They can. And ultimately, it's about being as good as we can be.

I don't know how fast I could have been at thirty, I didn't train systematically and I didn't race. But since coming back to cycling aged 49, I have got faster every year for ten years. Until this year, that is, when injury destroyed my winter training.

However, I'm confident that with a bit of patience and determination I can get back to where I was last year. I can't improve indefinitely, of course I can't. But with each year of application and training, the gap between me and the youthful me can be minimised, and the gap between me and the me I would become if I got off the bike can be maintained. I'm pretty fast, but there are 75 year-olds out there who are faster than me. I have every intention of being one of them.