burritos

For those who just bike and not necessarily train, if you bike 50-100 per week, can you expect to keep improving?

Retro Grouch 

Nope. No matter what you do you are going to get older and eventually you will die. How do you want to enjoy your life until that happens?

10 Wheels

Bump your rides up to 75 mile each time you ride.
Then you may get into shape.

wgscott

There are so many PR segments that it seems I never exhaust the possibilities, even though I am demonstrably getting worse (and have put on slower tires).

Leebo

Improving what? Don't do strava or racing imaginary strangers. I like to ride bikes, winning!

10 Wheels

22 rides at average of 92.5 miles from my home. When I was a Young 68 y/o

shelbyfv

After several years on Strava I can still get a PR if I attack the segment on a good day. I just ride, don't train and my PRs just happen. Most of them could be improved with a conscious effort. I expect that if I did intervals or hill repeats I could still become a stronger rider, even as a septuagenarian. That's not likely to happen.

Clyde1820

I doubt it. Depending on whether it's training or merely exercise, and whether you're actually pushing the body to adapt, or merely doing work.

But I can't imagine 50mi of cycling a week would make much happen, even for someone "slamming it" each of those miles.

For someone otherwise fit, uninjured and with a body that still is noticeably quick and effective on healing, in my experience it's been this simple: the body keeps adapting until it doesn't need to, at which point you either pump up the volume (difficulty, challenge, variation, weight, speed, etc), or you plateau. The body's too efficient at adapting, but it'll only do it unless you keep pushing it.

Of course, fitness is a range of things, and not just strength and cardio. Agility, balance, recovery, power delivery, stamina, ...

Used to do ~100-120mi/wk, some years back. As basic transportation and general fitness when I was competitively running, back in the day. Never did get much better at "performance" cycling, though certain aspects (stamina, balance [ie, on crappy surfaces/trails]) improved. My focus was general cardio, general strength, and running speed; to that end, I did a range of running, hill climbs, cycling, swimming and rowing to tune the various physical aspects I wanted to improve. But I'm all but certain I would have had to push much harder in varied ways for much longer than 120mi/wk in order to have made serious gains in my cycling performance.

JMO

70sSanO

Yes. But you need to add 10 additional miles per week for every year you age.

It’ll kind of sneak up on you by the time you turn 60.

John

genejockey

I've been on Strava since 2014, having started after a really good year where i was riding a lot and lost about 25lbs over the season. I was also only 56. Over the next 6 years, PRs became fewer and fewer, and I felt lucky to get any Achievements at all! I figured it was old age creeping up on me and I'd never be as fast again as I was then, especially since I managed to re-find the 25lbs I'd lost.

Once we all realized that outdoor activities at some distance from others were safe, I started riding more consistently, which I could do since I'm working from home 3 days out of the 5 day work week. And I started counting calories and losing weight. Suddenly, I'm scoring new PRs on literally every ride. And these aren't new segments! These are segments I've ridden dozens of times, even >100 times. Since that started happening, I've been pushing harder on rides, climbing more, going longer distances.

Now, it's not that I'm undergoing some miraculous thing. It's just a measure of how fat and lazy I'd let myself become, convinced I needed to build up miles more slowly, not do those big climbs now that I was approaching, and then past 60. Obviously this can't go on forever, but yeah, you can keep getting new PRs as long as you're getting fitter. It also helps if you start out fat and lazy.

BHG6

You’ll keep improving until you start declining...

ofajen

Not really. If you don’t do at least one impossible thing this week, it won’t be possible next week.

Otto

burritos

Since covid I've been biking to work(6 mos). This appreciable bump in mileage(50-75 cycling) vs (10-20 mtbing recreationally) I know objectively has physically improved me(no duh). While I don't PR every day, I will PR a segment once every week or so. But I'm not trying to PR, it just happens. Even on my mountain biking, I'm PR'ing segments for the first time in 15 years. And I don't think I 'feel' stronger or better. It's just numeric badges that pop up on my strava. I know the party will end and it'll plateau. But for now, kind of enjoying it at the ripe old age of 50.

Darth Lefty 

Not to mention the longer you're out there the higher your odds to get run down by a driver, and then your numbers really drop

cubewheels

You can get faster with more miles per week but if you're taking it easy, you'll stop improving sooner.

The only way to keep on improving for years is to ride at your threshold. Do intervals up to your maximum heart rate.

MattTheHat 

Get off my lawn!

bruce19

Maybe

burritos

That's good enough for me.

woodcraft

If that were so, one would eventually be competitive with the pros.

burritos

You can make a dollar a week every week for the rest of your life and never come close to being as rich as Warren Buffett.

woodcraft

OTOH, if you started the year with one cent, and doubled it each day, at the end of a year you would be much (much) richer than Warren Buffet.

Not enough info to say who would be faster on a bike...

burritos

I agree.

2old

If you don't ramp up, you won't improve IMO; however if interval training (or equivalent) is incorporated, absolutely (FME). Of course, there's a time (age) when this will no longer be true.

tomato coupe

What's the relevance?

caloso

This.