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43

If I go more than a week or two without riding, I feel less balance and stability. The balance really bothers me too. I used to walk a tightrope in a seconds' notice. Now, I really feel handicapped unless I'm practiced often.

My triceps are my overall weakness. They are the weak link in my riding. I don't ever remember this before, but I was always 225-230ish and very athletic. I'm 245lbs now, and I carry more fat than ever before. My vision is getting less sharp.

Getting old is having a distinctly more pronounced affect in my early 40's than I've ever noticed before. I feel like I'm sharp and a great rider, but I don't ride with young guys, so I wonder if I'm not nearly as sharp and good as I think I am.

What are the things that have made you stop and think "wow I'm getting older", or maybe even the things that help you keep from "losing it"?

 

[Guest]

49
I’m much slower, hesitant, scared, out of shape...I’m not fat though I’ve also found that it takes forever to recover from injuries...it also takes me a day to recover from a ride; I rarely ride back to back days :bluefrown::sad:

 

[@[email protected]]

49
I'm much slower, hesitant, scared, out of shape...I'm not fat though I've also found that it takes forever to recover from injuries...it also takes me a day to recover from a ride; I rarely ride back to back days :bluefrown::sad:

Oh yes, the injury recovery slowness. This is in full effect.

I never feel like riding in the mornings. Ever. 11am is about the earliest I'll get on a bike for a mountain ride. Not sure if this is because I'm old and spoiled, or a mental thing, or what. I don't like to get going in the mornings. I don't get up early to fish either though, so it probably doesn't have a thing to do with mountain biking.

 

[the one ring]

56 next month.

I was probably in the best physical shape of my life post-college about 6 years ago, regular biking and hiking but really revved it up when training for a race on my SS. Then I had a fall in my garage, severed a quadriceps tendon and never really got back to that same fitness level. The muscle was surgically reattached but it's taken years for that leg's strength to match the other, and I think the knee joint is getting arthritic. I guess I could attribute that to age and slowness of recovery, but it was a pretty catastrophic injury. Sort of takes the wind out of your sails when SS is your only ride.

I'll keep the SS but I'm building up a 10-spd HT to be able to ride more often. And I can still kill it on 20+ mile backpacking days, but trekking poles are non-negotiable items.

 

[JD Dakar]

50
No longer have the edurance I had 20 or even 10 years ago. I think this has more to do with not having as much time to ride then with my age. Recovery does takes a lot longer. If I ride for more than 2 hrs, i am spent the rest of the day.

I'm also a little more hesitant taking some of the bigger jumps, but I still take them. It hurts a lot more when the landings don't go as planned. I have not gained any common sense over the years and that adrenaline rush you get from bombing a down hill or clearing a gap is still the same at 50 as it was at 17.

 

[Ailuropoda]

I'm 53. I'm a better rider now than when I started ten years ago. Not only do I have better bikes but I know how to set them up and have built most of them myself and can do almost any kind of maintenance including a lot of things out on the trail. I've lost a lot of weight (still more to go), am eating better, and am married to a super-hot woman who is an athlete and a fitness nut and a pretty good road cyclist. I get nothing but support from my wife in all my fitness endeavors including the Tour Divide.

I also have a lot more endurance and power than when I started. My wife has got me in the gym and, apart from general strength training I do squats, dead-lifts, and other core and leg exercises that have really helped, especially in my ability to climb hills. I know I am getting older and I tend to hurt a little more than I did ten years ago but I hope to maintain my fitness (and improve) so I am riding in my sixties and seventies.

Next Tour Divide attempt is on for 2020! (Work and other requirements make 2019 unlikely).

 

[John Kuhl]

I'm 64, and this is the first year where I feel like age has caught up with me some. My usual 20 mile
ride isn't as easy as it use to be.

 

[Jayem]

Turning 40, overall much faster. I've figured out a lot more about training and how to be fast. As far as aggressive DH, I feel nearly as fast as younger, but I feel the slight amount that I might be slower is just riding smarter and not taking some chances that aren't worth it, although I still do tend to take chances.

Going fast, racing, endurance, climbing, etc., is all about watts to weight ratio, if you can keep the weight down and get the watts up, you'll be pretty dang fast, and age doesn't seem to be a limiting factor in that until much older (than I am), based on all the older guys that are that fast. What does seem to be important is working out, keeping yourself fit, cross-training, etc.

One thing I figured out about getting faster (stronger, etc.) is that it's very hard to do alone and it always feels extremely uncomfortable, right on the edge of pain, but not quite painful. Pushing yourself this far is key and you have to get away from what is "comfortable".

With that, I'm doing longer races than ever (100 miles) and enjoying good success all around. I'm a bit slower this season and trying to make up for it, but a lot closer to last season than my overall riding fitness 10 years ago.

 

[sgltrak]

52
I'm not as motivated as I used to be to ride when it is cold out. Probably didn't have more than a dozen rides below 25°F this winter.
Aside from that, there is little change due to aging. My skills have probably improved over the past 33 years of mountain biking.

 

[davec113]

43

If I go more than a week or two without riding, I feel less balance and stability. The balance really bothers me too. I used to walk a tightrope in a seconds' notice. Now, I really feel handicapped unless I'm practiced often.

My triceps are my overall weakness. They are the weak link in my riding. I don't ever remember this before, but I was always 225-230ish and very athletic. I'm 245lbs now, and I carry more fat than ever before. My vision is getting less sharp.

Getting old is having a distinctly more pronounced affect in my early 40's than I've ever noticed before. I feel like I'm sharp and a great rider, but I don't ride with young guys, so I wonder if I'm not nearly as sharp and good as I think I am.

What are the things that have made you stop and think "wow I'm getting older", or maybe even the things that help you keep from "losing it"?

43 here too.

I started mtb around 30, if anything I'm getting faster every year and it's been good motivation to keep in shape. As the years go by the people I ride with and myself have had increased expectations. In some ways I'm in better shape now than ever. I think the main difference I notice getting older is more matters, especially diet, rest and recovery... I stopped drinking alcohol almost entirely and have had to make some adjustments in diet to keep weight down. Recovery takes longer... maybe not a ton, maybe it just matters more, idk. Rest seems to matter more.

If you want to see how fast and sharp you still are enter some races. We ride to go down, so Enduro fits my style and I can do ok if there's not a lot of pedaling/climbing. Also, it's nice to see the 40+ age group times are competitive, so I'd say it's definitely possible to ride fast while old. A lot of it really comes down to time on the bike... if you want to be fast you need to ride your bike A LOT and spend time in the gym too.

 

[Lopaka]

I'll turn 65 in a few months. I find I have a diminishing sense of balance. I don't have the same explosive power. I also don't feel the need to take the same risks as I did when I was younger. My endurance is as strong as ever and my overall bike handling skills are getting better with age.

 

[Lone Rager]

I'm 64, and this is the first year where I feel like age has caught up with me some. My usual 20 mile
ride isn't as easy as it use to be.

Yeah. I was going great guns in my early 60s with only gradual declines and minor issues. Mid 60's things started deteriorating pretty fast. It's different for everybody but I know a fair number of riders who are doing great in their late 50s. Perhaps the guys who aren't doing so well aren't riding and that's skewing the riding population.

 

[Legbacon]

I am 59 and lately have lost confidence night riding, and climbing. Right now climbing is the only thing that scares me. On gnarly climbs I am afraid of stalling and falling, probably because I have done it a few times. Going down does not worry me at all, bring it on. Weird.

 

[Nat]

50

• My riding skills are the best they've ever been
• I no longer feel like spending 3+ hours on a ride (unless I'm visiting a new locale)
• I no longer enjoy wrenching -- I'd rather just pay my LBS to do it
• Recovery takes longer (maybe that's part of not wanting to ride 3+ hours?)
• I don't care about being fastest. I like to "stop and smell the roses."

 

[Legbacon]

I really only care about going fast downhill. I will put in a hard effort on some climbs but I live to descend.

 

[J.B. Weld]

Going down does not worry me at all, bring it on. Weird.

That is weird, mid-50's and one of the biggest changes for me is that I'm no longer fearless at speed. I still push the pace pretty good but I'm fairly terrified about biting it, mostly because a broken bone could take me off the bike for months and at this point in my life there's only so many good months left to enjoy so it's a shame to waste even one.

What's surprising to me is that my fitness is probably the best it's ever been.

 

[Moe Ped]

66

Made me more cautious. Was more of a moto rider up until 20 years ago. Now I might moto off-road once a year (e-biking not included) At first MTB'ing felt like I was naked; I think coming from moto's made me more cautious at the git-go. As far as age-related; eventually I had to give up clipless; too many stupid crashes where I didn't un-clip in time. Needing to put on reading glasses to make repairs, read maps and GPS...

Speaking of e-bikes; they're great for hauling trail work tools but they're detrimental to maintaining cardio conditioning IMHO. I gained 10 # when I started riding e-bikes about 50% of the time.

 

[spunkmtb]

Turned 48 2 days ago. Been MTB'ing since 1986. It really bum's me out when I get contemplative about how often I used to be able to ride. The biggest thing I struggle with in winter is getting cold on a ride. My camelback is so heavy in the winter because I have to bring so many different layers. I sweat alot. (And I live in So-cal for hecks sake). I lived in Missoula, MT for 14 years. I think about how I was always the 1st tracks in the spring time and the last in the fall. But I think my biggest hurdle is my mind. I think about how I used to ride and had enthusiasm to get out and it bums me out in the here and now when I hear my mind say's "Too sore, too tired, too cold, blah, blah, blah" But I still love getting out and hope to always be getting out. Also I love my hardtail. But I cannot ride it anymore unless I only ride fire roads and zero singletrack. But what fun is that? It is relegated to a very expensive town bike.

 

[d365]

Up until a couple of years ago, I would've said that nothing had changed in more than 25 years of steady riding. Charging just as hard as I did at 20. If anything, I might have said that recovery times had extended depending on the prior effort. I was never a racer, had no glory days, just a regular 3x a week rider, who lived for the downs and popping off trail features.

Then at 45, I compressed, ruptured, herniated a disc in my lower back - going off a little drop I've done a million times. I was completely off the bike for more than 2 years, and spent the past year just trying to ease back into it and find my groove again. Needless to say, I'm really struggling to get back to my old self.

The secret to riding into old age... is of course, to never stop riding. Once you're forced off the bike for an extended period, it seems really hard to come back now. We'll see.... story to be continued....

 

[richj8990]

Turned 48 2 days ago. Been MTB'ing since 1986. It really bum's me out when I get contemplative about how often I used to be able to ride. The biggest thing I struggle with in winter is getting cold on a ride. My camelback is so heavy in the winter because I have to bring so many different layers. I sweat alot. (And I live in So-cal for hecks sake). I lived in Missoula, MT for 14 years. I think about how I was always the 1st tracks in the spring time and the last in the fall. But I think my biggest hurdle is my mind. I think about how I used to ride and had enthusiasm to get out and it bums me out in the here and now when I hear my mind say's "Too sore, too tired, too cold, blah, blah, blah" But I still love getting out and hope to always be getting out. Also I love my hardtail. But I cannot ride it anymore unless I only ride fire roads and zero singletrack. But what fun is that? It is relegated to a very expensive town bike.

I have the opposite problem, started at age 47, if it's warmer outside and I'm directly in the sun, biking with the helmet on I sweat like crazy and start getting dizzy. I take the helmet off on flatter easier trails/roads due to this. Heat intolerance. It may be that I eat so much protein that the thermic effect of the protein is overheating my system in a warm season that then pushes the body homeostasis off kilter. Doesn't matter how much water I drink, that doesn't help. I have noticed that being in the shade of a hill or mountain, even at 80-85F is better than being in the sun with the helmet on at 75F. Other than that I feel more fit than since I was 18 and surfing 10 foot waves.