Listen to your body (not your ego).
Your body will tell you when to cut back.



73 old Male--Still working 20 hours a week. --- Still riding 4000 miles a year.-- BUT not near as fast and hard!!!!

Agree heartily, 75 and retired for 16 years I still volunteer and get in near your milage but have also made changes. Osteoarthritis driven changes have worked well for me. Shorter top tube get weight off my hands and my back likes it as well, triple cranks keep my pedalling speeds up which helps develops synovial fluid which acts as a lubricant for what little cartilage I have left in my knees.

eh. keep doing what you're doing smartly. Listen to your body. Worst that happens is you go healthy doing what you love. Better than dying on the couch with a remote in your hand.

I'm with Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

We all need to choose how best to rage, however. :-)

I'm now into the latter half of my fifties (younger than most posting in this thread). I used to be intensely competitive, but ended up with permanent heart damage by training through a serious episode of the flu at age 41. That heart damage lopped about 20% right off the top of my VO2 max and ended my racing. I no longer compete with anyone other than my own age-related PRs, and now I am even questioning the wisdom of that recently as I'm finding that I need longer recovery between hard rides than I needed even a few years ago, and am having trouble sleeping after hard rides. I think everyone needs to find their own level of satisfaction and be realistic about what's good for them. It's now a well known fact that extended endurance exercise in competitive masters athletes leads to significantly higher rates of a-fib and other heart rhythm abnormalities, so one should be clear-eyed about the risks of putting in big training weeks year after year. I'm learning more and more to stop and smell the flowers when riding, so to speak.

I turn 65 in the late summer and this question is going through my mind too.

I get asked that question all the time. "Are you still [riding your bike][skiing][hiking] at your age?"

The answer is yes, of course. I plan to continue to do everything I do until I can no longer do them, or they are no longer fun.

You need a complete cardio work up, complete with a calcium scan. Seek a good cardiologist for that and get yourself checked out. If they give the OK, go for it.

There is no correct way.
We are physical, possessing intelligent awareness, and emotional awareness.
We have some degree of knowledge.
From that, we determine how we lead our lives.
As physical beings, we are organic machines. Machines with some term period of function - having some general frame for the extent of that function, in a general sense, which is not specific to any one being.
Machines will wear down, some sooner, some longer.
I try to make the full use of me, the machine.
As I age something become less possible. Consequently I adjust.
As I age, I decide if lowering the stress I place on my self will allow me to do something for longer, at a level I can still appreciate.
As I age, I assess risks a bit differently, because injury of the machine often means longer periods of restricted time ahead.
AS I age, I will, at occasion, push myself to what might be a limit, because I have an emotional and/or psychological need.
AS I age, I try not to give up on things until it becomes quite obvious that a thing is no longer possible, workable or beneficial.
AS I age, I become better at modification.
AS I age, I believe I become better at "Know Thy Self"

I control only a very small portion of how my life proceeds. But I get to decide that small portion.
This is something we all must do, for ourselves.
'Rage, rage against the dying of the Light" ???
maybe... But I have decided it's more important, beneficial, worthy to have each tick of the clock, the 'Now', have some significant value for me.
That's my definition of 'rage'
We each get to decide and choose our own...
.. so I
Ride On
Yuri

unless your doctor tells you sooner, your body will tell you when to back off.

of course, then it’s on *you* to actually listen to your body (or your doctor).

as far as expectations, I like how my financial advisor describes retirement: there are the Go-Go Years, the Slow-Go Years, and the No-Go Years. Your mission is to recognize which of those three phases you’re in, and act accordingly.

The only person who can definitively answer your question is your physician and a battery of tests to determine your overall condition.

I am 71 and have no intention to slow down (other than what my body is physically capable). My interpretation reflects the worn saw, age is just a number. People who convince themselves they are an ‘old person’ will act and live it. Always being goal driven, I will go for PRs or long distance rides or fast group rides. I know several other 70 YOs who ride like the wind and can whip me as well. They have no intention to slow down because society tells them they are ‘old’ and neither do I.

Just to clarify… the coronary calcium score is far from providing a thumbs up or down on your risk of sudden cardiac death during exercise… it is part of a large picture. Your medical history, family history, labs, ASCVD calculated score, so many things, go into risk stratifying in terms of increasing one’s level of exercise intensity/duration. I offer this image as an example (not to risk stratify yourself) of the multiple factors and approach. [from [url]https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2014.10.064 ]
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dafedd406.jpeg

I looked it up in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, and no, there isn't. Says there's time for lots of different activities, but backing off isn't in there.

The AI Overlord says, “
AI OverviewThere is no specific, mandatory age to "back off" bike riding; rather, the decision should be based on physical, mental, and safety limitations rather than the number of years lived. Many people continue to ride safely and enjoyably into their 80s and 90s, with some even starting again at age 70”.

70?! Better late than never.

Relevant video that talks about aging, fitness, and staying sharp on less mileage/time

No, you don't back off, as long as your legs, hands, and other body parts are moving and operational.

Backing off causes you to get out of shape pretty quickly, leading to poor fitness and poor health. Basically, backing off means you are choosing poor health over good health.

You only back off, maybe, at 90. Until then, you keep it consistent and you keep it going.

Back Off? I'm my parent's caregiver and my father is 89 y/o and in home hospice. The miracle of medical science and a pacemaker has kept him around with multiple medical issues and 15 medications. He is in his last days and has been bedbound for the past 16 months. He tells me his bed is "a trap." He has never participated in regular exercise activities and is quickly wasting away. Sad to see.

Don't back off and enjoy your workouts and a healthy lifestyle. I would prefer to have a cardiac event on an epic road climb rather than the comfort of a bed trap.

I let go of stats a long time ago

I can still enjoy sports & the outdoors w/o achieving past maximum endurance records

was just chatting w/ a colleague about bike commuting & she asked me how old I was & how far away I live. as my age passed my lips, my ears were startled

it's all relative

it's all good until it isn't

wait, I think I see another bumper sticker that I like ...

Almost age 70. To answer that question, for me, "sort of." I don't do all those centuries but ride more days and more hills and more miles per year. Because I am retired and because I can. I'd rather ride 60 miles 3x per week than 100 miles once a week.

I am probably at bigger risk of getting hit by a dump truck than having a heart attack, but sure, those thoughts are in there. I'd by lying if I said they weren't.

:thumb:
I hear that. I used to do all day rides but now I am satisfied w/ 2 hr rides & if it's freezing cold, 1 hour is just fine :D
been staying off roads except to get to paved or dirt trails
if this continues, I'm gonna get rid of my road bike
def. need to get rid of the "extra" hybrid
keeping the mountain bike & the better hybrid
the 2 are really the only ones I've been using, but gonna give the road bike another try this summer, as soon as school is out
still working 2 jobs, 6 days a week ... :notamused:

I have five (5) of the items in History and the Doc said I'm fine for exercise, shoveling snow, splitting wood, etc.

Just turned 67 years old this year and I'm still going strong
 

And while I can't hang with the younger people playing 4+ hours of pickleball anymore, I hang until I feel I've had enough. I just went over 60 countries and 7 continents visited a few months ago and took up cycling again last year and bought my dream bike. I'm getting slower, but still have the desire to ride and to see the world so I'll keep going until I can't anymore. I still remember my grandfather at 80+ back in the day telling me he was getting on his bike and heading to the senior center.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e367e1533.jpeg