 57. I have done a couple of 20 mph centuries this year. So I am in reasonably good shape. Time was when I could do those solo or pretty close.

Some funny stories here, I'll add mine in. I'm 52 and just took up riding again last year after about a 35 year break. Used to to a little road biking back in the early to mid 70's. Anyways one of my riding buddies is 42 and just took up riding also last year, both of our families drove down to Florida for vacation and naturally we took our bikes. We found one of the local bike runs and went out for a ride. About half way through our 40 mile loop "we were averaging just over 18 mph" I noticed a biker behind us about 1/2 mile back, in no time he caught up to us and proceeded to drop us like a bad habit.:o He appeared to be in his late 60's, we laughed most of the way back to our hotel..:D

Recently I rode my age--- in MPH. So I'm somewhat old, fast and slow--- all in the same breath (notice my overall speed on that ride)! Be glad you can ride your bike and stay upright!!!

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p71/pastorbobnlnh/Paramounts/Jun28200952MPHLg.jpg

I'm 55 and 205 pounds and I like to ride in the mountains with people who are usually faster than me. I don't use a speedometer and my only gage is how I feel during and after the ride. btw, I do want to spend all day on the bike on Saturdays.
When I was 35 I could slack off and overeat and still get ready for a hard century with a 50 mile ride. Now, every bit of fitness gained is so hard and every bit of weight gained is too easy.
An eternal slacker, I really enjoy my rides, especially the ones with women.

Old, Slow, Wind.....sounds like me. I've been slow all my life, I often have wind, and I'm getting old. If that all ain't enough I've recently noticed that I don't ride as fast as I used to either!!!!!

Welcome to the gang.

Old, Slow, Wind.....sounds like me. I've been slow all my life, I often break wind, and I'm getting old. If that all ain't enough I've recently noticed that I don't ride as fast as I used to either!!!!!

Welcome to the gang.

Lenny - I fixed it for you :roflmao2:

Lenny - I fixed it for you :roflmao2:

Yep, that's what I was a tryin' to say. Thanks.

Rode to my brother's house in Antioch today from Pleasant Hiil. Really slow climbing the frontage road over the Willow Pass! But on the "gravity is your friend" side, almost hit my age, 53 mph. Daring or just scared sh!tle$$ to hit the brakes? I'm not sure which!! But it was much more fun going downhill!!
Cheers,
Geary

I am now 60. Never really kept much track of speed when I was younger, but I know I was never very fast, and didn't ride consistently anyway between work and kids etc. I ride more often now (about 900 miles so far this year), and avg around 13 mph on most rides. I am learning to be satisfied with that but it still bothers me when the younger, fitter guys blow by me. Doing an age ride in sept and would like to get a century in before the snow sets in but I am NOT going to pay attention to speed. Like you I ride for fitness and enjoyment and that should be enough.

New poster here folks. Been riding for close to 30 year. I'm just shy of 54. Used to be MUCH faster. So 15 years ago I lived back east. Rode with friends. Was pretty flat. And of course I was 15 years younger. Used to do 50 milers a couple time a week in the summer. Used to average 17.5-18.5mph when in shape.
I fixed that problem by getting rid of my bike computer. I don't care how long or how fast, as long as I get there.

Yeah...my bike computer broke and I never replaced it. I do some quick math re mile markers and my watch. No need to have this staring me in the face every minute

I fixed that problem by getting rid of my bike computer. I don't care how long or how fast, as long as I get there.

I'm too much of an ex-jock to do that. I pick rides to measure against the clock. I call them my TT's. Then there are rides with my gf that are laid back. And, then I have my solo "see the scenery rides." But, abandon my computer? NEVER!

Now a week after my meltdown in Flagstaff, I'm riding better than ever (since returning to biking and turning 60 6 months ago). We took one of our regular Saturday rides - only about 20 miles - and I had no trouble setting a quick (for us) pace and climbing our little hills easily. This morning we put in an early 15 mile "Tour d'Winslow" and barely broke a sweat turning in 15 mph average in spite of having to stop at all 3 of our stop lights!

30 years ago I weighed 160# and rode the 10 miles to work almost every day. I was in the best shape of my life. Now I weigh 2XX and have a lot of ground to make up.

The good news is that I'm seeing improvement. It might be in small increments, but it is happening. It may not come when I want it to, but it is happening.

We invested in a couple of Garmin Edge 705s so that we can track everything and I have exceeded my maximum HR and I didn't die! I really like the quote I saw on somebody's post "That which doesn't kill me has made a serious tactical error." We aren't competitive with a capital "C" but we want to push ourselves enough to be able to ride and enjoy the ride!

You can't "exceed" your max heart rate.

Your max heart rate is your max heart rate - simple as that.

I guess I should have put that in quotes. "Max Heart Rate" is defined as 220 - age. Therefore, 160 is the max HR I should ever push - except the HR Zone charts push it up to 167 for "brief" periods. I hit 172 on the Taylor House ride as the road reached and then passed 7,000 feet. As I mentioned before, I was afraid I would die, then that I wouldn't...

I guess I should have put that in quotes. "Max Heart Rate" is defined as 220 - age. Therefore, 160 is the max HR I should ever push - except the HR Zone charts push it up to 167 for "brief" periods. I hit 172 on the Taylor House ride as the road reached and then passed 7,000 feet. As I mentioned before, I was afraid I would die, then that I wouldn't...

Nope, max heart rate is not defined as 220-age.

Max heart can vary as much as +- 10-20 beats from that very rough and poorly used and derived figure. MHR is sports specific and individual specific.

Once again, MHR = MHR.

You might want to read this article to better understand the mythology of "Maximum Heart Rate." It may take a couple of tries to load.

http://faculty.css.edu/tboone2/asep/Robergs.doc


ABSTRACT

THE SURPRISING HISTORY OF THE “HRmax=220-age” EQUATION. Robert A. Robergs, Roberto Landwehr. JEPonline. 2002;5(2):1-10. The estimation of maximal heart rate (HRmax) has been a feature of exercise physiology and related applied sciences since the late 1930’s. The estimation of HRmax has been largely based on the formula; HRmax=220-age. This equation is often presented in textbooks without explanation or citation to original research. In addition, the formula and related concepts are included in most certification exams within sports medicine, exercise physiology, and fitness. Despite the acceptance of this formula, research spanning more than two decades reveals the large error inherent in the estimation of HRmax (Sxy=7-11 b/min). Ironically, inquiry into the history of this formula reveals that it was not developed from original research, but resulted from observation based on data from approximately 11 references consisting of published research or unpublished scientific compilations. Consequently, the formula HRmax=220-age has no scientific merit for use in exercise physiology and related fields. A brief review of alternate HRmax prediction formula reveals that the majority of age-based univariate prediction equations also have large prediction errors (>10 b/min). Clearly, more research of HRmax needs to be done using a multivariate model, and equations may need to be developed that are population (fitness, health status, age, exercise mode) specific.

This site has some good info for how to determine your max HR on your own. Also calculates the zones and tells you what they mean. http://www.fitzones.com/members/Fitness/heartrate_zones.asp

I re-estimate my max all the time, it usually ends up between 190 and 195. Knowing the zones is important for maximizeing your workout benefits towards your fitness goals.

Using the standard (flawed?) method I arrive at 166.
Using the best method recommended in the article it comes out 165.
Using the formula from the other website yields 163.

For my money, those are pretty close figures. The article indicates that the 6.4 bpm margin of error is still considered too large. Practically speaking, the laboratory method is not going to happen for most of us, including me. Since I have a recorded HR higher than predicted max, I would seem to be on the high end of the scale, which isn't a bad place to be.

Oh well, too much thinking for one day. I think I'll get some sleep and go for a ride when I wake up.

When my average speed is low i assume I hit a bunch of stoplights. I suggest you do the same.