Age vs. Cycling Ability

[cyclinnewbie]

This has nothing to do with aging and sports, but is a bit relevant to the topic at hand. My inlaws are both in their 60's, and act as if they're older than dirt. They complain about their multitude of aches and pains, and the only activities they engage in are sitting in their house watching TV, and going out to eat. They have visited every restaurant in this county since they moved here 4 years ago. They are fat, and out of shape and OLD.

Contrast that to my 96 year old grandfather who is blind, who walks 5 miles a day, has a vast social network, has a multitude of interests (he is a GREAT fiddler, despite having lost a few of his fingers to various woodcutting accidents - yes, he was operating saws while BLIND), he continues to get up on his roof when it needs repairs, much to my dad's consternation, he just sold his sailboat because his sighted buddy who used to sail with him passed away last year. He is more active physically and mentally than a lot of 40 year olds I know.

Age ain't nothing but a number; a great deal of it is all about what's in your head. Sure, biology has A LOT to do with it, but I think attitude has more influence. Just my two cents....

[han-grrl]

I truly believe that age isnt a limitation

there are so many examples where people started "later" in life

http://www.srichinmoyraces.org/us/tr...g/seventyyears

the one runner started in her fifties...

and i found this little blurb
Ottinger has not always been the healthy, dedicated marathon runner that he is today. Once an amateur boxing champion and a fast-pitch softball player, Ottinger found himself overweight and with a severely enlarged heart at age 53. His doctor warned that if he did not begin exercising, he wouldn’t live much longer. Motivated by his love for his family, Ottinger began to run. Since his health scare, Ottinger has completed a variety of impressive feats, including climbing the Andes Mountains, jogging along the Great Wall of China and beating an aggressive form of prostate cancer.


yes it might take longer for the body to adapt, but it isn't impossible..

[Mr. Bloom]

I think we have two groups here:

• those who were athletic for much of their lives
• those who started later

Silver was never athletic and started running in her late 30's. Within 9 months, she did her first marathon and now she's coaching tri-athletes!

I was never athletic as a kid (I was the drum major in the band!). 18 months ago, Silver nearly killed me on a 9 mile ride. Last month, I rode across Indiana!

My only point in saying this...and in starting this thread...is to encourage people of 'wisdom and experience' to not sell themselves short and to allow themselves to benefit from thinking big.

This has been a fun thread for me to read, there's so much wise feedback from insightful people.

Thanks

[Grog]

I never bothered checking the reference, but a long time ago my cycling coach said something about a study in which they had discovered that a majority of former elite and pro cyclists had dropped out of cycling after stopping racing.

I see lots of older cyclists, but rarely are they former racers. Maybe those who start early and go really hard are less likely to get out there in their 50s, leaving a chance to all of us who are late-bloomers athletically speaking.

[smilingcat]

I never bothered checking the reference, but a long time ago my cycling coach said something about a study in which they had discovered that a majority of former elite and pro cyclists had dropped out of cycling after stopping racing.

I see lots of older cyclists, but rarely are they former racers. Maybe those who start early and go really hard are less likely to get out there in their 50s, leaving a chance to all of us who are late-bloomers athletically speaking.

Part of the problem is burn-out. Just think, week in week out, you have to perform against same bunch of people. You are better than some and some are better than you. On a good day, you might be able to beat a better rider. On a even day, you know you will get beaten by the same 1 second margin. But you go out and give your best. You get beaten by that 1 second margin...

If you get too serious with racing, it takes the fun out and without the fun, what's the point to beat your self up, to suffer lactic acid burn in your leg, and major major discomfort that you can stop by slowing down but you can't.

Yup. chances are pretty good to just drop the sport and become sedentary.
Looks pretty appealing to me.

smilingcat

[OakLeaf]

I wonder if that's different for other sports.

I know all about amateur racer burnout. But after 12 years I'd been away from it long enough that I could come back to cycling and enjoy it. I wonder how that would be different for someone who'd been able to compete at a high level. A lot of my burnout I really believe was from the fact that I'd reached the limit of what I could do with the amount of commitment I had, and I knew that even if I took my commitment to another level, I'd never be a top-level cyclist. But then again, I was a recreational rider long before I started racing, and my racing years were a small proportion of my total cycling years, so I had a good foundation of really enjoyable riding that I could remember when I was ready to.

Now that you mention it, it's definitely noticeable on this forum that we have a whole lot of recreational riders, some current elite racers, some former club racers, but no former elite racers who've identified themselves anyway.

I'm really just musing on this, so early in the morning. So this post is a little incoherent

I'm around professional motorcycle racers quite a bit, and honestly, when they retire, they don't stop riding - on the contrary, they often have trouble imagining anything non-motorized to do for fun! It's often difficult for them to be around the racetrack after they retire from competition, but it really seems to me that the majority of them keep riding in the dirt or on the street after their racing careers are over.

What about it, racer gals? What have you seen from your older peers, past their racing prime - are they able to ride for fun (either immediately after they stop racing, or after a break)?

[pardes]

This thread is taking on a life of its own which is appropriate since we are all surmising that aging will hopefully also have a life of its own beyond the physical limitations that often come with it.

Fabulous point that many of us were never athletic as kids at least in organized sports with some wanting now to be competitive and others embracing all aspects of the recreational facets of biking.

Either way self-pride seems to be the laudable point and what is more age appropriate to aging than finally learning both the acceptance of limitations and the Boomer trait of wanting to change the world starting from within that knows no limitations.

Some Boomers will claim we changed the world by stopping a war but I would like to see us change the world again by reaching out to the fretful young with examples in living color of how it's possible to "have it all."

[Tuckervill]

I think we have two groups here:

• those who were athletic for much of their lives
• those who started later

Silver was never athletic and started running in her late 30's. Within 9 months, she did her first marathon and now she's coaching tri-athletes!

I was never athletic as a kid (I was the drum major in the band!). 18 months ago, Silver nearly killed me on a 9 mile ride. Last month, I rode across Indiana!

My only point in saying this...and in starting this thread...is to encourage people of 'wisdom and experience' to not sell themselves short and to allow themselves to benefit from thinking big.

This has been a fun thread for me to read, there's so much wise feedback from insightful people.

Thanks

+1!

I do have to say that there's a third category:

*those who were athletic as kids, put it aside, then found it again.

I was a cheerleader, softball player, volleyball player and generally active kid. I rode my bike everywhere I went from the time I learned at 4. Then I got married and had kids. My last bike ride before almost 5 years ago was when my oldest was about 6 weeks old. I put him in the backpack and took him for a spin. It was too cold, and I never rode with him again. He'll be 26 next week!

So a 20 year hiatus from athletics (I did play a season of co-ed softball or two, but it hurt), and I'm BAAACK!

I ran a whole mile at boot camp today, just because I decided to. The whole class gave me high-fives.

Karen

[Susan126]

Tuckerville is right. I am 54 and my childhood growing up in the 60s was so different then kids' growing up today.

I walked or biked to school, came home had a snack did my homework then was out the door until dinner. Home for dinner then back out with my friends until curfew. TV was 3 channels (black and white tv) and rabbit ear antennae. Summer break was 3 months of playing with friends outdoors, softball, whether organized or just a quick game with neighborhood friends. Going on family vacations with my 2 sisters, brother, and our parents every July to the lake (Lake Erie) for two weeks. Roaming the streets of my hometown on my bike with my friends. Going to the stream where we would swim with swinging old tire tied to a tree which we used to swing out over the deepest part of the stream and then let go!

I had the best childhood and stores of memories. I sometimes feel sorry for today's kids. With their computers, video games, and lack of exercise. Not forced exercise but "kid" exercise. The kind that comes naturally to kids. Exercise that you never thought of exercise but fun times with friends outside doing fun things.

During lunch recess a game of softball, jump rope, tag; we didn't need adults to tell or show us how or what to do. We knew what to do to have fun.

Biking recreates part of that for me because some of my favorite times were spent on my bike. All decorated up for our local parades through my home town. Memorial Day, Fourth of July . . . riding our steeds my friends, siblings and I through our town.

Kids today don't know how to "play" . . . maybe because they were never given the opportunity. I don't know. I tried to allow my kids (now 24 and 26) outdoor time when they were growing up. Joe and I lived in beautiful places before he retired from the military and went to work for Boeing. Alaska, Montana, Virginia, taking the kids fishing, to zoos, camping, hiking, local sites and attractions, limiting their tv and video game time.

I feel if you grew up with this life style you never lose it. And that is why you see a lot of older folks regaining their youthful ways on bikes. For me it was a wonderful time of my life and again it has become a wonderful way of life for me again. I feel like a kid again. I have fun when I am on my bike. I feel like the kid I was back in the 1960s! Well almost!

[shootingstar]

With their computers, video games, and lack of exercise. Not forced exercise but "kid" exercise. The kind that comes naturally to kids. Exercise that you never thought of exercise but fun times with friends outside doing fun things.

During lunch recess a game of softball, jump rope, tag; we didn't need adults to tell or show us how or what to do. We knew what to do to have fun.

Biking recreates part of that for me because some of my favorite times were spent on my bike. All decorated up for our local parades through my home town. Memorial Day, Fourth of July . . . riding our steeds my friends, siblings and I through our town.

Kids today don't know how to "play" . . . maybe because they were never given the opportunity. I don't know. I tried to allow my kids (now 24 and 26) outdoor time when they were growing up. Joe and I lived in beautiful places before he retired from the military and went to work for Boeing. Alaska, Montana, Virginia, taking the kids fishing, to zoos, camping, hiking, local sites and attractions, limiting their tv and video game time.

I feel if you grew up with this life style you never lose it. And that is why you see a lot of older folks regaining their youthful ways on bikes. For me it was a wonderful time of my life and again it has become a wonderful way of life for me again. I feel like a kid again. I have fun when I am on my bike. I feel like the kid I was back in the 1960s! Well almost!

I do seriously consider the best of years of my health and life (am 49),...are now with it accelerating when I returned to cycling at 31, as overall even "freer" than my childhood, teenager when I now have the financial means to do and see things ...not just cycling but also other fun activities.

Since parents didn't have much money to keep their 6 kiddies entertained..we entertained ourselves. Since I was the eldest, by default I was a built-in babysitter daily, and hence thrown outside to look after siblings. So we played...with very little toys, had 2 bikes and 1 tricycle among 6 children.

I can't quite believe I could double-dutch-skip rope up to 2,000...remember that? Those contests ... But there were shared bikes within the family.

So returned to cycling much later after dropping it at 19. ...

I was a nerdy, brainy introverted kid. Sports was never my thing, but I did experience the euphoria of a sport by happily playing softball for 2 years at recess and after school with the other girls..on a pavement diamond. Not a grassblade on our school layground. It was not really team-based just loosely organized softball games. I was addicted since summers got up to 90 degrees C with high humidity.

I started softball when I was 10. A common age turning point for girls. to realize a glimer of their future potential.. around 8-14 yrs. where the probability of building confidence and experiencing it through things they like doing...starts then and can influence a girl's self-confidence in a major way.

I still don't consider myself a great cyclist, just way more more active cyclist/physically active than I ever was when growing up. And probably quite active and in good health, compared to many women in my age group that I know.

[Red Rock]

I am approaching 40 My brain says I'm younger than that, so it is hard to be thinking that I am approaching the later years in my life. Ugh.

I was one of those totally active kids and basically have been my whole life. I was a gymnast from 5 years until 6th grade. Then I picked up tennis, cycling, hiking, swimmming, crosscountry and probably others. From junior high onward. I was always on some team in high school or college. When I was in College, I was a part of the cross country ski team. That was cool becasue I was able to see and experience all parts of New England. I could tell you which campuses had the best food. That was all the fun part. Training is training.

Now I just ride for fun and enjoyment even if it is about 30 miles a day or on a weekend.

Red Rock

[shootingstar]

Han-grrl...rare that men his age (whatever his real age is) would look like that.

For certain I can confirm my honey does not look that buff at 65.. but he remains regular cyclist and does loaded bike touring often on his own through the mtns. from home and elsewhere.

A month ago, I learned of a 70 yr. woman (a grandmother) who did do radonneuring in earlier years, did several loaded bike trips (including across Canada with camping after retiring at 65); then did loaded bike group tour with other similar-aged folks in past few yrs.; was highly active and vocal in Vancouver-area cycling advocacy for over past decade. Now she must withdraw from some of this stuff because of impeding cataract eye surgery and a long-term heart problem (irregular).

But she has achieved alot cycling-wise and it is clear to others who know her that cycling has benefited her physically and psychologically ..in terms of a positive life outlook.