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Older cyclists

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  • October 28, 2015 at 7:58 am #24987
    CXR94Di2

    If you have ever wondered why older cyclist tend to do more endurance events. Well it probably won’t come as a surprise to most that younger cyclists are stronger. I have been using Bkool extensively this year on my trainer. (Recovery from injury has prevented me from road riding so much)
    My performance figures are improving, but I always wondered if I was less fit than some of my cycling buddies, who are younger in general.

    I now know, it is purely age, and it wait s for no man!

    There is a feature on Bkool that allows you to watch any other rider do their workout, seeing all their stats (if they choose to display them ). I have spotted a few younger riders, who I thought were putting out the same power as I do. Then I noticed that their heart rate was 30 or more beats less than mine for said power. Also there upper heart rate is nearly 200bpm. Mine is 180bpm:(

    So as we age we go from being a revving petrol engine into a diesel engine, making us more suited to grinding out long distances at low revs (heart rate)

    I know there are many exceptions to my observations, and alot will post to prove they can still hack it, even one guy in my club who is 63 and can still compete with the younger fellows. But the signs are there for him as his TT times are falling back compared to the younger chaps.

    So don’t despair, accept the aging process and always compare yourself to someone who is in your age group, better still someone who doesn’t cycle, then you can feel god like in fitness 🙂

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  • November 10, 2015 at 6:06 pm #862409
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    Batchy
    Daveyraveygravey wrote:
    OmuGuy wrote:
    Daveyraveygravey wrote:
    Recovery takes longer too.  If I ride hard – which for me is up around 18-20 mph for an hour or so – it takes me at least 3 days to get over the effort.    I can still ride the next day, but there is nothing there.

    I recently got a Suunto Ambit 3 for tracking rides and counting lengths in the pool.
    After activity undertaken with the HRM on, it indicates a recovery period.
    Last week, to attend a musical event, I cycled more than 100 km in a day. On the way there, I did what may or may not be intervals (I’m still new at this training stuff) and saw close to my max HR on four bursts (peak training effect 3.8). When I arrived home at 1:30 AM, the watch indicated 119 hours recovery. Observing recovery basically seems to mean no aerobic or harder excercise, in this case, for the next five days! Yesterday, the recovery period expired. I went on a shorter ride with three ‘intervals’ (peak training effect 3.3): recovery 19 h.
    I’m not so sure about the algorhithms, but the comments in this thread have made me more accepting of the length of recovery.
    With a resting pulse of 34 bpm, I am confidently fit, but after two years of seeing no improvement in speed on my Strava test segments, I grasped that there is a difference between being fit and being trained. Now, to improve my stamina and strength, I am trying to deliberately stress my muscles and tax my circulation. Having a heart rate monitor is actually teaching me to cycle more slowly. It is still hard for me to cycle at less than 125 bpm, which may or may not be my aerobic threshold (there are different ways of calculating).
    I can understand why people engage personal trainers!

     

     

    Resting heart rate of 34 bpm?  Wow!  Mine’s about 90, but I have read that doesn’t mean too much, it is just “your” figure.  

    I have a similar lack of improvement in my performance now.  Once you get up to 5000 miles a year, just riding your bike doesn’t give you much noticeable improvement.  I started a Strava training programme which was going well until I got a trapped nerve; the nerve wasn’t from the training but I wasn’t sure what was causing it so eased off.  I will definitely do more of them, if nothing else it showed me the benefit of some structure and organisation. If you just leave to see how you feel, you may push yourself one ride in 4, but it was possible for me to do more than that.

    My heartrate used to be around 40bpm. I say around 40 thats becuase two years ago I started with minor blackouts at rest in bed. Turns out I was getting heart block when the heart skips a few beats. It ticks away nicely now at 60bpm  rhr thanks to a pacemaker.  No need for heart rate monitors as I get it checked every 12 months.  My Max heart rate  should be around 154 bpm this was achieved over 300 times last year Oct -Oct.  Therefore this equates to about 6 times per week and as I usually go cycling 3 times per week on average that means that I max out twice per ride. Oh and I have 7 years of battery life left. Thats if I live that long !

    Just keep breathing and go like stink up two hills per ride. Thats my motto !

    November 10, 2015 at 5:14 pm #862407
    0
    Daveyraveygravey
    OmuGuy wrote:
    Daveyraveygravey wrote:
    Recovery takes longer too.  If I ride hard – which for me is up around 18-20 mph for an hour or so – it takes me at least 3 days to get over the effort.    I can still ride the next day, but there is nothing there.

    I recently got a Suunto Ambit 3 for tracking rides and counting lengths in the pool.
    After activity undertaken with the HRM on, it indicates a recovery period.
    Last week, to attend a musical event, I cycled more than 100 km in a day. On the way there, I did what may or may not be intervals (I’m still new at this training stuff) and saw close to my max HR on four bursts (peak training effect 3.8). When I arrived home at 1:30 AM, the watch indicated 119 hours recovery. Observing recovery basically seems to mean no aerobic or harder excercise, in this case, for the next five days! Yesterday, the recovery period expired. I went on a shorter ride with three ‘intervals’ (peak training effect 3.3): recovery 19 h.
    I’m not so sure about the algorhithms, but the comments in this thread have made me more accepting of the length of recovery.
    With a resting pulse of 34 bpm, I am confidently fit, but after two years of seeing no improvement in speed on my Strava test segments, I grasped that there is a difference between being fit and being trained. Now, to improve my stamina and strength, I am trying to deliberately stress my muscles and tax my circulation. Having a heart rate monitor is actually teaching me to cycle more slowly. It is still hard for me to cycle at less than 125 bpm, which may or may not be my aerobic threshold (there are different ways of calculating).
    I can understand why people engage personal trainers!

     

     

    Resting heart rate of 34 bpm?  Wow!  Mine’s about 90, but I have read that doesn’t mean too much, it is just “your” figure.  

    I have a similar lack of improvement in my performance now.  Once you get up to 5000 miles a year, just riding your bike doesn’t give you much noticeable improvement.  I started a Strava training programme which was going well until I got a trapped nerve; the nerve wasn’t from the training but I wasn’t sure what was causing it so eased off.  I will definitely do more of them, if nothing else it showed me the benefit of some structure and organisation. If you just leave to see how you feel, you may push yourself one ride in 4, but it was possible for me to do more than that.

    November 10, 2015 at 2:14 pm #862405
    0
    OmuGuy
    Daveyraveygravey wrote:
    Recovery takes longer too.  If I ride hard – which for me is up around 18-20 mph for an hour or so – it takes me at least 3 days to get over the effort.    I can still ride the next day, but there is nothing there.

    I recently got a Suunto Ambit 3 for tracking rides and counting lengths in the pool.
    After activity undertaken with the HRM on, it indicates a recovery period.
    Last week, to attend a musical event, I cycled more than 100 km in a day. On the way there, I did what may or may not be intervals (I’m still new at this training stuff) and saw close to my max HR on four bursts (peak training effect 3.8). When I arrived home at 1:30 AM, the watch indicated 119 hours recovery. Observing recovery basically seems to mean no aerobic or harder excercise, in this case, for the next five days! Yesterday, the recovery period expired. I went on a shorter ride with three ‘intervals’ (peak training effect 3.3): recovery 19 h.
    I’m not so sure about the algorhithms, but the comments in this thread have made me more accepting of the length of recovery.
    With a resting pulse of 34 bpm, I am confidently fit, but after two years of seeing no improvement in speed on my Strava test segments, I grasped that there is a difference between being fit and being trained. Now, to improve my stamina and strength, I am trying to deliberately stress my muscles and tax my circulation. Having a heart rate monitor is actually teaching me to cycle more slowly. It is still hard for me to cycle at less than 125 bpm, which may or may not be my aerobic threshold (there are different ways of calculating).
    I can understand why people engage personal trainers!

     

    October 30, 2015 at 8:51 am #862403
    0
    Batchy

    CXR94Di2 wrote:

    CXR94Di2 wrote:
    I started to do TT in June for the first time. This allowed me to get onto the road for short durations. I can managed to beat the Veteran on standard (VOS) times by a few minutes. , so I am pleased. As you say there are still many who are older who destroy their VOS times. For the majority it’s a slow regression. I was interested in how my body compared to a younger rider. My observations are they have a larger capacity and a significant margin or call it a upper buffer zone. I am more than capable at generating the same power as a younger rider, but cannot sustain it as my heart rate hits the max limit, then it ends in an awful mess :D

    I personally think that whether or not you are competing, that the main thing once you reach a certain age, is that you are still breathing when you wake up in a morning. 

    October 30, 2015 at 7:53 am #862401
    0
    CXR94Di2

    I started to do TT in June
    I started to do TT in June for the first time. This allowed me to get onto the road for short durations. I can managed to beat the Veteran on standard (VOS) times by a few minutes. , so I am pleased. As you say there are still many who are older who destroy their VOS times. For the majority it’s a slow regression. I was interested in how my body compared to a younger rider. My observations are they have a larger capacity and a significant margin or call it a upper buffer zone. I am more than capable at generating the same power as a younger rider, but cannot sustain it as my heart rate hits the max limit, then it ends in an awful mess 😀

    October 29, 2015 at 10:49 pm #862399
    0
    Batchy

    How old is old ? How far is

    How old is old ? How far is far ? How fast is fast ? How hilly is your route ? The answer to these questions will not be the same for everyone. The group that I regularly ride with consider me to be ” nobut a lad “. I am 66 and can average between 15 and 17 mph depending on weather and terrain for a four hour ride. Some of my mates are up to 10 years older than me and can knock out these stats all day everyday in the Yorkshire Dales. 8000 miles per year is not a big deal to anyone in our group.

    October 29, 2015 at 3:40 pm #862397
    0
    Jacobi
    Daveyraveygravey wrote:
    Recovery takes longer too.  If I ride hard – which for me is up around 18-20 mph for an hour or so – it takes me at least 3 days to get over the effort.    I can still ride the next day, but there is nothing there.

     

    Ha, ditto – but 18-20 for me is on a good day, and I can’t maintain it for too long. I’ll do it for bursts, slow down for a bit and then speed up again. Nowadays I’m happy if I can average 15 mph for a journey, 10 mph on a bad day. Also: got rheumatoid arthritis in the hands and feet to contend with. Cycling for miles can get pretty painful.  Energy wise the next day isn’t  so much the problem (I take creatine to help aid recovery) as the pain in the hands, feet and other joints. 

    October 29, 2015 at 12:45 pm #862395
    0
    Daveyraveygravey

    Recovery takes longer too.

    Recovery takes longer too.  If I ride hard – which for me is up around 18-20 mph for an hour or so – it takes me at least 3 days to get over the effort.    I can still ride the next day, but there is nothing there.

    October 29, 2015 at 10:05 am #862393
    0
    Kapelmuur

    I used to be a member of the

    I used to be a member of the Veterans Athletic Club and their stattos had data about the results of people who had been running, jumping and throwing from junior level through to their 70’s or older.

    They published charts showing progression and regression of performance as athletes got older, so someone like me who took up distance running in my late 30’s could look at my 10km time at say, 40, look back to what it may have been in my mid 20’s or forward to what it might be at 60.    I was mediocre at any age!

    As I started cycling in my mid 60’s I’ve often wondered what sort of times I could have achieved say 40 years ago and it would be interesting if similar info exists for cycling. 

     

     

    October 29, 2015 at 9:44 am #862391
    0
    Fish_n_Chips

    I hate getting old lol 

    I hate getting old lol 

    Just don’t do it too gracefully smiley

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