Cycling in your late 40's... Do you relate?

I'm a few years younger than you, though not much.

Fitness is all relative for me, I find that due to personal or life circumstances I've often gone through phases where I'm fitter or less fit than I was a couple of years before. I was fitter at 42 than I was at any point since my late 20's I reckon but the last couple years have seen it drop off significantly although I'm starting to work on that.

I had back issues through out most of my 30's that I never really got the better of until I started consistent frequent exercise again in my late 30's. If you saw a video of me then versus at 42 like I said, you'd reckon I had gotten younger rather than older.

I did get knocked off my commuting bike 6 months ago by another cyclist who veered in to my path when looking at a phone. Man, that felt like I had been hit by a bus. Winded me for about 3 minutes and I bashed up my elbow (no break thankfully) and ribcage and was feeling the effects for about 6 weeks. One other obvious thing I've noticed is that my average and peak heart rate has dropped a couple beats from when I was younger. And I've no doubt lost the explosiveness that I would have had (though it was never much to be fair).

46, train hard on the bike for racing & do a 3/4 month gym block in the winter. While yes I do get a little tired & a bit creaky I’d recommend strength work in the gym as off the bike it has helped hugely.

Sleep, gym & bike with a reasonable diet will see you as best you can be.

Stay away from those chippers

I commute to work by bike since my twenties and am noticing that I don't have the same range of mobility in my 40's. For example I find it hard to turn my head to look at traffic behind when taking a right hand turn. I now have to turn my whole shoulders and neck to see behind me.

On the other hand when I cycle for a couple of weeks I'm much more flexible, bending, lifting, crouching tasks are a lot easier than the weeks when I don't get the exercise on the bike.

After this years holiday in France (swimming & cycling every day dragging nutbag kids around in a trailer) I really really felt the difference when back in work.

I've lapsed but another thumbs up for Pilates here.

Is that due to arm muscle strength or lack of flexibility in upper body?

Do some yoga and or pilates

I'd look into a bike fit and in particular your hand position, you'd be surprised how much of a difference it could make. I had similar when I changed handlebars on a bike, in my case it was aero dropbars, i was in a lot of pain during and post ride... whatever way they were encouraging me to put my hands/palms flat on the hoods and then twisting my arms etc.

The older I get the motivation to get up early, and get out on the road is the most limiting factor, once out on the road I'm happy.

To overcome the lack of motivation to get out i find it useful to have somebody to meet which forces my hand to get out on time.

Biggest difference I can see is natural stamina - in my early 30s I drove down to Kerry, hopped on the bike and did the Ring of Kerry cycle with zero training. No way would I do that now, even though I am doing a 90 minute cycle 3 or 4 times a week.

Just your comment above - 'obviously in her mid-70s' - I know health is a bit of a lottery ticket but I would be pretty hopeful that I would still be out on the bike regularly in mid-70s.

Weight training the thing here though, we need to work harder to maintain muscle as we get older.

I'm 52. Some days that feels old. Some days that feels, as others have said, like no more than a number. I don't seem to discernibly slower than I was 20 years ago (though I was never fast) nor does the actual doing of long distances (100km-plus) phase me any more than they did in the past. My resting heart rate has also remained unchanged since I was about 30 so there's a fair bit of give in the cardiovascular system. But if I do do something over 80km, my recovery time is definitely longer than it used to be so I'm a bit more conscious of looking after myself when I finish: taking a protein drink, resting etc. I've also adjusted my exercise "regime": it used to be pretty much all cardio (swimming and cycling) but for the past 5 years there's been weight-training for strength and yoga for flexibility.

The thing that most affects me is not caused by cycling but often causes me to be off the bike for extended periods: an as yet undiagnosed, but recurrent respiratory issue which seems to be related to an - at times - almost non-existent immune system (despite assiduously taking Vitamin C and D every day along with zinc and magnesium). I've always had a tendency towards not full-on asthma but atopic sensitivity and that has become more acute with age.

That said, my working assumption is that I'll be cycling in my 70s. Perhaps a bit slower but I've never been in a massive hurry anyway.

Early 50s here. I'd cycle on average 10,000 km each year but I also jog a little bit and tend to walk as much as possible.

In my mid 40s I did notice that I was increasingly suffering from constant muscle soreness after rides and I was definitely losing power on climbs and sprints. However, I took up yoga and more recently weight training in the gym and these two activities have made a positive impact on how I feel. I know that I will never really trouble Strava segments again (if I ever did in the first place) but I feel so much more flexible and a number of small niggles (clicking knees) have disappeared.

You really cannot fight the aging process but to a degree you can control your weight, fitness and overall flexibility. I think it helps to view physical activities positively and not as something you have to endure. Cycling is social, weight training allows my mind to zone out and the gym is pleasant on wet days and yoga really does seem to work for me though I am usually the only male in the class.

Well my mother hasn't cycled a bike since the 1950s! But assuming you meant generally for people in their 70s, I agree it's nice to think that way but having watched my father in law (74, picture of health in all respects) who cycled continuously from the mid 1980s until about 3 years ago, slowly put an end to his cycling, it's not really fitness that gets you. It's reaction times and brittle bones. On the reaction times, he just found he wasn't razor sharp enough to cycle in closely packed groups anymore. In terms of bone density etc, he became concerned that a fall could mean serious injury in a way it wouldn't have when he was younger.

He still gets out for 15k jaunts but he doesn't enjoy solitary cycling and for the reasons laid out above he had to leave his club

Im 55 and returning to cycling after many years gap. Got a new job and decided to commute by bike. Tried a regular mountain bike and felt the muscles ache at end of day. Then changed jobs and wanted to keep up the cycle, but new job was 10 miles from home. So I got a cheap ebike and LOVE it. So much easier on the knees & hills . Cant say it has speeded up the commute (as had new bike with newest commute so cant compare to prev bike) but Im arriving fresh(ish) and not covered in sweat. The effort is def reduced bit I am getting more exercise now than last few years, and building up stamina too.

Seeing a lot of positives in prev posts for yoga. Would love to give it a go. Def feel that the older I get, the slower it is to recover if I get a twinge or stretch (which seem to happen more often now). Good diet is essential too ...

44 here and I still enjoy the odd spin into the city and back to the suburbs. Biggest change is the lack of power on the uphills coming out of the city centre. I still try give it a good effort but ive lost a chunk of my power in the last 15 years. Head winds batter me and I curse them more than ever.

I also feel an extra layer of cautiousness when at speed. If I come off the bike it will hit that little be harder now I suspect.

45 and feeling a lot of tiredness in last year or 2, started cycling regularly about 6/7 years ago after a decade or more of no exercise whatsoever. I don't really feel like I'm losing fitness while on the bike, and the strava stats says my avg speeds are pretty much the same, it seems to be off the bike is where I struggle, the 3pm slump almost becomes a siesta. Have had plenty bloods done, nothing shows up.

I'm certainly not over-training, the minimum I would do in a week (pretty much winter months) is a 30k ride midweek and maybe another at weekend or else a 5k parkrun. Obviously in summer I would do much more than that. Strava says I have done 4,000km this year as well as 300km running. No injuries or niggles or anything, touch wood. I took a week off all exercise last week to see if I felt refreshed but no change. I'm sitting down all day, going through a process of elimination to see if I can solve the mystery fatigue.

Far from being an expert in such matters but I suffered from tennis elbow for years and tried everything. It wasn't going away naturally. So much so the cortisone injections no longer had any effect and physio etc was a waste of money. A friend with similar chronic pain to yours reccomended me MSM supplements from Holland & Barrett about a year ago and they've been nothing short of a miracle. Took a few weeks but soon i started to think less and less about it. I couldn't tell you much of the science behind it but it's anti inflammatory properties have helped so much. Still get the occasional flare up but it hardly registers, far from that constant ache that would keep me awake all night.

I'm in my fifties, and I certainly notice that I'm passed out by other cyclists more often than would have previously been the case. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, I do my cycle commute, usually four or five days a week. It's an amazing way to fit exercise into your day, and get something useful from your commute time.

Totally agree!.. I'm one of the few people where I work who does NOT want to WFH on a regular basis, as i would miss my commute too much. I do get passed by other cyclists but I just tell myself they are either on e-bikes or their commute distance is much shorter then mine.

I guess I did not express myself very well. Yes, we cannot fight the aging process but what we can do is try to keep ourselves as healthy as possible so that we can remain mobile and independent as long as possible.

Soccer on Sunday, gravel ride tonight.

18 months from 50.

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

😊