My grandfather is 85 now and is still cycling in the countryside. My cousins always accompany him, though, and they just ride at a leisurely pace.
I met a guy 2 years ago in Armidale NSW Australia and he had just come back from cycling around the world. He was 96. He has riding a fixey and that was what he toured with. He only came back because of pressure from his family. He is currently riding around Australia. It was what got me back to touring myself. Am 59 and have done some big tours in OZ since.
That uncle died last month, he was 95. For some reason his organs shut down and the doctors couldn't get them to work. I didn't know the guy real well, but friends said he was walking 8 to 10 miles until about 3 months before he died when he complained he was feeling weak. Of course the docs couldn't find anything other than to say it was his age that made him feel weak, it probably was, but it seemed odd to me because it came on rather suddenly, I mean walking 8 to 10 miles a day for many years then the next day was too weak and tired to walk even a block? I don't know, maybe that's how it happens when your that old.
I´´m 78-years old and still cycling the world. Yes, it gets harder and harder as you age. Just recently I cycled, with weight, from Noordwolde, NL, to Glasgow, Scotland, some 300 miles / 500 KM. This more difficult than usual, because Ihad basically, sat writing my book, FOLLOWING THE LIGHT, without cycling enough. Again, the older, the longer it takes to get your legs back!
F.A. Hutchison
F.A. Hutchison
Congrats for still riding at your age, I hope I can still be riding when I'm that age, I plan on it but you never know what can happen between now and then.
from around the 70's with the same era Campy stuff. I talked to him for a little while, he didn't seem real healthy, kind of feeble. I too hope I can be riding that long and hopefully longer, in reality for me it's less than 30 years to get that mans age in life.
Last week, June 12 to be exact, was the 103rd birthday celebration of my husband's great uncle. The old man doesn't really look that old because he is still independent, walks by himself, eats by himself and does anything all by himself. He looks and acts like a 70-year old. Now, this challenge I posed. Since he still have a sound mind and only his hearing is weak, I asked him if he could still ride a bike. That would be a record, right? He said yes but however, on second thought he hadn't ridden a bike for a long time and he might not be sure of his balance.
I once met a 78 year old guy in a group road ride. I also saw the same guy several years later in a cross country ski event and I barely caught up with him
I knew a guy who raced in my former cat 3 club back when I was in my 20's and 30's racing mostly in Southern California mountains; when he was late 20's he took his bike to Europe to climb some of the great mountains he had read about. One day as he was climbing some steep mountain, the name of which is lost in memory, he realizes he's being passed by a much older guy, either in his late 60's to mid 70's, the weird thing was, my friend was on a 14 speed, this old guy was on a 3 speed!! Needless to say my friend felt really strange about that occurrence, a cat 3 racer use to riding mountains being beat by some old guy on a 3 speed was a bit embarrassing, my friend tried to speed up and maintain behind the old guy but the old guy was too good and slowly kept building up a lead that my friend could not catch up with.
While our team may not had been the best in California we were still cat 3 riders, so we had to points to get to that level, and just seems weird that some old guy on a 3 speed climbing a steep mountain could beat one of us anytime he wanted...seems weird even now!
While our team may not had been the best in California we were still cat 3 riders, so we had to points to get to that level, and just seems weird that some old guy on a 3 speed climbing a steep mountain could beat one of us anytime he wanted...seems weird even now!
I rode a mountainous ride about two weeks ago (33 miles, all around the rim of Crater Lake, in Oregon USA) and saw a lot of gray haired riders. I'm 65 myself and was nowhere near the oldest. One lady, in her 70's was cycling the ride on a single speed cruiser bike! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but was humbled by seeing her riding the course.
83, huh? (shrug) Not that impressive. I've met riders older than that. Age is just a number, what matters is skill and experience. Not everyone can keep up, though. Plenty of "old" riders out there who can't match my abilities. Cycling isn't about looking colorful or surviving hills; it's about performance and stamina. You should try to aim higher than being just "good enough."