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Age Profile - Tough Century Ride

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Age Profile - Tough Century Ride

Old 10-08-19, 07:35 PM
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Age Profile - Tough Century Ride

I was looking at the Six Gap Century (www.6gap.com) results today and counted the 'adult' participants

Format is Age - # of participants (total was 1969)

74 - 1
73 - 0
72 - 0
71 - 0
70 - 3
69 - 8 (good year for 69 year olds - this includes me)
68 - 4
67 - 7
66 - 7
65 - 10
64 - 16
63 - 16
62 - 21
60 - 24
59 - 25
58 - 21
57 - 31
56 - 35
55 - 39

FWIW.

dave
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Old 10-09-19, 12:04 AM
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Only one 74 year old finished. That person is the winner. I’m 51 can ride 100 miles anytime but at 74 I don’t know.
Lower fifties seem to have a good completion rate. The fast decline in the event with the increases in age seems discouraging. But motivational
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Old 10-09-19, 06:18 AM
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The 12/24 Hour Bike Sebring next February has as of now 1 - 69yo gentleman from FL. registered for the 24Hr. RAAM ride. I believe the qualifying mileage is 360 miles.

I have a room reservation at the Seven Sebring Raceway Track Hotel for the event and will wait for weather and body conditions to register. Last time my right knee gave out the night before and it made for a very difficult ride during my RAAM Qualifying attempt. If things go well I'll be in the 70yo age bracket ---- providing I live that long.

Come and join in you-all ----

https://www.bikesebring.org/
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Old 10-09-19, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by DaveLeeNC
I was looking at the Six Gap Century (www.6gap.com) results today and counted the 'adult' participants

Format is Age - # of participants (total was 1969)

74 - 1
73 - 0
72 - 0
71 - 0
70 - 3
69 - 8 (good year for 69 year olds - this includes me)
68 - 4
67 - 7
66 - 7
65 - 10
64 - 16
63 - 16
62 - 21
60 - 24
59 - 25
58 - 21
57 - 31
56 - 35
55 - 39

FWIW.

dave
I have updated this to show both starters and finishers where (for example) 12/9 means 12 started and 9 finished. Overall the finish rate was 82%.

dave

ps. Sorry ladies - this was just the "Men - 55+ age group". And there were some very strong female riders out there.

74 - 1/1
73 - 0
72 - 0
71 - 0
70 - 3/3
69 - 8/7 (good year for 69 year olds - this includes me)
68 - 4/3
67 - 7/5
66 - 7/6
65 - 10/5
64 - 16/15
63 - 16/14
62 - 21/15
61 - 14/11
60 - 24/21
59 - 25/19
58 - 21/17
57 - 31/23
56 - 35/28
55 - 39/35

Last edited by DaveLeeNC; 10-09-19 at 06:30 AM.
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Old 10-09-19, 06:52 AM
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Originally Posted by DaveLeeNC
SNIP

ps. Sorry ladies - this was just the "Men - 55+ age group". And there were some very strong female riders out there.

SNIP
Just to give recognition where recognition is due, Kimberly Nelson (age 62) completed this in 6:09. Like I said, there were some strong female riders out there. Kimberly has a reasonably rich racing history online

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Old 10-09-19, 11:08 AM
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I always enjoyed doing 6 Gap. Maybe I’ll look at riding it again when I turn 70.
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Old 10-09-19, 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveLeeNC
I was looking at the Six Gap Century (www.6gap.com) results today and counted the 'adult' participants

Format is Age - # of participants (total was 1969)

74 - 1
73 - 0
72 - 0
71 - 0
70 - 3
69 - 8 (good year for 69 year olds - this includes me)
68 - 4
67 - 7
66 - 7
65 - 10
64 - 16
63 - 16
62 - 21
60 - 24
59 - 25
58 - 21
57 - 31
56 - 35
55 - 39

FWIW.

dave
Whoa ... that drop off is a little steeper than I would have expected. I know I'll eat my words at some point, and who knows what the future holds, but as for me, I plan to be doing centuries over the next 10 years ... which will put me in that upper group.

I think the key is (1) genes (2) luck and (3) keeping at it consistently.

I guess we'll see. <shrug>

Edit to add: I see the ride has some 11,000+ feet of climbing in about 100 miles. That might have something to do with it. lol
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Last edited by Biker395; 10-09-19 at 12:37 PM.
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Old 10-09-19, 02:05 PM
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Looks like us old guys (70+) finish what we start!
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Old 10-13-19, 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by OldTryGuy
I have a room reservation at the Seven Sebring Raceway Track Hotel for the event and will wait for weather and body conditions to register.
Same here.. Have my room but won't register until I'm comfortable with the weather forecast. Came up a few miles short of my goal in the 24hr RAAM last year, and would really like to take another shot at it, but will do the 12hr or Century if the weather isn't cooperating. And if it's REALLY bad, I might just resort to crewing for friends.
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Old 10-13-19, 07:26 PM
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Age is the toughest "competitor." Where I live bicycling is very popular. The majority of serious recreational road riders use Strava. I am in the 70-74 age bracket. On climbs of the thousands of individuals that ride the popular one the percentage of 70-74 is 1/2 % of the total number of riders. There is a big drop off in performance and number of riders when going from the 65-69 group to the 70-74. The last of the age groups, "75 or older" is almost non-existent.
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Old 10-14-19, 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted by c.miller64
Same here.. Have my room but won't register until I'm comfortable with the weather forecast. Came up a few miles short of my goal in the 24hr RAAM last year, and would really like to take another shot at it, but will do the 12hr or Century if the weather isn't cooperating. And if it's REALLY bad, I might just resort to crewing for friends.
2.5 more and 500 !!!!! AWESOME AND GOOD LUCK
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Old 10-14-19, 06:01 PM
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Originally Posted by OldTryGuy
2.5 more and 500 !!!!! AWESOME AND GOOD LUCK
Thank you! I have the best coach/crew anyone could ask for... I plan on being in much better shape... and I'll definitely be on a faster bike.. But, at the end of the day, good luck is what I'm REALLY going to need!
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Old 10-16-19, 07:19 PM
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Every individual is different, but I think that that age drop off is about right. I've got a friend who was one of the fastest in my group up until a few years ago, when he was maybe 63. Now he's 67 or 68 and he still rides with us, but seldom pulls. He stays in the back. Another friend in the same group is 64, and though nobody will yet mention it, I can see the downward change from a couple of years ago.

I'm 58 and this is much of why I'm eager to retire - I so much want to have the time to ride my heart out when I'm still reasonably strong. Unfortunately, it's not in the cards for another 5 years at least, and maybe more like 8.
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Old 10-16-19, 08:07 PM
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I'll be 55 in 2020, and I'm considering doing that Six Gap for the first time. It's intimidating, but a dream. I did the GFNY in 2018, and that had 8,500 feet of elevation. The Six Gap has 11,200 feet of elevation. That's an additional 31% more elevation than the GFNY.

I'll have to soon decide whether or not to do it. If I do, that's a LOT of hill repeats during the next year! If I do it, I'll be plenty prepared for the 2020 Horrible Hundred!
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