old people cycling

rmeiresonne

Hi, I am 61, ride a mountain bike and do 14 miles and 20 mile loops. I average about 14-16 mph. I am looking to increase to a base of 20 miles per day, but folks, let me tell you the fatigue catches up. Is this ok , too slow or should I be resting more? If the weather permits, I tray and get out every day, maybe taking one rest day a week. Any comments let me know. thanks.

George Murdoch

Hope you have a Road Bike. I'm 67 & get out when weather permits but never two days in a row. Get going , use smaller crank-wheel to save stamina & you will build yourdelf up to about 40 mile rides. Fit a basic computer to give yourself encouragement. Good luck.

Alex_Simmons/RST

rmeiresonne wrote:

Hi, I am 61, ride a mountain bike and do 14 miles and 20 mile loops. I average about 14-16 mph. I am looking to increase to a base of 20 miles per day, but folks, let me tell you the fatigue catches up. Is this ok , too slow or should I be resting more? If the weather permits, I tray and get out every day, maybe taking one rest day a week. Any comments let me know. thanks.

Recovery has less to do with age and more to do with a multitude of other factors, most notably your training history (long and short term). The time course for recovery may be longer for masters age riders but it's not always the case.

So if you're a relative newbie on the bike, or are coming back from a long long layoff, then yes you will need some extra recovery. You should also ramp up the amount of riding you do in manageable chunks. One of the biggest mistakes I see is people feeling great, ramp up their training too fast and then fall in a hole after a few weeks as they are not ready for such a rapid increase in training load.

"The more you train, the more you can train"

nickcuk

Hmm - 61/67 years old, still cycling decent stats and coping with t'tinternet - I hope I'll be capable when it comes to me ! BTW, does the cycling reduce the need for viagra ?

mozwyn69

I did the etape 2 years ago and there was a fellow in our group who was 70..he did in in about 9hrs i think. Beware, some of these oldies as ard as nails!