Happy new year and I hope that you missed the dreaded lurgy over the festive period. So another year over, another year older and depending upon which side of 30 you are, you may be thinking that you are getting faster or getting slower as the years tick by! Some interesting thoughts regarding age and performance.. being a keen time trial cyclist, i have taken several beating by guys aged close to 60 and recall not too long ago Roger Iddles being the first man to break 20 minutes for 10 miles.. aged 61 (that's over 30mph average..). Take a look at the British Best All Rounder TT competition, dominated by vets.. now I know that TT events are generally ridden by older gentlemen (sorry chaps) but let's not take away credit for how fast they go. By comparison, as a keen runner, I have never been beaten by a 60 year old.. never close. So why in cycling and not running? Maybe as tendons lose elasticity we lose bounce which is more important for run than cycle performance and I have noticed that older runners are a little flatter of foot and less 'springy'. Vo2 max decreases with age and as both cycling and running are 'aerobic' sports you would think that age influences both at the same rate. I have also noticed that older cyclists push large gears, this has been shown to result in lower oxygen consumption and HR which may offset the drop in aerobic efficiency. I have no real answer and I am in fact rambling.. however, it does feel good to be beaten by a vet60, a kind of reassurance that things don't go downhill as rapidly as everyone would have you think.. ride on and ride long!
Here endeth theenduranceblog..
(picture taken on Altura MTB trail at Whinlatter Forest with coach Paul and roadman Steve Burnett, above the clouds during temperature inversion..)
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