I am 58, and have been cycling actively for the past four years. From a start of 2000 miles year one, I got up to right about 10,000 miles last year. I've never raced, even in my youth, when I was doing occasional club rides with some pretty fast boys and girls.

Long story, but my daughter ended up joining a really cool fitness club last fall. I was sweating away on a spin bike, keeping her company a few weeks back, when one of the cycling coaches came by and described their metabolic testing and pedaling analysis programs. I mentioned it to my wife more as a curiosity than a desire, she whispered it in Santa's ear, he responded with a gift certificate, and low and behold, today was the day.

Somewhat to my surprise, and to the coach's great surprise, I pulled some pretty high numbers, particularly on the VO2 max.

I have heard from friends who do race that the Masters category is brutally competitive, much more so than Cat 4-5 in the general age group. So, and not looking to start a p contest of any sort, if you've got some recent metabolic test results and are willing to share, it would be a much appreciated dose of reality I suspect. A pm would be fine if you're the shy type.

And yes, I do understand that there is a difference between lab results and the ability to race effectively. In the 40 minutes or so it took to run the test, my bike and the towel on the floor beside it covered exactly the same distance and earned the same prize.