Eric F 

There is an older guy who does the same Sunday group ride that I sometimes do. He isn't able to ride very fast, and takes a shortcut so he can finish the ride close to the same time as those of us who do the full route. He rides a variety of newer, high-end, carbon fiber road bikes built with top-level parts, and he wears matching kits from local team/clubs or (what appears to be) European teams/clubs . One might look at him and think his expensive bike and matching kit are ridiculous for an old and slow guy like that. What most people might not know is that he used to be incredibly fast, and probably has more championship jerseys than I have t-shirts. He rides nice bikes because he appreciates how they ride, at whatever speed he is currently able to make them go.

shelbyfv

^^^Bet he can still avg 19.5 mph over 5 miles on a good day.

big john

Is it this guy?

Eric F 

Yes!

Eric F 

That might be beyond him, currently, but still doesn't exclude him from riding whatever kind of bike he wants to ride.

big john

I met him once. He seemed quiet and a bit shy, but still friendly. I think he's 87 now?

Eric F 

He's pretty chatty on Sunday mornings. He also has a pretty think French accent. I assumed he was in in 70s, but I could be wrong.

terrymorse 

Yep. You never know who those older guys are. I sometimes ride in a group with a fellow old guy who keeps a moderate pace, but he never seems to be under any stress. That's because he isn't. He's intentionally keeping his heart rate low to avoid triggering a-fib, something he developed as a world-class marathon racer.

big john

I'm pretty sure he's at least mid 80s.

Eric F 

Posers.

EDIT: I found the results. He won the crit in the 85-89 age group, so you're on target with age.

big john

lol. I looked at the results page for the race in the picture and he is listed as the winner of the 85-90 division. Which is a pretty amazing sentence.

terrymorse 

Here's the guy that makes all of us elder cyclists look like weaklings: S. Durwood Higgins. He keeps showing up at the USA Nationals and winning, year after year. Last year, he won the national road race, time trial, and criterium.

He didn't even start racing seriously until after he retired. Now in the 80+ group.

He was on the 2012 United-4-Health 4-Man Team which still holds RAAM’s age 70+ record. He’s won 15 USA Cycling Masters National Road Championships and 5 Best All-Around Rider Awards. 12 gold, 4 silver medals in 20 National Senior Olympics events. 19 golds, and 4 silvers, 3 Bronze, and 5 BAR awards at Huntsman Sr World Games racing 9 of last 11 years. Won Mt Evans Hill Climb 70+ at age 75.




Podium from last year's Huntsman road race. Higgins in 1st place. My buddy Roger, 84, is on the left, 3rd place. He is cajoling me into doing Huntsman with him this year, in the 65+ category. I'm a maybe. Those 65+ guys are super strong.

big john

Geez, what a slacker.

beng1

Training close to max ftp tears up the heart muscle and the way it rebuilds can alter the way it's electrical circuits work. Since I had a life-long congenital problem with irregular heartbeat anyway, I now try to stay away from riding at max power as much as possible. I am pretty sure riding at max power has also aggravated my leaky heart valve. Young people don't think about beating the crap out of their heart muscle when training for sports, but research shows it may not be the best thing for old guys with gray hair. Training at max also is known to accelerate arterial disease and damage.

rsbob 

There is a 73 YO that I have ridden with that held and still holds just about every local Strava fastest segment time for 65-70 YOs. He still rides, lifts and runs. Last time I rode with him, he had an S-Works bike with carbon 50s, Sidis and electronic shifting. After his long-lived racing career, he still appreciates good equipment, 30-40 mile rides and an occasional sprint. He has several records there is no way I can touch, especially his 28 MPH on a two miler.

terrymorse 

That's a half-truth at best. The mechanism that causes atrial fibrillation (AF) from intense endurance exercise is not known. The amount of intense exercise that increases AF risk is also unknown.

Some interesting points from the recent science:

• "it remains unclear at which point exercise may become detrimental"
• "data are not conclusive, controversy continues, and may questions remain unanswered"
• "[I]t might be expected that meta-analyses...would clearly support endurance exercise as a risk factor for AF. This is not however the case."
• "Older athletes [> 53 years old] were not at increased risk of AF compared to age-matched sedentary controls"
• "Cumulative duration of high-intensity endurance training predicts AF...The published cutoff values used to differentiate risk are 1500–2000 h total of intense exertion"

And some good news:

• "endurance athletes demonstrate reduced [mortality] risk with increased training"
• " athletes appear to not die of stroke despite the increased incidence of AF"
• "The high-intensity exercise group also reported lower rates of coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke"

Source: Stergiou D, Duncan E. Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in Endurance Athletes: a Complicated Affair. Curr Treat Options Cardiovasc Med. 2018 Oct 26;20(12):98. doi: 10.1007/s11936-018-0697-9. PMID: 30367267; PMCID: PMC6209018.

A citation would be nice here. The few articles I've read indicate intense exercise does not in any way cause coronary artery disease.

Eric F 

What is "max FTP"? FTP and max. power are not the same thing.

indyfabz

Holy guads, Bat Man!

When I went to the Italian Cycling Center I got dropped by a guy in his 80s on a short climb. Everyone in our small group did.

Hondo6

Hey! I thought that was Cleveland, OH! What gives?

teejaywhy

Back when I started riding in the Schwinn Varsity days, they sold a clip you could use to gather all that bellbottom material on your right leg and clip it out of the way. Yes, I'm old.

cyclezen

Yes ! I assumed that Beng1 tucks his Sgt Pepper Bells into his beige Penney's socks...
Sweet ! Five months away and I see the entertainment value here is still quite high level...
Ride On
Yuri

PeteHski

This is far from conclusive and research is still very much a work in progress. “Max ftp” is also a nonsensical term.

PeteHski

So my options are a very badly fitting helmet, flapping shirt and a dubious bike fit? No thanks!

genejockey 

Only the anti-elite have agency. Everyone else just follows their programming.

beng1

Read em and weep;

:"

EXCESSIVE ENDURANCE EXERCISE AND AF

Despite compelling evidence for exercise as medicine in AF, research has demonstrated that, counterintuitively, long-term endurance training increases the risk of incident AF (49, 50). The heightened prevalence of AF is not uniform across elite athletes but seems to favor a high volume of endurance training such as cycling, running, and cross-country skiing (21). In a Swedish cohort study (n = >52,000), repeated participation and faster finishing time in long-distance cross-country ski races (surrogate marker of exercise training history) were associated with increased risk for AF (4). In agreement, Myrstad et al. (54) found that, in older Norwegian men, a history of endurance sport practice was a risk factor for AF, with an effect comparable to traditional risk factors for AF (e.g., coronary heart disease and hypertension). A later study by Myrstad et al. (55), combined two independent cohorts and demonstrated a graded dose-response relationship with an adjusted odds ratio for lone AF 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.10 to 1.44) per 10 yr of exercise training."

From this article; https://journals.physiology.org/doi/...art.00509.2020