Yet another article about cycling and aging

[PamNY]

I know this has been documented and discussed a lot, but what the heck. It's good news.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/0...eeps-us-young/

[emily_in_nc]

Awesome article, thank you!

I know I feel much, much younger than my calendar age (gonna be 54 in April). Walking briskly to yoga practice, running on the track, riding my bike, I have plenty of zip and vitality and can quickly zip across the busy streets, dodging taxis, handle all the crazy up and down Mexican sidewalks, and it's only when I catch a glimpse in a mirror that I remember I'm not 25 anymore!

[smilingcat]

I feel bit insulted that the metric used to determine active women as only 37 miles in five and half hour while for men it was 62 miles in six and half hours. I assume this is on a flat course.

Well aside from the "put down", maybe it explains why I have so much better sense of balance and coordination than my partner. I'm not sure if it makes a difference between bicycle or trikes. I'm sure it does. But it is still far better than planting ones rear end into a couch and watch TV.

Another good reason to go hit the road. Yipee!!

[Owlie]

I feel bit insulted that the metric used to determine active women as only 37 miles in five and half hour while for men it was 62 miles in six and half hours. I assume this is on a flat course.

Well aside from the "put down", maybe it explains why I have so much better sense of balance and coordination than my partner. I'm not sure if it makes a difference between bicycle or trikes. I'm sure it does. But it is still far better than planting ones rear end into a couch and watch TV.

Another good reason to go hit the road. Yipee!!

I think they picked it so that they had two groups to study. If you look at organized rides in many places, the longer distances tend to skew overwhelmingly male, hence the lower minimum activity level. I don't know why they couldn't use the same, lower bar for men, but what do I know? Of course, this study seems to have a few problems with selection bias and cause and effect...

Anyway, I think we all know that cycling (and exercise in general, but we're biased ) is good for you.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, that bugged me a lot too. I guess that's what we'll be seeing as the response to the long history of medical research excluding women (and people of color, and children) entirely.

Assuming that demographically men tend to ride longer than women (if anything, I'd say the opposite, that the demographic of CYCLISTS is overwhelmingly male and white, but as the distance increases, so does the gender balance, to where the century riders are nearly 50-50 IME) - even assuming that, the solution still isn't to pick two groups that are not comparable to each other, but instead to pick a group of men who ride the SAME distance at whatever quicker pace concords with men's generally higher VO2Max and lean body mass.

[Crankin]

I know there may be issues with the research design, but I really do agree, based both on myself, my DH, and lots of riders I know.
Many of the comments centered on saying something like, "well, the cyclists ride that much because they are already healthy."
But, my experience is that is not always true. I have a few chronic things that don't keep me from riding and my DH has 2 stents. Some the people in my riding group have had serious medical issues. They are older than me and still riding. A few who no longer ride are hiking like crazy and doing other sports.
I seriously wish my regular friends would get up off of their butts, but instead they complain about their weight, finding a magic diet, and how much they hate to sweat!

[Owlie]

Yeah, that bugged me a lot too. I guess that's what we'll be seeing as the response to the long history of medical research excluding women (and people of color, and children) entirely.

Assuming that demographically men tend to ride longer than women (if anything, I'd say the opposite, that the demographic of CYCLISTS is overwhelmingly male and white, but as the distance increases, so does the gender balance, to where the century riders are nearly 50-50 IME) - even assuming that, the solution still isn't to pick two groups that are not comparable to each other, but instead to pick a group of men who ride the SAME distance at whatever quicker pace concords with men's generally higher VO2Max and lean body mass.

At the century mark, probably (not that I've ever done a supported one). But that's going to be a pretty small group of people. The middle distances, from what I've seen, tend to be heavily male.