Barrettscv 

Elite cyclist Liz Reap Carlson pummeled some 1,200 watts of power into her bike pedals. She had one goal: whip around the track and propel herself and her teammate into the final round of the team sprint event, a two-woman, two-lap track race. At the bell, Carlson went from zero to 31 miles per hour in 19.6 seconds. Teammate Madalyn Godby was in position behind her and bolted around the track. The women's speed not only advanced them to the final round, where they placed fourth overall, but also put them into the record books.

https://espn.go.com/espnw/journeys-vi...s-age-barriers

GFish

Wow, what an inspirational story!! And speed, she can flat fly!!!!

Thanks for posting this.

StephenH

Hmph, she is but a child.

BikeWNC

I once put out 1200 watts, for about a second. I'm always amazed at the power track cyclists can produce.

John_V 

The closest I can get to 1200 watts is turning on a bunch of light bulbs. To hear about older athletes doing things like this is absolutely inspirational to me. Makes me want to stop whining some times and HTFU.

At the MUP that I do my daily rides at, there is a Michigan couple down here for the winter, that have been doing daily rides at about the same time that I am there. Both are in their mid 70's, and both ride Specialized S-Works road bikes. They ride together for a while and then the wife goes off on her own for most of the ride. The last time I saw them there, we were leaving the west parking lot; I left a minute or so before them. I was cruising on a straightaway going around 19-20 mph when she passed me and left me in the dust. I tried, but I never did catch up to her and the next time I saw her, was in the east parking lot where she was waiting for her husband to get back. I'm certainly not the fastest kid on the block and can hold my own when I need to, but I was too embarrassed to talk to her after she left me so far behind. I'm just amazed at some of the consistent speeds some of the "older than me" riders are doing, and I'm 65.

Phil_gretz

No WAY! I think that I've ridden with them (actually with the husband). It was on the Pinellas Trail a couple of summers ago when I visited my sister who lives in Tarpon Springs. The husband and I rode and talked together for about 1/2 hour. His wife blasted off ahead. He explained that she's a triathelete and rides hard. Nice fellow. I was riding my b-i-l's Trek 720 Multi-track hybrid. It rode fine, but was no rocket.

Phil G.

AzTallRider

Note to ESPN: It's Criterium, not Criterion.

It's great to see people ignoring age and competing with those much younger. We have several people right here in BF 50+ that race in national championship events in the Elite category as opposed to the masters class. We also have a record holder in a masters track discipline. Really fast people. Interesting anecdote that, in the road race stage of the Tucson Bicycle Classic I competed in last weekend, the 45+ category did the 60 mile race 8+ minutes faster than the 35+. In my 55+ category, 2 guys in a breakaway crashed, then helped each other finish the race. Turns out one had a broken collar-bone, and the other a broken wrist and likely cracked ribs, not to mention a lot of road rash. Really tough people in our age group, too.

One doesn't have to look far for inspiration.

Sixty Fiver

When I was considering master's racing here I started looking at race stats and could not believe how fast these guys were rolling and in most cases, were often the fastest groups in any mixed event.

You can cycle competitively and at a very high level well into your 60's and 70's and beyond.

John_V 

I haven't seen them at the MUP in the last week or so and don't know if they went back north or not. If you looked at her, you would never guess that she could get a bike to go that fast. When you first see her, you would expect her to get on a tricycle rather than a road bike. She's a bit taller than he is and he is a bit thinner than she is. Both of their bikes are red and white and they haul them on a rack on the back of an Cadillac Escalade. If they haven't gone north, I will stop and talk to them the next time I see them there.

berner

I've been noticing for some time that there are some bad a$$ Grand Ma's out there.

Rick@OCRR

Thanks for that report link! It makes me feel slow, but still, it's inspirational! Thanks Barrettscv.

Rick / OCRR

fietsbob

See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannie_Longo