New Older Cyclists

[DeniseGoldberg]

Older? Late in life? To me, 36 doesn't qualify for either of these labels. I don't consider myself "older" or "late in life", and at 54 I'm almost 20 years older than you.

As far as your speed goes, some people are naturally faster than others - I suspect it's experience and not your age that is letting others pass you.

--- Denise

[SadieKate]

I'm trying to compute "older" and "36."

[mimitabby]

yeah, me too! my "real age" on that health test is 45 BECAUSE i'm biking.
I'm going to be 55 in November. I was all excited, wanting to read about some 66 year old gal who just got onto a bike for the first time.

having said that;

You're not older, you're about middle of the road. And why not bike? It's low impact aerobic exercise...

have fun.

[SadieKate]

Ok, now for a more thoughtful answer (and on a Friday!). Last night's insomnia reading (let's talk about "older" ), was Joel Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible. He feels that anyone just taking up cycling with the dream of racing needs to spend a year just riding. Their bodies need to adapt to the motion and stresses, etc., of cycling before they start to train for racing. That was very badly paraphrased, but I think it is the same thing Denise is saying. It takes experience and muscle memory and a whole bunch of other things to become competitively fast. If those 25 year olds have been training since juniors, you have a long way to go, baby. Just don't give up. Do some reading, get a coach, train smart.

[SadieKate]

Mimi, my friend Marty went from 0 to 100 at age 65. She started cycling in July 2005 and in June 2006 rode her first century at the Little Red Riding Hood in Utah. She wasn't 66, but is 65 close enough?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Older?? ....36 is like being a kid just out of the starting gate!

Lisa- 52 and just hittin' my stride...

[Trek420]

Older? Older? Bwaaaahaha I need another cup of coffee now and to clean the screen Thanks

Somewhere here there's a thread "over 40 show of hands" which changed to "over 50 show of hands" here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ghlight=oldest

and suspect we'll need "over 60..." etc soon, sure hope so

Trek-I'm 50 but it is the new 30-420

[SouthernBelle]

I'm checking for decrepitness here.

[Eden]

Don't worry or give up! Many of the top level women cyclists in this country are in their 30's or older.

I started riding competitively this year and I'm 34. Many of my team mates are older than I am (who can kick my butt by the way). Just remember that even if you are already fit, it takes time to "get your legs", some people say about 2 years and that sometimes knowing racing tactics is more important than merely being strong. Keep riding and you'll be smoking the 25 y/o's.