Lose the 20lbs mentioned above and you will ride and feel like you're 50 and climb like it.

Maybe that was the best impression he could summon.

I love it when the internet scientists put on their labcoats and argue.

Two pages without stats???...

Well, this is hardly conclusive, but HERE are results from a local 5K that seem to show a dropoff around age 35. That seems to connect with my impression of performance of NFL wide receivers, or quarterbacks not named Brett. If running backs or linemen tend to drop off earlier, it's likely more a result of getting clobbered too many times than pure age.

HERE are results from something more my speed, the 24 hour bicycle race at Sebring (here's hoping my name is high up there next year). These results would point to a dropoff much later, around 50 or 55, for long, long endurance events.

Either way, I don't think it would bother me if I was 60+. If you are competitive in your age group, that should be enough. Heck, some don't make it to 60, and many more could hardly ride a bike at all.

Go back to math class....percentages are multiplicative, not additive. And we peak at approx age 25, more or less.

So your percentage of peak at age 100 is 0.99 raised to the 75th power %.

Get it?

The effects of aging are interesting, and seem to vary from sport to sport. Here is a very good, fairly brief, discussion. https://www.faqs.org/sports-science/A...rformance.html

Advances in training have allowed individuals to exceed historical limits of performance as they age. This excerpt of swimmer Dara Torres bio from Wiki: On August 1, 2007, at age 40 (just 15 months after giving birth to her first child), she won gold in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, her fourteenth national championship. On August 4, she broke her own American record in the 50-meter freestyle, twenty-six years after she first set the American record at just 15 years old.

Of course, she may be the most physiologically perfect human specimen in world history.

Hehehe....Ok.... Why would I lie? One person that comes to mind is Hugo. He is 69, an ex-soccer player from Argentina (He's left Italy during WWII with his parents) He'll crush most 30 year olds.

No next idea. Lose weight. Every Kg you are overweight impedes aerobic performance. The older you are, the more it will handicap you in a sport like cycling or running.

Everyone's different. OP, what is your diet like? Aside from cycling, any other strenuous activity? Stress levels in life? Family history? All of these things will likely affect your success in the saddle. I'm stronger than I was by factors of 10 than when I was in my 20's (45 now). Better diet, less stress, better exercise, tons more cycling, but I do need to pay close attention to taking time off as recovery is more challenging.

I thought it was between me and Pcad.

I don't think the Sebring results are really meaningful. I say this because I observe a preponderance of older people involved in bicycle endurance events. I can't prove it, but I honestly don't think it's a matter of young people not being able to do this so much as not being interested, or maybe being more interested in regular racing. That is to say, having more old people in endurance cycling may be evidence OF age-related decline rather than evidence AGAINST it. Note that the original poster says he does fine in long-distance riding, it's the speed he's concerned with.

Even if you look at the population as a whole, I don't know that you can tell much. People tend to have kids and be busier around the house when they're there, and then get out more when the kids are gone. So if you can prove that the average 35-year-old is more or less fit than the average 20-year-old or average 50-year old, you're not necessarily comparing age-related effects so much as life-style issues.

actually i was on a group ride with a 65+ (not totally sure of his age, but he was old for sure) and he was riding very strong, he held onto a 30 mph pace line which lasted a pretty long time

this was a mainly cat 3 group ride.

OP here. I'd like to blame some of these things, but I think I am in really good overall shape. I am a vegan, but I don't think that is an issue. It hurts to hear the truth, but everyone is correct, the weight is probably the main issue. I will work on that. FYI, I rode with the same group this morning, but it was 10 degrees cooler. I took shorter pulls and stayed with the group. Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone.

dude i think u have maths problems. lets say ur vo2 max is 100 when u born, and next year u will have 99 as it decreases by 1%, but by the next next year, u r not going to decrease by 1 because 1% of 99 is not 1!

I was a runner in high school. 15 minutes could win a high school 5k, but in a local road race the skinny old dudes with grey beards would always win. By alot.

Don't know what races you're talking about.

The 23 year-old Africans will almost always beat the rest of the field by a matter of minutes.

You just can't beat Kenyans. LOL.

18???? It is extremely uncommon to see 18 yr olds in most professional sports. When was the last time an 18 yr old won the TdF?? NEVER.
THERE has only been one 19 yr old winner (1904) and one 21 yr old (1935).

Skinny old dudes w/ Grey Beards >> Skinny Kenyans

VO2 MAX
- If you continue to train as you get older and keep your weight down (as mentioned earlier) then your VO2 Max decreases at half the rate (say 0.5 % / yr).

Most people do not train as intensely, as they age, and also gain weight as they age. VO2 MAX is affected by weight.

But this is only one component in our sport.

I would say the sample size is too small to draw much out of it. I agree that rando crowds tend to be older, and for the reason you stated--older riders are less competitive in shorter events. In the ultra events, other things factor in your performance, like eating right, hydrating, pacing, training... So, 40-somethings can still perform well by carefully monitoring these other issues.

But those results were nicely broken down by age, and they do seem to show a limit where age hinders performance. The 50 and 55 year olds were impressively close to the overall leaders, while there was a big drop-off to the next groups up, where 60 and 65 year olds were lagging 100 miles behind. Small sample or not, there was a huge drop:

Place No. Name Age Laps Time Miles
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 25 - 29
1 44 Alberto Blanco 29 71 23:53:33 450.4
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
1 48 John Tountas 32 17 18:03:07 207.7
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 35 - 39
1 36 Chris Galuppo 35 14 15:01:18 172.9
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
1 40 Mike Abney 44 64 23:59:18 408.4
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
1 53 Per Jakobsen 48 57 23:42:54 374.2
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
1 67 Mark Metcalfe 52 66 24:00:16 415.9
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
1 12 Valerio Zamboni 56 63 23:50:55 400.8
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
1 39 James Owens 63 46 23:49:08 317.0
MALE RAAM AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
1 75 Gerald Eddlemon 65 47 23:53:24 320.8

**p.s. I only posted tops in each division to save space; take the link in post 54 to see all; note the dip in the 30's guys--both dropped out early.

When does age become a factor?

Dunno, but ask Lance.

I would ask him more about bad luck.......

I'm relatively new to cycling. I've been a runner off and on most of my life. I'm 27 now, and back in my late teens up until 20 or 21... I was a hardcore runner and weighed 145-150lbs. From then up until this spring, I shot up as high as 210. For the first time since 2004 I'm below 155lbs, and in phenomenal shape. At a regional cycling level, I doubt age will be a factor if you're dedicated and passionate about it. Atleast if you're under 40.

Haven't seen anything yet in this thread about the effects of lowered production of hormones as people age and its' effect on muscle mass, heart rate and basal metabolism. Also, the effects and diffferences, if any, on ectomorphs vs endomorphs vs mesomorphs. Seems these things would have a great bearing on performance.

Admit it - his days are over and he just can't hang any more.