Originally Posted by
sanmateoclimber
I don't think 70 mile rides are only for wiry guys who ride 50 miles a day... I envy all the older dudes I meet out there who seem to have locked in the ability to go for a nice long Saturday morning ride at a nice reasonable pace without completely arranging their lives around cycling.
I'm 65 and one thing older dudes like me have is a "base" or "miles in the bank" as we say. I'm also over 200 pounds and I like climbing, even though the wiry guys have to wait for me. At my size I will NEVER be a fast climber but I can still have fun with it.
I've done 12,000 foot centuries and lots of long climbing rides, the key is to just keep riding as much as you can.
When I was 35 I joined a road club and started doing centuries every Saturday. Not so much anymore but I know I can still do one.