Age handicap standards

I recall a graph in Joe Friel's "Cycling past 50", which I borrowed from the library, showing the gradual "decline" in performance. Not too sure if was totally related to road cycling though! Can't find the graph in his other book "The Cyclist's Training Bible".

Cheers,
davef

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9606 said:

Being an elderly chap I am always interested in adjusting my bike times to some of the younger racers.
Does anyone know of a graph or chart that one can use to adjust general athletic ability with age?
How about the same for road racing?
(I know I can spend enough time reviewing race results and doing my own analysis. I imagine someone has already done that. Also, lets not get into a discussion of the good, bad, and the ugly of why I, or anyone else, might want to do this comparison.)

58-yr-old Masters racer checking in: you can do the analysis you mention for time trials, but not for road races. I've never tried it for TTs, simply because my power output resembles a little old lady pedaling to church (or synagogue) on Sunday, so I avoid TTs like the plague. But I (and most of my peers) will race 35+, 45+, and 55+ events over the course of a season (either because we insanely like to ride two races on a day, or frequently the only Master's event is a 35+) and we will finish in the field of all 3, i.e. even old men can hide in a road race field. Where you do see a difference is in max power, and in the time that one can sustain max power - when those "younger" Masters power it up for the sprint, we older guys can hang on, but rarely make it to the front. Similarly, the attacks in my 55+ races are fairly short; unless you can get clear and throttle back to a sustainable power output, you stop pretty quickly. Younger riders can attack for longer. That's where you might find some statistics - on the effects of aging on power. Unfortunately all the charts in Friel's "Over 50" are for changes in VO2max with age, which isn't really as useful (at least to a layman like me) as the changes in power.

According to Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers… “A rule of thumb for power developed by European males can be expressed as a function of age and duration of effort in minutes for work lasting from 4 to about 480 min, assuming that 20 percent of the total output is useful power.”

t is in minutes

20 years old: hp = .40 - .10 * log(t)

35 years old: hp = .35 - .09 * log(t)

60 years old: hp = .30 - .08 * log(t)

Hopefully this is of some use to you.

bcbmde said:

According to Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers… “A rule of thumb for power developed by European males can be expressed as a function of age and duration of effort in minutes for work lasting from 4 to about 480 min, assuming that 20 percent of the total output is useful power.”

t is in minutes

20 years old: hp = .40 - .10 * log(t)

35 years old: hp = .35 - .09 * log(t)

60 years old: hp = .30 - .08 * log(t)

Hopefully this is of some use to you.

That's very interesting chart. Thanks for posting it. But, I thought I read of a study in which some (if not all) pros inceased power between ages 25 and 30. But, I like the idea that if I get my 100 minute power up to 300w then it means I would have had 428w at age 20. Cool!