LHawes

Knowing when one is 'done' with a certain part of their life is an art form, not a science. It's OK to simply do something different whenever you say it is OK. There's no other measure.

FlashBazbo

About 15 years ago, I had my love affair with a fixie. I lived in Kansas at the time and it was beautiful.

But now, my knees are severely arthritic and I live in middle Tennessee. I've got 10%+ grade no matter which direction I ride. No fixies for me, I'm afraid. But you brought back sweet memories.

Bandera

How and where I ride hasn't changed much since retiring from competition, except structured power and speed work is optional and travel to races and entry fees are things of the past.

Just like the old guys in my club when I started cycling the technique, savvy and physical structure developed for competition serves well into advanced age for doing the rides that one feels like doing with style and a right smart pace.

When to retire from pinning on a number and having at it is personal, quit when you feel like it.
Retirement from the sport isn't actually permanent, there is always that little voice from deep in the limbic system whispering: "The Comeback, you can Do it!"....

PS: You can still ride as hard as you please with your club and/or take coaching certification to pass skills on new riders to remain useful and relevant in the sport.

-Bandera

Carbonfiberboy 

This is the critical thing. You can keep doing it as long as you keep doing it. This is how age strikes you down: it saps your will. Older people are generally much less fit than youngers, but it's not really because of age, it's because they stop going for it. Fight that. "Do not go gentle into that good night."

Yes, it gets harder to get out there. Participation obviously drops off with age and that's why. One way to combat this is to change focus. Not getting racing results? Try randonneuring. Tired of that? Tandem with your wife. That doesn't work, take up ride leading with your local club. No club, do a solo cross-country tour. Etc., etc.

Sounds like with your weather and lifestyle that you might be able to substitute a smart trainer or resistance rollers for those dark, cold rides. Which brings up another issue: injuries. My observation is that a big reason we lose older riders or older fast riders is through injuries. You go down and break your pelvis and femur and it'll be really hard to come back. I've seen very few riders who can cope with that. Most come back slow and cautious. So don't get injured! Enjoy yourself, but ride safe. One injury can spoil your whole season.

TimothyH

I find the attitude that racing is a somehow a higher calling than "just" riding to be offensive.

Not everyone here has that attitude but it is present and it is quite frankly, rediculous.


-Tim-

Artmo 

I'm 76, never having been a competitive racer, but even so, competitive in group rides. Over the past several months, until my cardiac ablation a couple of weeks ago, I had been unable to stay with the bunch, so my wife and I on our tandem have just pootled along at about 13 mph and thoroughly enjoyed smelling the roses. We might just continue to do that, even though my HR is now back to normal. What's the hurry?

fietsbob

likewise , Ive toured , not raced, and used my bike to get places, do stuff, and enjoy the scenery along the way..

OP was more ambitious and had more funds to travel to competitive sporting events..
I saved and scrimped to do a few overseas tours..

jon c. 

I don't see it that way. I don't race or even ride fast, but those who do put forth a level of dedication and effort that is admirable. I don't know if I'd go so far as term it a higher calling, but people who put in a lot of work to excel at anything do earn a bit more respect in my eyes . I'm just having fun and I'm comfortable with that.

Carbonfiberboy 

I think perhaps some commenters are still in denial. It doesn't matter at what level you are now riding. If you want to keep doing it, that attitude that racers are somehow different and that casual riders don't have to go through what the OP is going through has got to change. Of course if the downhill slide is fine with you, then no problem, but I'm preaching the no-slide attitude. Stay active and thus healthy until something bad happens. Put it off. Keep having fun.

Wildwood 

+1 to all of this.
And the additional angle is that to some degree every long term cyclist makes adjustments/accommodations toward their goal.

On one extreme = there are Masters riders who get no pay, but cheat the system to win at the Amateur level. In the middle = maybe a guy like me, sees an inexplicable performance drop at 61yo. and takes measures to compensate. On the other end, the folks who accept pedaling easier.

Major benchmarks for self-review include: every decade (every b'day for TypeA's); retirement dates/plans; Medicare eligibility; deaths of friends/family; spousal's needs; personal physical discombobulations; emotional crises; unplanned employment changes.

Therefore, maintaining a clear purpose and consistent execution through life's travail's, absolutely exhibits a Higher Calling to the Cycling Gods who judge every cyclist wishing to take a race bike past the Pearly Gates. Singlespeeds with coaster brakes have no such barriers. English 3 spds have a slightly higher standard, sport touring higher, etc, etc.

edit: I intend to get in with all of mine, so a significant effort is required until the date my useless carcass needs disposal.

TiHabanero

In 2012 I was riding into the sunrise and enjoying it at a level that cannot be explained. I slowed down, noticed the world around me and have kept it at that pace since. Can't explain it, I just felt something was not clicking with beating the pave as hard as I could. For what purpose? What was the point of earning bragging rights? WHO CARES?? Yes, I weigh 10 pounds more than I used to, but I am enjoying every single ride, and look forward to it time and time again. Just a shift in the brain, I suppose.

Carbonfiberboy 

My performance also started going noticeably downhill in my early 60's. That's when I started trying to train smarter because I sure as heck couldn't train harder. That's when it got interesting.

ltxi

Got back into cycling a couple years back after a 20 year layoff. At first I pounded the hell out of myself working at getting "back up to speed". And I was getting, pretty much got there. Then something just clicked in my head...why am I doing this, competitiveness is not what cycling's about for me now/anymore. So started smelling the roses and now I gots happy and enjoyment on me. Which at 73 is what I've decided the rest of my life is all about.

Bearonabike

While I was not a competitive racer in college, I rode the living heck out of an old Fuji until an accident took me out of cycling entirely for more than 20 years. Back then, I was in great shape. The bike was my major form of transportation at the University of Florida and I took it all over town. An average day was probably 40 miles. Weekends I was on it just for the enjoyment. After the accident, I spent 2 years on crutches (I could do hand stands) and was terrified of the idea of me on a bike near cars.

I got back into riding just before I got married and now we have a daughter. I find myself pulling a 3rd wheel bike and riding at wife speed more often than not. Knee problems resulting from the accident have kept me from really trying to be competitive but I find that the rides I enjoy more are those at 12-14 mph with my family. When I do go out alone to ride hard and burn calories, it seems that the ride is just not as enjoyable. It isn't a physical exertion thing, it's a quality of ride thing. When you get to that point, the question will almost answer itself.

FlashBazbo

Gee, I'm sorry you were offended. I wasn't aware you had left your "safe space." Perhaps you should start a protest. Millennials. Wow.

unterhausen

my mantra is "no death marches." I'm not going to go out and do a ride that I am positive isn't going to have some redeeming quality to it. Having said that, I'm still doing some fairly extreme rides. I don't know what I would do if my knees started hurting me. I have had knee issues, but right now they seem stable.

reverborama

How do you stop anything you like? My mother loved sewing and cross-stitch. She did crosswords and the crypto-quip every day. Each of those fell by the way-side when she couldn't do them anymore. After she passed and we cleaned out her things there were a dozen or so cross-stitch project she'd started and couldn't finish along with lots and lots of racks and un-started patterns and thread. We got a hold of a local club she used to belong to and brought all her stuff over there for members that were able to use that stuff. It made me very sad and made me think an awful lot about where I'm going.

I enjoy riding. I went for a 9 mile nighttime fat-bike ride through the Minnesota river flats last night under the super-moon. We saw barges on river and deer and had a great time. 4 of the 6 of us were over 50. Someday I won't be able to do that. My plan is to maintain the level of fitness that lets me do this sort of thing for the maximum amount of time. I'm not sure what will happen when I can't do that anymore. Hopefully my wife gets a bunch of kids to take all my bikes and crap and they start riding rather than just throwing it out!

In direct response to the OP, my co-worker who raced at a high level in local races (winning the masters road race title here one year) was in a horrific hit and run accident this spring. It received extensive news coverage but they haven't caught the a-hole who left him for dead. He spent several weeks in a medically induced coma and several months in the hospital. He's out now and in the midst of a loooong recovery process. He's never going to race at the level he had but he still wants to ride. A few weeks ago he tried a fat-bike for the first time and picked one up. He's enjoyed exploring the off-road paths around the area. It's not the same as racing but it's fun and it's new. So if "just riding" on the road isn't enjoyable, find another kind of biking that takes you places and offers challenges you haven't experienced. I really like exploring off-road. Maybe you'd like that, maybe you'd find that unsupported touring is the ticket. Build a Rinko bike and do a trip around Europe.

DougG

Yesterday I ran my first 10K in my new 70-74 age bracket and came in third, which I was proud of since I've never been a top competitive runner. But then I looked at my records from running the same event four years ago and saw that I'd lost a full four minutes in time! So that is what sometimes gets me down: the continual slide in performance. It seems now like after every distance run I can say "Well, that was good but I'll never run that time again!" Definitely not a motivator.

As far as cycling goes, I've never ridden a bike in competition, other than one duathlon a few years back, so I can continue to ride just as I always have: for the genuine freedom of traveling through the world out in the open on two wheels!

osco53

OP..
Take up single track,
I get the same workout In 15 miles out there as I do In 35 road miles.

I don't race I ride, cleaning a segment and chasing the 'Flow' Is my thing,
Total enjoyment of the moment,
Total Involvement,
Followed by total commitment when you go over that drop~~~

Going out when the preserve is free of humans mid week Is really cool.
I flip on my ride bell to warn the animals and fly down the flats.
Wind In my face,
Bike leaned way way over,
Slipping the back end a little,
Getting a wheelie off a root,,, Oh yeah

Zero to 25 mph In those almost straight down short drops, yeah It's safe as long as you stay out of your bikes way

FlashBazbo

I appreciate the sentiment, but my knee surgeon just this year outlawed running and mountain bikes. I'm even off gravel racing until at least next Spring. I'm coming back from a shoulder reconstruction and knee surgery this year. It's not the drop that wrecks what's left of your knees, it's that sudden stop at the bottom.

irwin7638

I don't really understand why this is an issue. You get older, things change. Adapt. I've been riding for 44 years as an adult, never thought of cycling as a competitive sport, just a fun way to work some recreation into the day going from here to there.

SHBR

The idea of riding smarter rather than harder makes sense to me. In my case I started monitoring my heart rate, I found that I can ride all day in zone 2 and have huge reserves for short bursts of speed, yet still burn fat. Average speeds are lower, but ride quality is more dynamic and interesting. Before, I would just go as hard as possible for as long as possible, eventually this gets old.

RiPHRaPH

I will chime in and say that this has happened to me in a different sport recently. I finally had to stop playing hockey on a regular basis. I was in a league, subbing on other teams, playing at a few rinks for years and years. Finally I started to feel my age as I chased kids half my age around the ice. I coached my son for years also which added ice time for me.

Although I never raced, I rode with real athletes. Cat3 racers and college hockey players and football players. I rode myself into the ground, always a step behind --> but I rode and rode because..... they were my friends. My biking friends.

Now my social scene has changed. No more hockey buds. No more biking buds. I go on solo rides and challenge myself always knowing which parts of the ride I'd get dusted off the back.

Trying to adjust to this new life. Lightening the load means I lost all the people to ride with. They are simply too fast and nobody wants to give up a Saturday or Sunday riding opportunity to slow up for me.

To put into perspective, I'm in great shape for my age (52) and can still hammer, but I run into periods where I give up the ghost thus rendering me not fit for the A or B rides I've enjoyed for decades.

daryou

My motto is: "I cycle; I may be slower than a herd of tortoises stampeding through peanut butter, but I cycle" My Lance Armstrong wanna-be days ended when I got married and then had kids. Between family and work responsabilities, I could not devote the time for that much training. Now that my kids are grown and gone, I can go on longer rides but, at 59, I'm definitely a casual rider. I ride for the pleasure of being in the great outdoors.

Biker395 

Doesn't Strava come up with a "suffer score"?

I'd posit that fun factor = 1/suffer score.

lol