How old are you? Or really how long can I keep MTBing as long as I'm fit?

62. I go out once or twice a week, but more often on my own as I’m slower than the guys I used to cycle with although they are all of similar age.
I’ve just gone from rigid to hardtail SS as my wrists were hurting after a ride.
I’d really like to improve my skills, though. I’m no good at dropoffs etc and I can’t wheelie.

42 here, and probably the fittest I’ve ever been (still crap though)
I see many old roadies (and MTBers) around where I ride, so hoping that I’ve got decades left in me. (seriously, some of them look really old – well into their 80s)

I got talking to a group of retired guys out for a road ride last summer, they told me the road riding kept them fit for MTB riding!

I’m only 50, so not really qualified to take part in this discussion 🙂 I’ve been riding a bike of one sort or another since I was 5 and can’t see any reason why I’d stop. I have given up crashing though. Mind you, I was never very good at it.

40 and improving all the time. What I want to know is when will I stop being able to get better? I’m doing bigger gaps, higher drops than ever and am constantly trying to go bigger. How long have I got before I’m maxxed out and have to start winding it in?!

Same.

43 and still pushing the envelope. It’s not a padded one yet… 😆

I’m 50 and didn’t start cycling until I was 40.

Finding that over the last year or so I’ve lost my ‘edge’, from a fitness perspective – still riding as many times but just can’t do the double-days etc.

Got better technically though, did the EWS Golfie stages on Sunday for example.

They’re all wrong. I’ve pretty much given up riding my bike now I’m 45. The start of the downslope was when I was 41 and learned to ride a unicycle…

He reckons he’ll still be riding his bike when he’s 60 odd

I’m only 32 but..

It’s the sinewy 60+ buggers you have to watch out for, they might not be as fast in terms of top speed, but they will ride your legs off over the course of a day given half a chance!

Know a fair few roadies in their late 60s, and a few in early 70s who still ride centuries regularly, less into MTB, but still know a couple of guys in their mid to late 60s who love a bit of dirt 🙂

At a local enduro I did last year there was a guy competing who was 78. He came last, but not by much and rode everything on the course.

49 here and riding 3 or 4 times a week. Last year or so has been difficult, initially with a couple of bad hospitalising crashes, then prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery end of last year. Ridden last 3 days though after a week off bike and feeling it !!!!

40 and improving all the time. What I want to know is when will I stop being able to get better? I’m doing bigger gaps, higher drops than ever and am constantly trying to go bigger. How long have I got before I’m maxxed out and have to start winding it in?!

Well of course if varies a lot (see this for an interesting take on how ageing varies across people) but for me I think I peaked at 50, and am about 10% off my best now at 52.

still riding twice a week minimum at 60 and see no reason to stop, I’ve never been quick and I’m not the best [ by a long chalk ] technically but I love to ride and will happily play out all day .

I’m 52, the “lad” I ride with is 59 so I have to keep going at least as long as him. I hardly saw him in the Alps a couple of weeks ago as he was so much quicker than me!

The older I get, the better I was… (as they say)

I think the most important thing, to keep improving, is never to have been any good when younger. One must never admit this.

(I may even be half serious – certainly in many sports it’s often the best athletes/pros who, having performed at the highest level, give it up completely when past their peak. Me, I don’t have this problem.)

Anyway, I’m 52 ffs, and take heart from this thread that I can think of another 10 years at my current sort of level. I’m pretty fit and enthusiastic but could probably benefit from a skills course to maintain a notion of upward trajectory… (Any old feckers done this?)

I’m 50 and riding as well if not better than 10 years ago. I take less risks now so that I can ride twice a week plus once with my 11 year old son. I still enjoy it and even on a bad day I’m happier on the bike than sitting at home!

Main issues are injuries which just take a very long time to fix, I’ve started to realise that gentle recovery rides when injured are better than riding through the pain!

I’m 55.

I race in the LVRC. And during a circuit race or crit you can see the ageing process in action. There are three races 40-49 50-59 and 60 plus.
I get lapped by the 40 plus group round about the same time I/we lap the 60 plus group.
I notice how slow my climbing has become, even compared to new young riders. Even if I say so myself that my riding is far superior. Technically I don’t feel I’ve lost a thing.

It really is an individual thing – how you cope with injuries, if you stay clear of joint problems etc. I maybe have the wrong build to go on as long as I want, always been stocky build so now I am 53 it means a battle against weight. It’s the wiry, sinewy types who go on the longest.

Did the Bowderdale classic trail on Thursday, pretty tough going all natural single track up and down, one of the lads was 71 and did it all. At the back fair play but we never had to wait more than a minute or so for him, he’s that type too – looks skinny as a rake but is as tough as old boots.

I discovered MTB last Autumn aged 61. I’m completely hooked and I’m on the bike everyday even if it’s just an hour practicing manuals and bunny-hops in the park. I’m fitter than I have been for 20 years.

I eventually passed two old ladies on tandem trike this morning. They cornered side car style. I’d guess they were in their 80 s but that could well be an underestimate!

@johnx2 I went on a skills course with Ed Oxley (Great Rock). I found it very useful. You do need to do lots (and lots) of practice afterwards though to drill home what you’ve been shown.

Some people have come away saying they’ve learnt nothing but that is more likely to be a mismatch between teacher and pupil, not everyone gets on with every teacher.

48 and out on the mountain 2-3 times a week. Broke my collarbone with a fast downhill OTB in the rocks 6 weeks back. Was back on the bike in less than 3 weeks (carefully) and doing some cheeky FOD DH trails last weekend. Off to the Alps in 3 weeks and have another MTB Orienteering event the week before. Many of the MTB orienteering lads are in the 45-65 age category, and I seem to remember when I did the Brecon Beast a couple of years back over half the field were in the over 40 age class.

Life in this old dog yet, for many years to come I hope.

Me: 40 and (pretty much) as fast as ever; I rode the Transrockies last year and the Taiwan KOM the year before that.

My father is 69 and completed the Strathpuffer in a team of four last year; he is still zooming around his local woods and planning a coast-to-coast to celebrate his 70th this year.
So there’s plenty of years of riding left!

My dad still rides at 75. He claims to be getting slower but I checked strava (where he’s been riding with me). He’s not.

From my experience if you’re still riding at forty plus without issue you tend to go on and on, assuming you avoid injury and remain in good health.

How many here though have to work a little harder away from the riding? My diet is a little stricter than ever before. I take it easy with booze and avoid ill people. Plus a little amount of weight training helps.

@oldgit – yes, it’s running (at an ever increasing pace) to stand still.

turned 38 earlier this year. been riding mountain bikes since i was 13 and i’m not planning on stopping any time soon. i’ll keep going as long as my body will allow me to. plus got 3 kids…the eldest is starting to get into it and i’m sure the other 2 will follow once they’re old enough
i’ve ridden pretty much everything from xc to dh…but nowadays its mostly enduro/all mountain/trail riding has the appeal for me right now. too lazy to ride up hills nowadays so i prefer riding at venues where there are uplifts.
eventually will get another dh bike so i can get really gnarly!
someone’s got to show the young ones how its done! 😀

my eldest brother mentioned to me about 2 months ago that he felt that i should give up riding bikes…i just had to laugh at him and say no!!

Kevin is 58 and still enjoys every minute of it since he got his first Marin in 1987. We are off next week for a three and a half weeks Alps trip, Verbier, Pila and Finale. We will be riding most days. Cant see him giving up.

My friend is in her 60’s and still does plenty of xc, and all the most technical riding in Bingley, Cottingley, etc, Alpine riding and regularly shames girls in their teens and twenties when it comes to downhill and enduro.

apart from a damaged knee that is not getting any better she is still fitter than me and just as prepared to launch off anything reasonable 😉 Not 20 foot gaps etc,
But now she is riding motorbike enduro and getting better at that, I think a Rally beckons next

58 here. Got in to road cycling when I was about 47, had my best season at 50 and swapped to MTB XC racing, hoovered up Vet & Super Vet titles for a couple of years. I’ve fallen out of love with the road bike bike but love my Spesh Enduro and the Scott Scale XC. Can’t see me stopping until I cant get my leg over or see well enough to miss the trees. Dinghy racing is my other passion – my wife continually frets about whether I’m drowning or crashing. I’ll agree with all those who say you take longer to recover/mend. I seem to ache 24/7 these days
🙂 (I come from a background of Climbing, Scuba Diving & Competitive Rowing with my fair share of injuries….)

I’m 48 now and starting to consider if it’s time I should sell the Patriot… and buy a Demo 8 or LV601 instead 😛

and the upside of turning 50 soon is that I’ll hopefully be higher placed in my age-group at the Mega.

One of my riding buddies’ dad still rides with us on occasion. He’s at least 75 now I think and still doing high mountain all-day rides. He just sets off a couple of hours before us… and quite often we don’t catch him!

will turn 40 in two weeks time but ride as much MTB and road as ever, smashed a 112 mile sportive on sunday, knees a bit sore but loved every minute. Will probably move more toward road cycling as the years fly by, as I cant be arsed driving miles to trail centres

i,m 54, 2 months ago was in hospital, in the critical ward with big blood clots too both lungs and one in my leg, last summer i was averaging over 100 miles a week, these last two months im gradually getting my fittness back, doing round about 70 miles ish a week at the moment, but these are very much slower miles these days, as ive been told not to stress my heart too much, so everytime i start to get out of breath i take a rest, there was a guy who was cycling around cardiff barrage last year who was over 90, havnt seen him for a while though, cant see me lasting that long.

I’m 47, been riding proper MTBs since I was 30.

Through 2013/14 I went through a pretty significant episode with cancer – my Macmillan nurses encouraged me to ride as much as I could manage for as long as I could (either side of five operations in the neck / throat and a six-week spell of radiotherapy); then they told me to get back out on the bike as soon as I could.
My return to the great outdoors was not pretty – but it was critical to wellbeing, both physical and mental recovery. Finished Rad-treatment end of April, rode Mayhem mid-June (’14) – coming in from lap-1 was fairly emotional, finishing the event with a bunch of mates was priceless.
The bike for me, and no doubt many others is more than just a past-time.
Hope to be riding for many years to come.

62. Blast along the Ridgeway and up and down the ways to get there. Love Swinley. About to try a Santa Cruz 5010 CC to go alongside my Trigger

Commute a minimum of 10 a day but like the 20mile hilly route in.

^^^ grtdkad inspiring stuff. Cancer at our age sucks, but it seems selfish to say so ! Hope you’ve kicked it into the long grass !

I’m 55, I’ve slowed down over the last few years, and as above, I know I won’t mend as quickly as I used to.
I’m still enjoying it, though.

I was 58 in May and managed to improve one of my Strava KOM’s this week. I haven’t been riding my MTB’s offroad as much lately but I’ve been riding my CX more.
I’m looking to retire ASAP so that I can ride more.

I ride at Chicksands Bike Park, and local gent Paul Mounsey is 68 (possibly 69 by now) and rides 4x nationals and BMX.

You don’t stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing.

24 now and hope to be doing it for the next 40-50 years

steviecapt – Member
…i,m 54, 2 months ago was in hospital, in the critical ward with big blood clots too both lungs and one in my leg,…

Don’t worry mate, I was in the same position. Both lungs, blacking out, critical etc.
6 weeks later I did the ‘Puffer solo (not very well though).

I did ask the doc if it was ok to do a bit of cycling…

Blood thinners are magic*, and the NHS is brilliant. 🙂

*Just don’t fall off.