Distance and age

[pjd57]

In a hopefully light hearted and unscientific way I'm looking for thoughts on this.


How do you perceive what is a good distance in relation to the cyclists age ?

Is a 40 year old doing 40 or 50 miles the same as as 70 year old doing it ?
Is there a formula that can be used to determine when extra credit is due in relation to the age/ distance equation.

My answer which took a while to get to subtract half your age from 100 to set the benchmark.
I'm 64.
So it's 100 - 32 = 68
My mate I ride with is 50.
For him it would be 100-25=75.

Our ride yesterday I was 12 miles over my benchmark and he was 5 over his.

Rambling on now.

 

[Drago]

What about ebike riders?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What about ebike riders?

Mostly in their 20s and 30s to keep up with the oldies

 

[Chromatic]

What about ebike riders?

Cheats!

 

[Cycleops]

Take your age and multiply it times the number of times a day you can manage it minus the the number of times you need to get up to p*"s in the night. Divide by 2 should give you the number of miles you're capable of in a day.

 

[Milzy]

That doesn’t mean anything. There’s 60 year olds doing a mixture of very long rides & short fast rides without any burn out. There’s 25 year olds doing less & suffering from burn out.

 

[Sharky]

Have a look at the age standards for time trials and vets (over 40). Don't take it literally as to what you should be capable of at any particular age. Rather just consider the variance you were capable of at age 40, then at the age of 70, you should be able to achieve the same variance against the slower standard for a 70 Yr old.

In my case this means when I was 55, I was hitting a 27 minute age standard and this year expect to beat the 29:09 standard for a 71 Yr old. When I was 19, I could do a 24 minute 10, so in 52 years have slowed by 5 minutes.

 

[ColinJ]

Given that I wasn't very fit as a 30 year old, I would hope that I am fitter at 70 than I was back then!

I definitely want to still be able to do 10 hour hilly bike rides. I won't be quick, but if I can do 150+ lumpy km in that time I'd be happy.

I'll think about getting an e-bike when I can no longer do that or get up 20% hills under my own steam. Hopefully, not before the age of 75 though, and ideally nearer 80.

Speed-wise, I accept my increasing limitations. Distance-wise, I won't make excuses for at least another 10 years, unless illness or injury get me before then.

 

[Rusty Nails]

What exactly do you mean by a "good distance"?

Do you mean how far should a particular age person be able to ride, or how fast they should be able to ride it?

I am 73 and can either ride fast (by my admittedly low standards) or long (again by my low standards) but not both or I'm paying for it for days.

The furthest I go these days is an occasional 50 miles and the limiting factor is the interest threshold rather than fatigue. A morning or an afternoon is long enough for me.

 

[biggs682]

What about ebike riders?

Sorry you don't count only works for cyclists

 

[Drago]

Go for a long ride. Not the longest you can manage without exploding your lungs, but the longest you can manage without collapsing.

Then sit down with a calculator and invent a formula that gives approximately that mileage for your age.

 

[biggs682]

My formula ia easier it's get bike out of garage and ride for as long as you have spare family time for and for me it's 3 - 4 hours at the weekend and as early as poss ie 5am so that when i get back home i have not missed out on my families life .

 

[steveindenmark]

70 year olds know exactly how to make it easy riding 70 miles. 40 year old still have all that testosterone running around in them and think they are Lance Armstrong. Until they find out they are not. That is when the 70 year old finishes his 4th coffee and 5th piece of cake and pootles past them.

 

[Blue Hills]

70 year olds know exactly how to make it easy riding 70 miles. 40 year old still have all that testosterone running around in them and think they are Lance Armstrong. Until they find out they are not. That is when the 70 year old finishes his 4th coffee and 5th piece of cake and pootles past them.

true - i used to ride with a lot of ctc oldsters when i lived in nottingham. As we headed off into the peak district i was often struck by both their apparent stamina, healthy progress up hills and their supremely relaxed pedalling style.

 

[steveindenmark]

true - i used to ride with a lot of ctc oldsters when i lived in nottingham. As we headed off into the peak district i was often struck by both their apparent stamina, healthy progress up hills and their supremely relaxed pedalling style.

This also applies to golf. The old guys cannot hit it a long way, but make up on their short game.