TBH, I’ve found being nervous on the road tends to make things worse than they actually are. You make bad line choices and mistakes in all sorts of other places. Braking, gear choice, road positioning.
All because of this overriding fear of the road.

Don’t we do less of everything as we get older?

Apart from aching (potentially preventing us riding), and whinging.

Hang on a minute, not riding bikes, whinging a lot – that’s most STW users!

This poll means nuthin.

When I started riding my neighbour was 58 vs my 43, he was much fitter than me and of course with better technique on the Surrey Hills trails.

Now he has quit at the age of 65 mainly as he broke his collar bone skiing and decided the risk of injury was too great. Recovery from even a simple fall can be quite lengthy once you get older. He still rides a big fast sports bike though. I do think its the risk of a fall which sees people leave MTB and move into road cycling, also perhaps less vibration.

65 year old dodderer still riding three times a week.(mainly in Surrey Hills)
Age UK Surrey “sponsor” a range of MTB rides for over 50s on average four times a week midweek. This autumn we had quite a few rides of over 30 people. This is obviously mainly retired folks with ages up to 80!! there is still alot of older riders about, just riding less with younger people and able to take breaks where necessary. Anyone interested will find details on Surrey Age UK website with a three month ride calendar.

57 heading to 58 and manage to ride most days MTB or road. I think road is the most scary, MTB quiet peaceful just you and trail

Injury is the most common problem. Any minor injury you might have shrugged off when your younger means days weeks of recovery. Gym, good diet and rest can help to stave off problems.

Had a good day at Bike Park Wales yesterday :-D. Finished at 15:00 an hour early. No point in risking it when your tired and the lights failing. Live to ride another day.

My one tip for the older ladies and gentlemen is increase your rest and recovery. One for the youngsters, if you have a poor life style now you wont be riding when your my age ;-D Its about maintaining fitness throughout your life.

Its perfectly possible that people ride less as they get older, the MENE demographic stuff also shows that road riding is more popular than MTB over 55.

of course its perfectly possible that many of the the ‘over 55’s’ often never got hit by the first boom in mountain biking, so just never got into it – They would have been born pre ’65, meaning that they would have already have discovered girls by the time BMX arrived, and cars/houses/families by the time MTB’s were getting popular.

I know a fair few over 50’s some in their seventies that ride off road.
I just don’t think they see themselves as MTB’ers.
Whilst a good few ride their MTB’s all year round, most I know see them as a winter use bike.
Whilst I’ve gone back to my road roots, I still get the MTB out every week for a good and fast ride.

Turned 50 this year and been riding since my teens. Got my first MTB in 1990 but couldn’t get on the with “too cool for skool” attitude from some riders that still pervades today – lots of needless attitude about what bike you ride, yadda-yadda, not helped by bike companies who have confused the market with multiple bike types, changing standards which is off-putting to new entrants. I was still racing throughout my 40s, both road and CX but like a typical UK sportive the fields have gone up and the quality of riding gone the other way – I’ll happily hit the road and ride hard with friends but see too many bad riders in races – serious accidents waiting to happen. Plus-size and fat bikes have attracted me back to MTB and providing a sense of adventure – the opportunity to ride places a normal MTB can’t. Off to Rovaniemi in 9 weeks and will keep looking out for more ‘epic’ challenges whilst health and fitness permits.

If you look at XC racing fields its pretty much the same, the vets category 40-49 is still popular but the Grand Vets 50-59 fields are far smaller. Hard to believe these guys just stop riding though.

66 here and still riding. Only took up cycling (mtb only) at 40. I think your fitness level is harder to maintain when you pass, say, early sixties. I ride with a great bunch of guys from 20 to about 50yrs and now struggle to keep up. They are patient but tbh the time has come for me to find my own level; not just fitness but coping with reduced technical confidence, reaction times and that general feeling of anxiety that creeps in over time. I still intend to enjoy off road but at a pace and level dictated by me. This will certainly not mean just fire road bashing! Have never really considered road riding as personally I believe the risk from stupid vehicle drivers to be greater than off road. I know many will not agree with this but it’s just my perception.

Over 50s don’t bounce – at least not as well as their minds and mistakes require!

ninfan – Member
…of course its perfectly possible that many of the the ‘over 55’s’ often never got hit by the first boom in mountain biking, so just never got into it – They would have been born pre ’65, meaning that they would have already have discovered girls by the time BMX arrived

But we were already riding in the mountains on our dropbar bikes. Not doing jumps or such like – quickest way to fold a frame or wreck a wheelset on those days. My recollection is that most of us eagerly jumped on the mtb bandwagon because at last there was a bike for what we were doing. (I still ride as if my bike will collapse if I get its wheels off the ground – old habits are hard to shake 🙂 )

The query about whether the older riders are likely to be using computers may have been true about 10 years ago, but current 70-75 year olds are the generation who brought us the personal computer, and almost everyone I know is online and active in social media.

Dog Ears – Member
…I think your fitness level is harder to maintain when you pass, say, early sixties. I ride with a great bunch of guys from 20 to about 50yrs and now struggle to keep up. They are patient but tbh the time has come for me to find my own level; not just fitness but coping with reduced technical confidence, reaction times and that general feeling of anxiety that creeps in over time…

As a 70+, I agree with that. As I put it I have to train hard to remain as crap as I was last year. Loss of puff, and noticeably slower reactions make technical stuff harder. I’m now reverting to the RSF style riding of my younger days so I’m still enjoying riding, but I avoid group rides because I just don’t like holding people up.

I’ve got the ‘Puffer in a few weeks, and for the first time I’m dreading it. Maybe it’s time to fit some gears. 🙂

There are way more niches these days. This year I spent more time on the vintage bikes which I didn’t own last year. Did L’Eroica. Next year I expect to spend more time on the gravel bike which I just bought and planning WC2C next summer. 55 in 2 weeks BTW. So many niches, so little time.

Epic, even pre drop bars. As a kid I rode jumps and bomb holes better than I do now on a basic Raleigh three speed. Went everywhere on the same bike.

What Sturmey Archer for wet trails, we didn’t ask….as for carrying spares, food, drink , mobiles (what???). How did we cope?

I’m the junior @50 on our Wednesday evening MTB ride by 25 years in one case!
He might take a bit to warm up but after 2 hrs he’s going like a train, he still rides pretty much every day as well.

He has had more injury’s from skiing in the last 10 years despite a few big offs on the bike in the same time.
His 63 year old girl friend is also a bit of a “just ride it” sort of mountain biker.

Just turned 73 and still on the MTB after 25 years, albeit much more selective about the trails I ride, certainly slower and I only ride a couple times a week now. Still feel safer on a technical single-track than I ever have riding on the road (TBH, the only time I ride on the road is to get to a trail)

I think MTB is quite an easy sport to ‘fall out of’, and I’ll bet as you grow older there are more and more opportunities to ‘fall out of it’.

After an unfortunate combination of injuries and stolen bikes I kind of fell out of mountainbiking (while living on Vancouver’s North Shore of all places… 😥 ) and never really felt the urge to get back into it, road cycling and hillwalking filled the gap quite nicely, at less expense and complication, and provided a lot of adventures and epics that wouldn’t have been possible or enjoyable on an MTB.

Perhaps I had genuinely just had enough of it though, I had been obsessive from the age of about 10 to the age of about 25… 😳

They would have been born pre ’65, meaning that they would have already have discovered girls by the time BMX arrived

We also rode 50mph mopeds and 250’s on L plates, cycles were for kids.

I rode everywhere (lived in a very flat area, where everyone cycled, even my Mum did to work) as a kid, but as soon as I hit 16 it was a moped and then at 17 a 250 (and then a car). Didn’t ride a cycle until 40 when it was getting too dangerous racing (m/c’s) on the road, and bought an MTB.

53 next year ; ride every day when I’m off ( half the month) Just bought a new bike , going faster downhill than ever before . Came to realise that I’ve already lived 3 years longer than my late father and that there is only one life so live it !

Just about to be 55. Did the road thing as a teenager. Have a Giant Defy in the shed, but the road scares me. Being in the woods, or on a hilltop ridge like the Quantocks, gives me a peace I find nowhere else. I only started this MTB shit to stay fit for skiing, but I feel bad if I go a week off the bike. I’ve had a few too many CT scans, and am dialling it down now. I think I can pootle now in the woods with my partner till I can’t get any more 26″ tyres.

50 yrs old in 3 months, ridden since 1991, long litergy of back and neck plus knee problems from rugby and general idiocy as a young man, so my MTB is hit and miss over the year, I agree with the comments re road riding … I feel more safe off road than on and whilst I do ride to get to the trails it is not something I enjoy but see the draw of the history the climbing and ‘glamour’ but the sportive side of it while I salute it what I saw on my ventures into that world on a 29er was some accidents waiting to happen and did due to lack of skill and ‘macho’ attitude….it is a sportive not a race guys. MTB world well for me never enduro’ d unlikley to all too much organisation ….. And all the races of 24 seem too much but fascinate me…..so I will keep going g as fast as I can for as long as I can….my times are the same or better than 10 years ago …. When I train I recover well but the longer I rest the more my joints stiffen up, so listen to your body plus 50 plus is not the same as it was when I was growing up…I cannot think of many people still playing sport in their mid third or early forties,thiose who did were rarities.
and as a old man once said to me
You are a long time dead, do something.

50 in six months. Still riding. Tbh if depends what I’m doing work wise and I’ve become more nesh as I’ve got older, so not out in bad weather. Planning to do a bit of work life rebalancing soon so be out a lot more this summer

huge irritation rate of stw posters after 50+ ?

Wow, this thread really brought us oldies out of the woodwork didn’t it!

I guess that whether or not you make the move to road riding depends where you live. I can quite see that somebody living in a city would prefer to stay off road but for somebody who lives on the edge of open country, stunning scenery and empty roads are there, right from the front door and road cycling looks a lot more attractive. Having a comparable cycling buddy of similar age, fitness and interests also helps to motivate you to get out and in this repect I’m lucky. Between us my buddy and I have found ways of extending the road riding, by using LED lights to extend the Wednesday evening hooligan ride (one hour of balls-out riding) into Autumn and Spring and even going to the Cycle Sport Pendle track at Nelson on days when it’s icy or just unpleasant; you can belt around competitively for an hour and get a really good session of CV training without needing to worry about traffic or potholes and without the sweat and boredom of a trainer.

My over 50’s cat in cyclocross is now (often) bigger than the V40’s.

People just give up stuff when they get old, especially physical stuff.

Just short of 69 and still mtbing. Mainly Yorkshire Dales or North York Moors. Never quite got into road riding living in a big northern city but lots of off road stuff within easy reach.

Back sufferer for many years which has curtailed regular cycling over the last few years somewhat. However, I’m still a big hill walker & do this more than cycling. Usually ride with people in their 40,50s & 60s.

I live in Ribble valley and yes ride to the trails from the house but am still not happy road user especially with the VW bike laden van rushing to gisburn unaware of riders or the Sunday 4×4 driver….. Cross trainning is also a change in people dropping out of MTB to some degree more sports more opportunities and less time…see cyclo cross above big increase in numbers

Oh and a bit agesist re older people and use of technology…

Just turned 54. I live at the base of the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire so there’s mountain biking on the doorstep and Brechfa is less than an hour away. I enjoy road riding too and we’re lucky here as there are plenty of quiet lanes to ride which don’t require lots of A/B road miles but I prefer to be off road as I like the feeling of being away from the masses.

I’m not megafit, fast or technically particularly competent but I’m regularly well into the top half of the strava leader boards for my local segments so I can’t complain.

My body is beginning to hurt more now but usually when I’ve not been exercising rather than when I have.

Age does take its toll, but I think the mental element of it is much greater than people realise. In my head I’m still 21. I’m not going to let a number stop me doing what I enjoy. There’s too many people younger than me that are old before their time.

Unlike some, I don’t aspire to a life of leiure that consists of suduko, researching my family history and watching junk on tv. I’m going out on the bike and if it kills me so be it. I’ don’t want to die with my teeth in a jar and smelling of my own p*ss.

Rich.