Age comparisons

Have you considered joining a Cycling Club and riding with groups. The group rides aren't racing... but are a good place to compare and share riding levels and skills.

May or many not be representative to control just for age. There are a number of environmental variables like elevation change, wind speed /direction, equipment, etc. that might make the same distance over time still relatively meaningless as a comparison.

I ride with 30 year olds who struggle with your 17.5 mph average on flat ground. I occasionally ride with a group of 60-70+ year olds, some of whom are comfortable with that or faster in rolling hills terrain. Most of them have been riding for many years.

Non-competitive environments such as recreational or fitness group rides, might give some indication, but most group rides have a specified performance target. Find one where you fit in comfortably and your limits (and those of others) probably won't be challenged. Or find one where you "just" to fit in and still the limits of others might not be challenged even though you are all riding as a pack. Adding to the complexity is that group rides are almost never segmented based on age, but rather by distance vs. time (average speed) objectives. You might find a weekday early/mid morning ride group that "self-selects" for older riders just because younger cyclists are working and not retired/semi-retired. Whether the group focus is on fitness or camaraderie will determine if it provides any relevant performance data for you.

Semi-competitive environments like Gran Fondos usually segment results by age bracket. Some participants go all out in Fondo events and others are out for a "spirited ride". Find some Gran Fondo results for a ride in your area and ride the same course to see how your time stacks up. The caveat is that many Fondos time a few key climbs as the competition factor and not the entire event.

Another option would be to sign up for MapMyRide.com or Garmin Connect (or other data collection site) and identify some local cyclists in your general age range and ride the same routes they have done and compare distance vs. time. That is still heavily dependent upon environmental factors and the amount of effort the individual intended to exert as a ride goal.

All good ideas. Thanks much!

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by DAC17 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

I have been biking for a couple of years now; not racing, but some decent training. I'm 58 and have been a decently competetive runner for 30+ years before now. Is there a place I can go to compare my performances to others (besides racing with them...) By and large, I can ride about 35 miles in a little over two hours without killing myself.

Just trying to get some relative comparisons; not necessarily any huge quantitative analysis. Thanks.

I don't know where you are located, but the Meet Up community is fairly active in a lot of areas. You can find cycling groups, rides of various speed and distance www.meetup.com - search for your area and see if you can find and rides that fit what you want to do.

if you have a GPS enabled bike computer (Garmin) or smartphone you can use a service like Strava.com

basically you turn on your GPS enabled bike computer or start app on smartphone then go for a ride.. your ride gets recorded and when you're done you just press a button on the app (i use an iPhone so I know the process there) and your ride gets uploaded to the site. yu can look on your phone or go to website and see where you've gone.. speed, VAM, power (calculated and not very accurate). Riders in your area like yourself can set segment of road, popular climbs etc as KOMs and then you can compare what you did to what others have done on those same stretches of road... AND you can sort and filter by age, sex etc.. it's actually pretty cool. and kinda like facebook, but you share rides.. you can follow other riders and they can follow you to see what your friends are doing.. also, can say who you want following you if you'd like and make rides private if you'd like.. can also put a location fence up around your house or work so it doesn't show on the maps where you start/and or end your rides..

anyway, it's one kind of easy way to compare what others are doing on stretched of road in your area.. of course times are going to be affected by wind, if riders are riding in groups or solo etc..