canklecat

Same. At 62 my window of opportunity for getting stronger is rapidly closing. I started from nothing at age 57, resuming cycling after a 30+ year hiatus, and needing a cane to walk between 2001 when my back and neck were broken in car wreck, until 2014. Then I started riding bikes again in 2015. That first month back in the saddle I couldn't ride 400 yards without gasping for breath.

It took a long time to get back into decent shape. And I may be able to continue to improve my physical fitness for another year or so. But by age 65 it ain't gonna get better, not without PEDs. That's just life. A full course of PEDs administered under expert supervision might prop that window open a little longer, but I'd be surprised if it made a dramatic difference in my average speed. It might improve recovery and help me train harder. But unless I win the lotto and have spare cash to play Frankenstein games with my body, I'm stuck with what I got.

So I'm considering every possibility to make more efficient use of the limited power I do have now. (No idea what that really is, I only use Strava and the Elevate browser extension as infra-referential guidelines. The numbers are relative only to that same standard over time with Strava and Elevate. As long as they don't recalculate that formula, I'm assuming that I really am getting stronger when my average "Strava power" was 90 watts in 2015 and 150 now. But what that translates to with a power meter? I have no idea. A local trainer didn't want to bother with me when I said I was curious to check my FTP in his gym. I'm guessing he only wants to work with younger athletes or those who are interested in a long-term commitment of money.)

By making lots of little changes I was able to get a little faster without actually getting stronger. My upper body strength and flexibility is better now, so I can hold a more aero position longer on conventional drop bars.

I still can't handle TT aero bars for more than a few minutes at a time. But when I do use aero bars, even for only 30-60 seconds at a time, my average speed over 20 miles or longer is better. And I'm trying to get more comfortable with the invisible aero bar position. That's hard to do with old school round bars, so I may try a set of flat top aero drops this year.

More aero kit helped too -- jerseys and helmet. And this is just affordable off the shelf stuff. Oliver Bridgewood with his recent effort for GCN to tackle the one hour record showed that an off the shelf skin suit was measurably more aero, and an pricey custom fit skin suit improved even more, without him needing to get stronger.

Those are probably the most affordable solutions to getting faster without getting stronger. Better core. Basic aero kit and helmet.

I have no way of measuring my perceived differences between round and oval chainrings, other than my average times over many rides and how I feel during and after those rides. But my impression is that non-round chainrings and a slower cadence with harder gears worked for me, on two different bikes (carbon fiber and steel).

I suspect the non-round chainring (Biopace, in my case) is just more forgiving of my choppy pedaling style. Some of my fastest times were on flat pedals on these bikes. I've equaled that with clipless, but not surpassed it by much. That's a pretty good indication that most of my effort goes into stomping the pedals, which tends to negate the minor differences foot retention makes. Non-round rings, with the elongated lobe oriented to coincide with my choppy stomping style, seems to work for me. It might not help folks with smoother pedaling, and might even mess up their pedaling and lead to injury. Dunno. But I'm going to continue trying non-round rings for awhile longer.