I have always been slightly afraid of these seemingly ultra-fit, no-nonsense, ageing guys on bikes.

You probably know what kind of cyclist these guys are. They pop up by themselves in the forest at unexpected times on ‘bikes from the past’ that still seem to be functional. They are usually keen to chat and talk bikes, then they proceed to ride one’s legs off as they nonchalantly tick off into the distance. Usually they are wiry and fit, with short-cropped grey hair and ancient cycle clothing in that shade of purple from the 90s.

I’ve always had a fearful respect for these elders of our sport.

I suspect that a few of you guys are one and the same – put your hand up!

I need a few pointers though – as age advances on myself and my birthday cake has more candles than anybody can be bothered to light, I need some information on how it’s done. Do you ever cycle off into the distance, look over your shoulder to see if the young-uns are gone and then quietly pass out from the exertion? I suspect not, but this is how I need to do it at the moment.

Lots of riding.

HTH.

define ageing? 😕

Ah, my theory has always been that it coincides with the age that children have grown up and left home – an possibly a talkative wife – and this equals copious riding time and an interest in being out of the house…

Ageing. Erm, no longer a teenager? If we all lived 500 years ago we’d not have long to go after hitting this age.

thats 90% of the users here then.

Hmm, alright, thinking harder, the age that hair starts to go grey? This species of the cycling fraternity all seem to have grey hair.

many here have no hair 😥 where does that place them. 😉

fangin – Member
Ah, my theory has always been that it coincides with the age that children have grown up and left home – an possibly a talkative wife – and this equals copious riding time and an interest in being out of the house…

Ageing. Erm, no longer a teenager? If we all lived 500 years ago we’d not have long to go after hitting this age.

My kids are grown up(I haven’t according to them and MrsT)and left home. Both have 2 kids. One is an electrical engineer with an industrial boiler company and also has a degree in civil/structural eng. The other is a teacher who arrived there via an MA in textile design 😆
My hair is grey and I have been ” off-road” cycling for 35yrs 🙄

😀

Is lack of hair the key to gnarliness? Or the beginning of lack of hair?

A bit like an anti-Sampson effect.

You should do an Audax, SPD jesus creepers aplenty and the friendliest “tough as old boots” people I’ve ever come across.

Trekster – respect! Is your bike over 10 years old and has been through more chains than I’ve had hot breakfasts? I like the bit about growing up less fast than your kids.

old? i’m stuck at 15yrs old. apparently i turned 46 last year……. you only grow old if you stop

My ht is circa 1998.

If you can avoid any serious injuries then endurance fitness stays with you for a long, long time. You undoubtedly lose the potential for top end speed but knocking out the miles really aint a problem if you’ve always done it.

you only grow old if you stop

yup.
Plus,if you stop it’s harder to get going again 🙂

As long as you can stay injury free(which I have,give or take the odd smash)
then age doesn’t need to slow you down that much.
Keep on keepin on 😉

fangin – Member
Trekster – respect! Is your bike over 10 years old and has been through more chains than I’ve had hot breakfasts? I like the bit about growing up less fast than your kids.

I have just upgraded my 2005 Kona Dawg Primo for an RM Altitude 😆
I also have a 2010 Blue Pig, ’96 Bontrager Priv and Y22 😆
My road bike is from the ’02 era, Ti Raliegh.
Both kids have recently become fitness fanatics. Daughter has gone from a complete couch potato to a gym bunny and runs every evening and walks to and from work. Her PE teachers will not believe it if I were to tell them ❗

Son has always been active up until getting married, having kids, doing uni course etc. previously into sculling, biking, climbing, scouts and DofE. Now into Total Warrior training but has had a bit of a health scare and been to sent to see a heart specialist!! Appointment yesterday and awaiting results…..
My last ride; https://www.strava.com/activities/255488520

Not sure the gnarly part fits, but I’m 72, been riding MTB 24 years and still riding a couple days a week most of the time. I have to admit I am slowing down and being much more careful as I have noticed my balance has gotten a bit sketchy the past year or so. However will still keep cranking away, even if it isn’t on the tough stuff anymore.

I’m sure if we’d found 40-odd candles to put on the cake last time we definitely would have lit them! 😆

Have a look at the 500 mile a month challenge I’m no 8 at 52, Ton is no.3 and also in his 50’s (apologies if that’s wrong Ton). It looks like March may take a hit due to a work trip abroad and a biopsy.
I think Feist of this parish nearly broke a couple of years ago when we went head to head over the most miles off-road challenge, he won by 6 or so. I have a load of time and not much money (son finishing nursing course this year) so cycling and marital fun are all that are left to me. With luck and a following wind I’ll still be churning out miles into my 60’s and 70’s.
Powered by coffee, cake and malt loaf.

thats 90% of the users here then.

It’s a few for sure. I’d say 1%.

busydog – Member
Not sure the gnarly part fits, but I’m 72, been riding MTB 24 years and still riding a couple days a week most of the time. I have to admit I am slowing down and being much more careful as I have noticed my balance has gotten a bit sketchy the past year or so. However will still keep cranking away, even if it isn’t on the tough stuff anymore.

*salutes* *doffs cap*

There is an old fella that I see most times I am out for a ride.

He is on a Tesco special, has possibly 18 gears, of which I suspect one works.

I see him going up the first hill outside the house – a 400m long climb, I see him coming down it, I see him at the national park entrance, 19 km up the road, I see him heading back from the park entrance.

I know the bike is his main mode of transport, he is late 60s, skin like leather, always in long sleeves, even in the heat and humidity. He is never breaking a sweat, never going very fast anywhere,

I know he covers 10x the km I do every week just getting around.

Like this?

Always used to be older ravers as well at all the drum n bass nights I went to as a 20 year old.

A ten year break and the last time we went back, they were still there, raving away.

There is a local man to coed y brenin who must be in his 60s.
We watched him come down the beast trail with vigour on a 1980s steel rigid. He was wearing a wool jumper, jeans and no helmet.
He was fast, confident and friendly. He did literally live on the trail though. Looked like shit but powered past us up the hill after chatting.

Not sure the gnarly part fits, but I’m 72, been riding MTB 24 years and still riding a couple days a week most of the time. I have to admit I am slowing down and being much more careful as I have noticed my balance has gotten a bit sketchy the past year or so. However will still keep cranking away, even if it isn’t on the tough stuff anymore.

Respect! 😀

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/overend-wins-first-ever-us-fat-bike-championship

Dibbs to the forum please!

Except for the fact that he’s always on the latest kit the OPs description is perfect 😉

Dibbs was one the people I can thank for getting me into MTBing as a kid and I’m proud to say both myself and him are still doing it now over twenty years later.
That’s not bad considering Dibbs was at least 70 years old even back then 😉

I remember those sort of guys well. When I was a lad in the 1960s out and about in the middle of nowhere in the Highlands, I’d come across them all the time on the road and up mountains on what we now call singletrack, almost all on fixed.

One sticks in my mind. I think of him as WW1 Man. Riding fixed on a weather beaten Flying Scot on tubs puffing on a short pipe with a cover hanging out the side of his month. Like me he was camping. What really impressed me was his camping gear consisted of a tiny saddlebag with a blanket tightly rolled up in a neat oilskin groundsheet on top of the saddlebag. It was a few days after my 17th birthday and that’s how it came about I knew he was in WW1, because he told me at my age he was fighting in Loos. (He commented on my shiny blue anodised bell – a birthday present). That put him close to 70.

Anyhow after riding along and a brief chat, he powered off and left me in his dust.

When you think what they went through in the trenches, it’s no wonder they seemed so oblivious to a bit of discomfort when camping.

I wonder where all those old guys have gone, because now when I’m out, all I see is young fellows.

Even more so on the road. Some of the old guys at our club are pretty bloody impressive (I’m in my 40’s so I’m talking about guys in their 70’s here!) Some still time trial and are impressively quick. Others just do social rides and, whilst not so quick these days, you get the impression they could ride at that pace for days on end!

Go back thirty years and most men were in physical jobs not sat on their backsides typing.

There’s a neighbour of a friend who knocked down an old brick garage by his house and transported it brick by brick by lump of concrete to the council skip five miles away, on his bike. This guy will have been about 60 at the time.

+1 about the road: went out on the club fast ride a couple of years ago and this little old fellow turned up. I thought: “at least I’ll have someone to chat to at the back”, no such luck, come the first hill he was off like a rat up a drainpipe. 70 miles later he was still going strong.

I think I might be becoming one of those guys. I am in fast approaching 50, as fit as I have ever been and seem to fly past young uns on the climbs, just like I remember being passed by old blokes when I was young.

My road bike I think has a big part to play in this as it lets me get out and ride way more than if I just rode MTB at the weekends.

Snowboarding last year, I remarked to my mate that I was looking forward to being one those gnarled old dudes that still rides, he replied that I already look like that to the kids…

Bring it on, I’m 44, grey and balding, need specs to ride but I’m fitter than I was 10 years ago and my bike is one of those ancient 26″ Nukeproof Mega’s 😉

It’s great to see the really old guys out and about, friend of mine will be 80 this year and in his youth… well mid 40’s used to do ultra marathon type events, he’s easy to spot out on the bike as he has a cadence of about 2rpm and legs like a knotted old peice of mahogany.