At what age?

[font=Comic Sans MS]40 Man, before that i ate what i wanted drank as much as i wanted, never put on weight, (had the same weight for 20 years) i could party all night and run all day.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I’m a scuba instructor, HOME IMPOVMENT/Renovator and cycle nearly daily and generally run around more than most 20 year olds. Then the big 40, i started to develop the belly, I have to work harder to achieve the same activities and i had to cut back on my potions at the diner table.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I find that if i don't maintain my exercise schedule i battle to get back the stamina, we talking a weeks rest here and it feels like I’m starting at the bottom again. My physical strength has defiantly dropped over the six years over 40.[/font]

[font='Times New Roman'][font=Comic Sans MS]My one consolation is that most of the people I meet will be surprised to find out I’m 46 they always estimate about 35, but man up those climbs my legs start to feel there age.[/font][/font]

HowardSteele said:

[font=Comic Sans MS]40 Man, before that i ate what i wanted drank as much as i wanted, never put on weight, (had the same weight for 20 years) i could party all night and run all day.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I’m a scuba instructor, HOME IMPOVMENT/Renovator and cycle nearly daily and generally run around more than most 20 year olds. Then the big 40, i started to develop the belly, I have to work harder to achieve the same activities and i had to cut back on my potions at the diner table.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I find that if i don't maintain my exercise schedule i battle to get back the stamina, we talking a weeks rest here and it feels like I’m starting at the bottom again. My physical strength has defiantly dropped over the six years over 40.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman][font=Comic Sans MS]My one consolation is that most of the people I meet will be surprised to find out I’m 46 they always estimate about 35, but man up those climbs my legs start to feel there age.[/font][/font]

Piffle!! I'm nearly 64 and getting stronger by the day, and the climbs are flattening out. Today I did a 6km climb after an hour and a half in the saddle, and was climbing at up to 20kmph. Only slowed down on the 10/12% stretches. And what's more my figures are pathetic. Have a chat with RapDaddyo.

PS And most people think I'm 40-50 years old.

Sillyoldtwit said:

Piffle!! I'm nearly 64 and getting stronger by the day, and the climbs are flattening out. Today I did a 6km climb after an hour and a half in the saddle, and was climbing at up to 20kmph. Only slowed down on the 10/12% stretches. And what's more my figures are pathetic. Have a chat with RapDaddyo.

PS And most people think I'm 40-50 years old.

There you go,i should be around at 64 i'll check my hill climbing abilities then and
post them,only 18 years to go.

This year at age 53 I noticed the skin starting to thin out and a few vein lumps appear in the legs, however physiologically the systems still seem to be improving. I'm a rock climber and still make annual gains in upper body strength by doing a daily light workout (5 minutes usually) in our home rock climbing gym interspersed with climbing trips. Started serious cycling last year and have steadily increased lactate threshold heart rate and power output. A consistent, progressive, periodized training program with ample recovery between max efforts would seem to me to allow gains in performance or at least maintain performance well into later years.

Still wining races at 50 😎 against riders 20 years younger than me 😄

Well, there you have it Howard. So on yer bike and start some serious structured training. But what's more important don't let your brain tell you you're getting old and that you ought to slow down. I had a friend who I used to run with who let his brain win at 35 years old! I call him rolypoly now.😄

Pendejo said:

For those of you who are old enough to have some perspective on this, I'm curious: At what age do you think you "peaked" and then started going "downhill" (or started having to work much harder to keep from going downhill)?

Pendejo in my country is a pubic hair or a "dope"

HowardSteele said:

[font=Comic Sans MS]40 Man, before that i ate what i wanted drank as much as i wanted, never put on weight, (had the same weight for 20 years) i could party all night and run all day.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I’m a scuba instructor, HOME IMPOVMENT/Renovator and cycle nearly daily and generally run around more than most 20 year olds. Then the big 40, i started to develop the belly, I have to work harder to achieve the same activities and i had to cut back on my potions at the diner table.[/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I find that if i don't maintain my exercise schedule i battle to get back the stamina, we talking a weeks rest here and it feels like I’m starting at the bottom again. My physical strength has defiantly dropped over the six years over 40.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman][font=Comic Sans MS]My one consolation is that most of the people I meet will be surprised to find out I’m 46 they always estimate about 35, but man up those climbs my legs start to feel there age.[/font][/font]

Man I hope one doesn't peak at 40. I just started racing at 40 🙁 .

Here is a question for people in this thread - If you start racing late (like me) do you have any chance of catching the other guys in your age group who have been racing through their 20s and 30s. My wife and I were discussing this the other night and came to no conclusions.

At the elete level...
There is a bloke who was racing A grade in the Australian road cycling championship at 38. In the 1976 Olympics a 42 year old New Zelander came 9th in the Marathon.

As a mere mortal...
At cycling I just turned 45 and I am the fastest I have ever been. If I don't injure, I should be even faster in a few years. In running, I injured at 34 and nowdays are 1.5 minutes per K slower.

At a guess, assuming you are 100% fit and don't injure, you loose about 0.5% competitive fitness per year from about 30. So at 40 you are 5% less competitive fit and if the fitness of the 25 year old is 85% you have a 5% advantage over them. Who agrees and who disagrees with this generalisation?

At age 30 I started jogging, then running. My high points there were a 5:15 mile at age 35 in a track race, and in my late 30s averaging 5:40 per mile in a 2 1/2 road race on a hilly course in freezing temps.

Eventually my running degenerated to maintenance levels, and in my mid-40s I took up cycling. I used to ride 100-150 miles per week, at a brisk pace, but never did any speed work.

I moved to Florida and found no safe place to ride. I went back to maintenance jogging.

At age 50 I was diagnosed with an incurable form of chronic leukemia. They estimated I had 3-5 years left. I had frequent cycles of chemo. At age 54 I needed blood transfusions to stay alive. More chemo put me into another remission.

At age 56 we had moved to the outskirts of town and I started training on the bike to convince myself I wasn't dead yet. Two years later I won the silver medal in the (Florida) state finals, age group 55-59, for the 10K TT. Last year the bronze (I had improved, but some new young punk moved into my bracket!). Since I'll be 60 this year, I'm now in the 60-64 bracket. I don't know of anyone else in Florida over the age of 57 or so who is faster than I, and I'm getting stronger all the time. And many of my competitors have been serious cyclists since they were in their teens and 20s, many have been on sponsored bike teams, one I know was a nationally ranked track star in high school and college, etc.

I didn't mean to bore anyone with all this bio, but I flat don't believe in the aging process. I'm convinced that most of what passes for the normal effects of aging is just rust from disuse. I'm not so insane as to think that a 50- or 60-year-old can be world-class in a sport, but I know that he or she could get good enough to kick the butt of most other amateurs, including young ones.

I'm also convinced that intense exercise can help fight off cancer. There have been several studies that seem to indicate this, and I guess I'm conducting my own personal experiment, so far with enough success to amaze my doctors.

Pendejo said:

At age 30 I started jogging, then running. My high points there were a 5:15 mile at age 35 in a track race, and in my late 30s averaging 5:40 per mile in a 2 1/2 road race on a hilly course in freezing temps.

Eventually my running degenerated to maintenance levels, and in my mid-40s I took up cycling. I used to ride 100-150 miles per week, at a brisk pace, but never did any speed work.

I moved to Florida and found no safe place to ride. I went back to maintenance jogging.

At age 50 I was diagnosed with an incurable form of chronic leukemia. They estimated I had 3-5 years left. I had frequent cycles of chemo. At age 54 I needed blood transfusions to stay alive. More chemo put me into another remission.

At age 56 we had moved to the outskirts of town and I started training on the bike to convince myself I wasn't dead yet. Two years later I won the silver medal in the (Florida) state finals, age group 55-59, for the 10K TT. Last year the bronze (I had improved, but some new young punk moved into my bracket!). Since I'll be 60 this year, I'm now in the 60-64 bracket. I don't know of anyone else in Florida over the age of 57 or so who is faster than I, and I'm getting stronger all the time. And many of my competitors have been serious cyclists since they were in their teens and 20s, many have been on sponsored bike teams, one I know was a nationally ranked track star in high school and college, etc.

I didn't mean to bore anyone with all this bio, but I flat don't believe in the aging process. I'm convinced that most of what passes for the normal effects of aging is just rust from disuse. I'm not so insane as to think that a 50- or 60-year-old can be world-class in a sport, but I know that he or she could get good enough to kick the butt of most other amateurs, including young ones.

I'm also convinced that intense exercise can help fight off cancer. There have been several studies that seem to indicate this, and I guess I'm conducting my own personal experiment, so far with enough success to amaze my doctors.

Congratulations on your recovery and success! I hope you are able to continue and above all to permanently defeat the disease.
I have a question for you. I also live in FL. I started cycling three yrs ago and have been doing local time trials (15K). I have now graduated to the 50-54 age group and I think I could be competitive in the 10K. Where and when are these 10K state TTs held ? I'd love to try the shorter distance.
Thank you.

Hi BillBB,

Thanks for your good wishes! I compete primarily in the Senior Games, which are national olympic-style competition for age brackets starting at age 50. They have qualifying races all over each state, then the state finals at the end of the year, then the national finals every other year. For Florida, here's the link:
flasports.compage seniorgames localsites.shtmlOpen ↗ Not every venue has cycling, so you have to check with each venue to make sure. When they do have cycling, they always have a 5K followed by a 10K. Just don't pass me!

Pendejo said:

Hi BillBB,

Thanks for your good wishes! I compete primarily in the Senior Games, which are national olympic-style competition for age brackets starting at age 50. They have qualifying races all over each state, then the state finals at the end of the year, then the national finals every other year. For Florida, here's the link:
flasports.compage seniorgames localsites.shtmlOpen ↗ Not every venue has cycling, so you have to check with each venue to make sure. When they do have cycling, they always have a 5K followed by a 10K. Just don't pass me!

Thank you for the info. I really think you're more likely to pass me than the other way around.
I don't know where you live in FL but in case you're interested, there are TT's in West Palm Beach every month from Feb to Nov. PLease let me know if you'd be interested and I will e-mail you the info

Bill, I do know about that series. Trouble is, I split my time between Sarasota and Miami, and both are too far away from Palm Beach to be convenient.

Side question. In US, are the road race distances measured in metric or imperial ? Keep seeing K been used for distance.

It varies. Some are given in metric, some in miles. Doesn't matter - the pain is the same.

woodchuck said:

Here is a question for people in this thread - If you start racing late (like me) do you have any chance of catching the other guys in your age group who have been racing through their 20s and 30s. My wife and I were discussing this the other night and came to no conclusions.

I don't think experience matters tremendously, except in things like judging criterium or road racing strategy. And let's face it: it's not like there is a lot of subtle strategy going on in masters Cat 4 racing. 🙄 It's more your ability and training that enables you to compete.

Last year at 40, I went back to racing for the first time since college in an omnium stage race (TT, crit, road race). Got middle of the pack in the TT, lapped in the crit, 8th in the road race in my category (Masters C). I attributed the crit blowout to lack of interval training. Needless to say, this year, I've corrected that deficiency and aim to settle some scores. 😄