Tomm Willians

How many riders here did their first (or only?) double century at 60 or older ?
I’m going to give it a shot at some point this year but wonder if I’m crazy ? I feel completely confident that I can do it. Yes it’s going to hurt for a couple days after but I’ve no doubt I can train to the point of being prepared to complete it.

jppe

It does take some training but it’s very doable. I know I did at least 3 last year at age 68 but it could have been more. The rides I remember were 125 miles, 137 miles plus a 160 miler. The 125 miler was with a small group but the other two were solo. From my experience if you can get comfortable doing 80 milers it’s not too big a deal to bump it up to 100+. I’m hoping to do a solo 200 miler from my house to the beach this year. Right now I’m behind my conditioning from last year but hopefully I can pick it up towards spring.

tomato coupe

Double centuries, not centuries.

Biker395 

My first was a long time ago, but it’s definitely possible to do your first DC at over 60. How doable?

It depends on the DC. Some are quite a challenge ... lots of climbing and an aggressive time cutoff. Others less so. Not so much climbing and as much time as you need. None of them are “easy,” though.

My advice? Train until you can do a century in reasonable comfort. At that point you’ll be ready.

Which one are you considering?

jpescatore

I did the Seattle to Portland 206 mile ride but across 2 days, in 2019 when I was 62. I trained pretty well before and did 123 miles the first day - and felt pretty good, cold have kept going. I almost regretted not going for the the one day ride but since my wife and I had a hotel room already paid for and since I had not brought any front light (I rented a bike), I used that as an excuse.

I don't think age is an issue at all. I had done one century as part of training and knew I could go longer than that. The STP ride is not flat but it is not hilly - my century was on a flat route. If you can comfortable do a century ride on a similar course as the 200 miler (amount of climbing per mile/km) in a reasonable amount of time (such that if you did the second 100 slower than the first 100 you'd get to the end at a sane time) then you should be fine.

pdlamb

I think I was 58 when I did my first double century (actually 400 km). Doing your first when you're two years older sounds tough.

Bob Ross

I just turned 60 last month, and I am confident that if I wanted to ride a double century my body would have no problem: My cycling fitness is pretty darn good (if I do say so myself), not quite where it was ~10 years ago but still up to the challenge without feeling like I'd need to do something extraordinary to survive the effort.

But here's the thing: I have absolutely zero desire to ride a double century. None. Nada. Zip.

For that matter, my interest in riding just a bog-stock single century is pretty close to zero.

And that's not necessarily something new. Once I'd ridden a few centuries, the appeal kinda dissipated. And the more centuries I rode, the more I recognized that there was a genuine identifiable sweet-spot for distance that was somewhere short of 100 miles. The amount of joy, exhilaration, satisfaction, and start-to-finish This-Is-Why-I-Ride-A-Bike! fun that I experience on a ~70-80 mile ride is palpably greater than what I feel after 100 miles.

I still ride 2 or 3 centuries a year, but I rarely look forward to them or consider them "accomplishments" the way I did when I first started out as a recreational road cyclists.

And a double century? Ain't gonna happen. I will happily go to my grave never having hit that milestone, and feeling no remorse about missing it.

And I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with age.

Tomm Willians

it would be a totally flat self-supported solo effort in my area. I’m not waiting for organized events to come back

Biker395 

Totally doable. Get to the point where you can do 100 in reasonable comfort, then go for it.

Start early (bring lights), eat and drink often, and have fun.

bikemig 

Are you riding your Follis? That's a cool bike. Of course, you'll have to figure out which of the two Follis bikes you own, you'll ride but that's a good problem to have.

Riveting

I'm getting close to 50 and have been reading this sub for years in order to see my future, and it looks bright. I've done Single, Double, and Triple (325 miles in 24 hrs) Imperial Centuries in my late 40's, and I'm really excited to see that I could still be doing them until I'm 70.

Riding a bike solo for 15-24 hrs is not for everyone, but it is for some.

Tomm Willians

Oh goodness sake no on the Follis ! That’s not a double century or even single century bike for me !! Fun to ride for about 35-40 and I’m good. I sold the 172 as it was too big anyway and kept the 472.
My cycle of choice for this century stuff will be my Soma Pescadero with 35” Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass tires, very comfortable bike for long rides.

bikemig 

The 172 was a sweet bike. I like using my old bikes for long rides. This is the one I took on a metric century with over 5,000 ft of climbing.

Bassmanbob

Go for it! If you have any reservations, read the book Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. Be uncommon amongst the uncommon... just properly train for it.

jppe

Oops. I was thinking double metrics......a true 50+ moment!!!

Same deal though. I know I’ve done 3.......1 with a group and 2 solo. The group was much easier but we kept it orderly and at a reasonable pace. Just need to do a number of centuries to get prepared.

Richard Cranium

Wow - I just realized I haven't done a double century since I was 59.
I feel some what confident I could have done one more recently - I did a century when I was 66. (6:20 with hills and winds)

Not knowing anything about you, but giving you the benefit of the doubt that you could train enough to have necessary endurance for a 200 mile ride - I would still think you have slim chances of success. (especially riding unsupported)

200 miles rides require "turning over" nutrients in the muscles for a very long time. It becomes really easy to make fueling mistakes at 140 or 150 miles into a ride. At 60+ years of age, a bad stomach, along with an achy neck and sore butt might be just the negative reinforcement to stop a rider. The chances of recovering from "improper butt lube" or a case of bloating are even more remote when you have no experience or memories of correcting these challenges on an earlier ride.

I guess - Good luck - you'll need a lot of it.....

.

davester

I don't think it's a problem due to age. However, you do need to ramp up your conditioning and eating habits to be able to do it without too much pain and suffering. I'm 67 and did my first double century in 1977 and last in 1984. However, I did my first Markleeville Deathride (130 miles, 16,000 feet of climbing, at altitude, on a vintage bike) in 2018 at age 65, 36 years later. The Deathride is a much harder ride than a typical double century due to the amount of climbing involved. I did train hard for about 8 months before the ride, culminating in a number of century and greater rides in the last couple of months. I did attempt a double century in 2019 but DNFed due to mechanical failures but have no doubt that I could have completed it and went ahead with the 2019 Deathride as a substitute.

Note that you need to pay careful attention to nutrition and hydration on such a long ride since your body is incapable of absorbing the number of calories that you will expend during the ride. This means eating and drinking way before you get hungry and thirsty and keeping the calories going in throughout the ride, even if you don't feel like it.

Edit: Just noticed that you said that this will be a totally flat ride. In that case, I think you can do this no sweat (unless you face constant hurricane-force headwinds). The double centuries I've done have involved at least 8,000' of climbing. I don't even know where I could go to find a flat course that long.

tigat

At 60, in the Ride Across Wisconsin (178 miles that year because of road work), I was late in booking a hotel and stayed eight miles from the start, which was in downtown Dubuque. Morning of, I rode down in the dark and a pouring rain, got lost along with five other riders, and ended up logging 11 miles before the start. At the finish line in Kenosha, it occurred to me that five loops up and down the lakefront would hit the magic 200 mark.

Plenty of time to do that another day, I told myself.

Crashed a week before and missed the 2019 RAW, with its scheduled 225 mile route from La Crosse to Green Bay. COVID stole the 2020 chance.

I'm thinking its just a number, but if you want it, go for it.

Cyclist0100

You're not crazy. A double century at age 60 is totally doable, especially if your route is flat. If you are comfortable doing century rides there is no reason you can't do a double.

IMO, the main difference between doing a century and a double-century is planning. You need to plan your time on the bike (as it's a long day) as well as your hydration and nutrition ahead of time. And if things go awry along the way it helps to have a "bail-out" plan so you don't get stuck with no way of getting home.

Good luck! You can do it!

woodcraft

I think I've done 10 at age 60 or above, but they were all organized events with rest stops, etc.

Sadly, none in the last 2 years. 45 year spread between the first & the most recent.

I think being able to do 125 miles or so without much fuss is a good jumping-off point.

Trsnrtr

Going off topic a little, is that an America? I had a 1982 America and it was truly a great machine.

bikemig 

This is a Fuji Finest from the mid 70s. I think geometry wise the 70s era Finest more or less morphed into the Fuji America. It has generous tire clearance (I'm running 32c tires) and is well designed for long-distance rides. The top end Fujis are fine machines.

Trsnrtr

From the pic, mine looked the same except it had cable braze-ons and the frame panels were a light blue but the rest looks pretty much identical.

bblair

Sure, why not!

Best advice: get a comfortable seat and good shorts. It's more of a mental game than anything else.

That said, it's been 30 years since I've done a double. Time to do another?