On the MTBR forum there’s a dedicated thread for 50+ riders, and it contains a poll of the members.

Poll for the 50+ age group

Judging by that there’s a 50% attrition rate every 5 years. So once you crack 50, you can expect only half the guys you’re riding with to still be on the bike by 55. And the same to happen every 5 years thereafter.

There are only 4 riders in the 70+ group, which is quite surprising in a world wide forum, because I’m pretty sure there’s quite a few more than that on STW.

But at 75+, none.

(The 80+ has 2 riders but I think both of them are younger trolls – one is for sure, so I’m disregarding that.)

Do they quit MTBs or forums?

and don’t do that. I read the title and thought I wasn’t going to live much beyond my current 47 years 🙁

only 2 of us on the faster club MTB ride last night. I’m 50 in 6 weeks, Chris is 61. The youngsters went on the slower early ride 🙂

Some thoughts;

1) the older you get the less likely you are to answer polls on mtb websites.

2) There were less mtb riders in the older age brackets to start with

3) older people who ride don’t identify themselves as ‘mtbers’ even if they ride bikes off road.

4) It’s such a statistically small sample it has no meaning.

Do they quit MTBs or forums?

^this

One guy I ride with is 59 & he doesn’t know how to text & another is mid 50’s & we have to use his daughters FB wall to let him know when & where the Saturday morning rides are!

conversely I see a lot of older road riders I suppose MAMIL + ( the local cycling clubs ) and some are flipping quick too

And quite possibly old age comes into it. I don’t bounce or recover as fast as I did. My buggered elbows, arthritic hands and occasional back ache put me off falling.
Also maybe its decease us older riders have reached the age where nostalgia sets in and we go back to things from our youth. Motorcycle, and real push bikes etc rather than new sports. 😆

over 55 just been riding off road 3 days in a row with teenage daughter – school hols in Aus’
rode an electric mtb the other week (all the hotel had) and in 10years will think about the help it gave me on the hills when I got lost and decided it weighed too much

facebook tick
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recovery as you get older is an issue and MTB does knock you around a fair bit

only 2 of us on the faster club MTB ride last night. I’m 50 in 6 weeks, Chris is 61. The youngsters went on the slower early ride

And Chris still climbs like a homesick angel!

Mountain biking has only been a popular sport for less than 30 years. There’s plenty of older road riders out there. I suspect we’ll see more and more older Mountain bike riders as time goes by

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
only 2 of us on the faster club MTB ride last night. I’m 50 in 6 weeks, Chris is 61. The youngsters went on the slower early ride

[quote]
And Chris still climbs like a homesick angel![/quote]

^^^^^ aye, he’s no bad for an old duffer 🙂

I took a look at that website, and decided not to stay. Maybe if they ran such a poll on here they’d have a larger response.

ort for less than 30 years. There’s plenty of older road riders out there. I suspect we’ll see more and more older Mountain bike riders as time goes by

This. Plus many older riders have grown up riding road bikes and are more invested in something they have done for a long time. I’ll bet the situation is reversed in 10-20 years.

Huge attrition rate of mtb riders after 50+

As above a poll on a forum is no indicator of what’s really happening. As stated above it’s highly likely older people won’t bother going on forums.

If you could compare attrition rates of over 50’s using mtbr with attrition rates of over 50’s stopping riding I’d imagine there will be a strong correlation. When I’m not at work I very seldom look at the forum, I don’t expect to be at work after 55, so I would be included in the ‘stopped riding’ set as I wouldn’t be using the forum very much.

I’m a year and a bit off 50 and I can’t see me easing off in the next 10 years.

I managed to ride mountain bikes from age 18-34 without really hurting myself, and getting better and faster in fits and starts.

34 – 37, I’ve ended up in hospital 3 times (albeit not for anything that turned out to be properly serious).

The idea of (say) ending up with metal in my bones for the first time at 40-something does not much appeal. I rather suspect that I’ll get a touring bike shortly after the first time I do myself a proper mischief.

🙂

I find, as I get older, that it’s more difficult to motivate myself to get out on the bike, although I believe that I always get something positive out of every ride – if I feel like this at 63 it’s not too hard to imagine that in another two or three years “can’t be arsed-ness” will take over and I’ll not bother to ride bikes and just do more hill walking or more trail building.
Or go back to motor cycle trials maybe?

I’m one of those people who hates these dark, grey, wet, windy days of winter – in Greece, in summer, you couldn’t keep me off the bike and for twenty weeks I rode, cleared trails, rode some more, looked at the world from big mountains and vowed that, when I returned to the grim North, I wouldn’t let all that go. But here, less than a month later, I’m back in the situation where I go out riding not because it’s what I most love doing but because I “should”, because that justifies owning nice bikes and eating cake.
Some people have more dedication than me and maybe I’m not a real “cyclist”, I know that I don’t find that much pleasure in the endless swampfest we have around here at the minute, that’s for certain.

Going out riding in the wind and rain is less appealing if you spend a lot of your working life out in it too, especially at my age…..

Doubt it. Still a lot more road riders than MTBers even in the younger age groups.

Mountain bikes sales are flatlining while road bike sales are soaring. Why? I reckon I’m a typical “born again” cyclist and I’ve lost count of the numbers of other cyclists I know in the same position. I came back to cycling when mountain bikes appeared on the scene in the late 80s and I mountain biked fanatically for 21 years. However like mountaineering, mountain biking often requires a weekend or a full day out and car travel to riding areas. On top of that there’s the filth, the wear and tear and the attrition on clothes and kit. By the time I had done 21 years of it I was losing my mojo and just in time, in my fifties, along came carbon road bikes with easy compact gearing, comfortable smooth-riding frames, broad padded handlebars with compact drops, SIS shifting, great handling and best of all, the ability to ride from the front door and come home an hour or two later feeling absolutely beasted. My fitness has increased from OK to excellent since moving over to the road.

On top of this road cycling has a “lore” and a subtlety that mountain biking doesn’t have and I think a lot of riders in their forties and fifties are attracted to the scene for this reason. The industry panders to the age group by making road cycling glamorous and organising mass events like sportiffs and it’s no coincidence that most participants in the new road cycling are blokes in their forties and fifties, a time of diminishing testosterone and an increasing tendency to gain weight and feel depressed and unfulfilled. Look at shops like Beacon Bikes in Whalley in the moneyed Ribble Valley and you’ll see a smart road bike boutique selling designer gear to well-off blokes in their forties and fifties who’ve got time and cash aplenty. Road cycling certainly gives me structure, excitement, male companionship, excellent fitness, pride in my appearance and the endorphins I need at my age, almost 60. I didn’t play team sports at school so it’s the first time in my life that I have really taken part in a sport competitively and I’m absolutely loving it.

Mountain bikes sales are flatlining while road bike sales are soaring. Why?

Boardman winning the TdF prologue in ’94, Olympic golds for team gb track cycling squad, team sky, couple of TdF winners.

Plenty of older roadies round our way – there is a group I see on Saturday mornings who must range from late 50’s to mid 70’s.

Don’t see so many old MTBers though – most seem to be in the 30’s and 40’s.

I suspect that with all its avatars, signatures and sub forums the annual attrition rate for people using mtbr must be pretty much 50% pa for the over 12s.

I ride mostly during the day and most of the other riders I see look as though they’re over 50, plenty of them on the sort of expensive bike that I imagine is harder to afford or justify when you’re younger. With any physical activity there’s going to be an attrition rate as you get older and injuries accumulate but I’m not convinced it’s any worse with mountain biking than for example football or running.

I feel well over 50. Can I stop now please?

😀

It is indeed true

54 next year and my concentration and co-ordination has decreased steadily since my late 40s. I know how to ride but it’s not involuntary anymore I have to think about it. Quite a weird feeling if you’ve been MTBing for some time I guess it depends what you’re used to.

Having said that people who know me think I’m ‘doing well’ to be able to MTB ‘at my age’ and when I look around they’re probably right

Don’t forget that, as Rio writes above, the injury rate from falls is much higher in mountain biking while road riding is comparatively injury-free and low impact. I didn’t reckon I’d had a good day out on the mountain bike if I hadn’t fallen off a couple of times but I’m happy to say that since taking up road riding I haven’t had a serious crash, probably thanks to the handling skills and surface-awareness I learned as a mountain biker. I’m certainly the most confident descender in my group of buddies.

I’m still waiting for the big “off” where I get my backside skinned…..

Just turned 57 and done more mountain biking this year than ever before.

I thought internet forum usage was in big decline, losing out to FB etc….

handling skills and surface-awareness I learned as a mountain biker

You are Phil Liggett and I claim my £5.

53 in a week.
I have lulls of MTBing and not – never did road cycling when younger, and the MTB started off as a way to get into the hills easier.

Now I still love it, and of the folk I am out with, I’d say many are in a similar age bracket – certainly 40+, most are 48-52. There’s a guy, someone’s dad, who is 72 I think – never let him get ahead of you as he will just turn the pedals all the time til you’re eating dust..

But wester is a factor TBH, injuries (hips, arms, knees, general aches and pains).

What keeps me going as well is seeing some of my peers who are not in best condition, whereas I was the weedy, non-sporting loner at school (they were rugby / football). That gives a certain satisfaction!

I’m still waiting for the big “off” where I get my backside skinned…..

Well now that you’ve actually publicly stated this…

I haven’t had a serious crash, probably thanks to the handling skills and surface-awareness I learned as a mountain biker

I’d say you’re pretty much doomed. Never vocalise it, you fool! 😉

My regular cycling buddies are my pal aged 59 and my son aged almost 17. Both of them have had two bad crashes resulting in time off the bike and repairs to their bikes as well as trips to A&E so I’m thinking that mine, when it happens, will be a big one.

46 here, and not doing as much off road as I used too due to niggling injuries.

Try and make up for it at the mo with road riding/Sustrans type stuff, which I’ve always liked.

Still looking forward to Snowdonia in a few weeks for some proper MTB’ing though.
🙂

Most of our riding friends are mid forties and up – quite a few in their sixties.

handling skills and surface-awareness I learned as a mountain biker

You are Phil Liggett and I claim my £5.

😀 lol

I’m 54 and ride with some hardcore mtbers who are 60,58,57,56 and 44. They all road ride as well and spin etc, so are incredibly fit and would see off most riders half their age.

I on the other hand, shun the dark side and get out once a week on average, backed up by manic cross trainer workouts, which is how I hold my own.

What I would say about crashes is….since I started running my own business I am a LOT more careful on the descents as I just can’t afford to be laid up with broken bones. If you have that fear in your mind, you definitely become less of a ‘downhiller’.

The average age on our night-rides is often 50, as there are two of us who are 50 🙂 Others who join are mainly in their 40’s.

And this weeks night-ride was off-piste at Inners :-), so not really a gentle XC trundle.

The younger crowd don’t seem to be able to motivate themselves, and/or family/work ‘issues’.

After a tumble in the summer and ending up on crutches once again, I was banned by the doctor from mtbing again.
And being on the wrong side of 50 people have said oooh that’s a good thing. NO its not. A couple of years ago I was riding at least 3 times a week and was fairly fit.
I’m gutted and miss mtbing so much. I miss the social side, going out with friends on our weekly night ride, the thrill, being out in the hills, the fresh air and just everything that encompasses our sport.
I wasn’t giving up anytime soon until fate dealt a bad hand 🙁

Take up road riding and you can still enjoy all of that but without the mud and the falls; there’s still the thrill of being miles away from anywhere, self-sufficient and dealing with what Nature throws at you, the social side, the cafes, the pubs and so on. Buy some Cree lights off Eblag and you can extend your riding right into the winter nights. There’s nothing better then being out in the lanes at night and you’ll end up more than “fairly fit” as well.

Mountain biking has only been a popular sport for less than 30 years. There’s plenty of older road riders out there. I suspect we’ll see more and more older Mountain bike riders as time goes by

That’s what I was going to say.

Re injury – just slow down on the descents. If you’re careful it’s not really risky IMO. Take up “gravel” riding if you have to.

I was banned by the doctor from mtbing again.

I’d fight that all the way! A lot of doctors simply want to see you uninjured – find one that understands there’s more to life than simply not breaking bones.

Depending on the doctor, that could just be their standard response.
“It hurts when i do X”
“Don’t do X then”
Doesn’t matter if X is driving rusty nails into the palm of your hand, or opening packets of fruit pastilles.

Get a second opinion.

Waves….55 in a few weeks, still do plenty of miles on mtb, road and ‘gravel’.

We don’t have any gnarly stuff here in sunny Suffolk and an off will either see impact with mud, a tree or roots.

I don’t use my MTB quite as much as I used to because I love cycling (in general) too much, and that includes road, and gravel as well. There just isn’t the time to do it all!

Thanks for advice chaps.

I’m very nervous of road riding. In the past cycling to and from work for five years was a very scary experience.
However as soon as I’m able, the plan is to climb aboard our tandem and start off riding quiet lanes.

There is hope that I may get to ride an mtb again but this will be very easy stuff.