Originally Posted by stapfam
I am a member of this forum so up against the Youngsters that I ride with I am old.
Luckily, My riding group accept that I have something to offer them in exchange for them waiting at the top of each hill. I ride a mountain bike and If you have not tried it, cross country Mountain biking is tiring, You can almost double the milage of a road bike to a mountain bike ride as to the effort put in. A 65 mile road ride will be the equivalent of around 35 on a mountain bike. Depends on the terrain etc. but that is my experience and the ratio that most of us work on.
Thing is I am not as young as I used to be so I am slower than these mere 40 year olds, but we go out for a 30 mile ride taking in 3 or 4 good stiff climbs, the equivalent downhill sections and a fair amount of technical off road trails. Come the first hill and I take my pace and arrive at the top last. 2nd hill about the same. 3rd hill and a few of the youngsters drop back to keep me company and if we do the 4th hill, They have trouble with gear selection, or the pedals coming loose, or "I think I have a slow puncture". The rides I love are the ones that I insist we take in for my summer training, a couple of 65 milers, that do not take in too many hills but one of them is a basket, and that is on the way home after about 45 miles. 700 ft high climb in about 1200 yards and it just goes on and on and on and then it gets steeper at the end. For some reason there are not too many takers for this ride, but those of us that do it, it is good preparation for a 100 mile ride that I do in June each year.
I may be old, I may be slowing down, but when it come s to stamina and endurance, I still have it. The ride I do in June is for the British Heart Foundation. 100 miles of off road masochism. Fantastic. I do at least have one of my regular riders with me on this ride as this is done on the Tandem. Unless I upset Stuart, my co-rider, I don,t get left on my own for this ride so I do have someone to keep telling me just a bit more effort or only another 80 miles to go.
At long last, I have found a benefit to getting old. well someone has to be last up the hills so that the youngsters can feel good about how fit they are. Incidentally the picture attached was taken on our 2nd food stop 60 miles into the ride last year, we do ocasionally have good weather in the Uk
I am happy to point out that I have not lost to the young studs yet on the climbs. For example, this past Sunday, I raced a few of them on numerous ocassions up some pretty good grades, and kicked their young butts every time. I can maintain 22-23 mph going up these grades - most of them can't do better than 18. In our club, we have many successful racers (and one ex Olympian) in the over 60 age group. Some of the best riders are in that group. Our old butts hammer along with the training group, and often win the sprints in the sprint zone. We do our share of pulling in the upper 20's, and don't find age to be an issue. BTW, I am about to turn 65.