Men 40 and up question

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by TiMan
How many of you guys 40 and up can ride with the best of your local club riders in their 20's and early 30's in the steepest climbs?


Ti

🙂

you taking the "micky" or something ?

HA!......I know of a couple guys in their mid 40's...one is soon to be 47...and they can actually"better" the top club riders here in Tucson and this done on a very tough 1 hour constant climb.

True they are NOT NORMAL ....

I was justwondering how many guys 40 and up can hold their own with the young bucks.

Remember Raymond Poulidor (spelling).....he got 3rd in the Tour de France at age 40 against some pretty darn stiff competition.

Ti

I'm 43 and and feel just as strong on a bike now as I did when I was 23 (ie Weak as a kitten!). Seriously though - I think that cycling is a sport where endurance actually improves with age.

Look at Marathon runners. They don't seem to hit their peak until late thirties/early forties.

I know the endurance thing is slightly off topic as it does not really relate to climbs (or sprints) but I think that on the whole old blokes can ride further/longer than young blokes.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by rhysd
I'm 43 and and feel just as strong on a bike now as I did when I was 23 (ie Weak as a kitten!). Seriously though - I think that cycling is a sport where endurance actually improves with age.

Look at Marathon runners. They don't seem to hit their peak until late thirties/early forties.

I know the endurance thing is slightly off topic as it does not really relate to climbs (or sprints) but I think that on the whole old blokes can ride further/longer than young blokes.

I'm 55 like to think you're right, but one those dam dung darn youngins just rode past me again.... #*&##***!!!!

Recently had a race up Mt Wellington (23 km at 6 to 8%). See results at www.atta.asn.au

The first vet is closer to 50 than 40 and came third. There were at least 10 other vets in the top 50. The guy who won it is a world class MTB racer, he'll be in Athens later this year with green and gold shirt. He flew past me on his road bike, averaged about 27kph for the ride. I was about 9 k less.

Well, If you are 40 and he is 20 then you've got 20 years jump on him for training.

Or for beer drinking.

Depends on what you've been up to for the last 20 years!

By the way, Beer tastes great from a camelback.

Whit

I'm 40, started riding almost 3 years ago, and always finish in the top 5-10% of any event I ride in regardless of age. Granted, this is Texas, and our typical hills are rather short and take probably 30 seconds to a 2.5 minutes to climb, but I attack every hill and pass a lot of younger riders regulary. On flats I can hold my own and can sprint up into the 32-39mph range. Since I'm older and closer to death I take every ride seriously. I train like there's no tomorrow. How many 23 years olds can say the same?

I'm 51 and train exclusively on hills. I do group rides twice weekly. We ride 33 to 35 miles and average about 22mph to 24mph. The long grinding hills are where most get dropped.
I hold my own. Train on HILLS !

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by BikeyGuy
I'm 51 and train exclusively on hills. I do group rides twice weekly. We ride 33 to 35 miles and average about 22mph to 24mph. The long grinding hills are where most get dropped.
I hold my own. Train on HILLS !

I'm 55 and 80kg, I train everything !

I ride with a small group and we are riding only hills for this 12 week period. I'm with you on "if you want to be good at it, you need to train it".
However the last 12 week base period we just finished has had an extraordinarily positive effect on my hill climbing ability.

Last Sundays ride, on our third hill, a fast down hill run then a long modest climb, I dropped the whole group, caught an unknown ( young) lone rider, dropped him too. I mean by, I got off and had a picnic on the road side waiting for everyone to catch up.
I thought my head was going to swell right up and crack my new lid.

Doing a ride tomorrow with some seriously quick riders, I have this foreboding they will quickly put me back in my place.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Spider1977
Recently had a race up Mt Wellington (23 km at 6 to 8%). See results at www.atta.asn.au

The first vet is closer to 50 than 40 and came third. There were at least 10 other vets in the top 50. The guy who won it is a world class MTB racer, he'll be in Athens later this year with green and gold shirt. He flew past me on his road bike, averaged about 27kph for the ride. I was about 9 k less.

Quite an impressive (in numbers) start and finish list for the 23kms Mt Wellington climb. Hobart must have it's fair share of masochists :0

We have an ATTA TT in Sydney over a hilly/undulating course. My understanding is that ATTA has no cycling body affilliation and accountability (here read UCI and Australian Cycling Federation).

So local and UCI rules regarding helmets, non structural aero benefits, seat/bottom bracket alignment, aerobars, bike design etc. are not enforced.

Is this correct?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by TiMan
HA!......I know of a couple guys in their mid 40's...one is soon to be 47...and they can actually"better" the top club riders here in Tucson and this done on a very tough 1 hour constant climb.

True they are NOT NORMAL ....

I was justwondering how many guys 40 and up can hold their own with the young bucks.

Remember Raymond Poulidor (spelling).....he got 3rd in the Tour de France at age 40 against some pretty darn stiff competition.


Ti

Where is this climb is it Mt lemmon? when , where , what time is this ride? i love free compitition.