Ned has some good tips here:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbQ_smkbH5U[/video]

I’ve noticed that rule 3 in particular applies – I can’t have a couple of months off over Christmas now I’m 40 without facing an uphill battle to get back to my racing weight.

But 40 yr old me would have beaten 20 yr old me over a long distance. Maybe not in a sprint.

This has been my experience and I recommend older athlete’s read this:

How Aging Athletes Can Get Faster (Yes It’s Possible)

I’d say that apart from weight the key points have been:

good diet, high protein
high intensity work outs (turbo, road hills)
rest and recovery with some periodization and adaptive time
practice skills for MTB riders

Warning signs for the older athlete? Simple, over training and lack of recovery. You keep going out and your not at your best results in junk miles.

I’m be 65 in a few weeks and I’m probably riding as well, or better, now than at any time in the last twenty years. I’m certainly a lot better technical rider, partly because the bikes that I ride now are more suited to that and partly because I’ve kind of singled that out as something that I want to do as well as I possibly can.
I like to climb but, as I don’t race now, (or give a toss about Strava) I get my satisfaction from being able to clean difficult stuff that will see a lot of people pushing, rather than absolute speed.

I’m just an old ex-m/cycle trials rider – I never really think of myself as a proper cyclist, just someone who likes riding off-road and in places that I couldn’t get away with anymore on a trials bike.

Based on my experience of riding in a similar pattern and similar distances over the last 10+ years I have got slightly slower since 45.

Not sure how fast I was before that as didn’t record it.

I have never trained/started training so that doesn’t skew the data.

my understanding is that you do peak in late twenties, early thirties but as I imagine most of the people here have never hit their peak performance or generally anywhere near then you are still able to gain improvements in your own performance into your later years.

This is especially true of more endurance sports with less explosive power.

@ajf – true but then cycling wasn’t my main sport until I was over 50. I did cycle mainly commuting and occasional weekend rides but mostly I was out climbing.

For the majority of riders I think age is less important and fitness is simply a result of time/effort put in.

This.

Beware the guys who took early(ish) retirment and train full time(ish). They’re gettign faster and doing some crazy long/ fast rides into their late 50s/ 60s.

When I started at 26 I was pretty fit but lacked skill and experience. I’m now 43 and lack that level of fitness, but I’m substantially more experienced and skillful, even compared to 4 years ago.

My 26 year old self is only likely to out pace me on non technical climbs.

It’s moot really, I ride for shits and giggles rather than competition.

My times have remained pretty much the same over the years, I may have been a bit quicker five or so years ago when I was running and taking PT sessions two or three times a week. These days I do yoga alongside mountain biking which I don’t believe trains the body for speed particularly well. Anyway, I just took a look at my lap time for the Cafall trail at Cwmcarn and I’m in the top 10% of all riders, so not doing too bad still at 48yrs old this year.

My Current Place
523 / 5968
My Best Time
1:15:28

just seen that time was two yrs ago so would have been 46 then.

Some interesting responses here!

For the avoidance of doubt – speed is not the only thing that is important, but with the ease of measuring rides / segments etc this is as much about expectation setting as a thirst for knowledge

Seems my speediest days may be yet to come! (With a little reading and application)

I think as an adult amateur cyclist with a typical life, you get 2 opportunities to be fast: before kids and after they’ve passed 15 or so, i.e. when you have the time to do more. Course, if you’ve no kids, or a very understanding spouse, …

I pissed away my “before kids” opportunity but at 52 I’m doing more riding now than ever and I’ve also lost weight due to being put on the diabetic naughty-step (no more pudding for me 🙁 )

Reckon I could kick my younger self’s arse pretty much anywhere except maybe in a very short sprint