Wildwood

Would like to solicit information from 65+ riders.

The thread in 50+ about typical power and speed of cyclists lists info that has been discredited by all those responding.
From your personal experience is this Bike Speed by Age chart correct? - Bike Forums
Most commented on their speed, which for my suburban road riding is meaningless from a performance perspective.

Everyone here knows I refrain from collecting&recording data. I have never used a power meter. BUT, my daughter/SiL bought a NordicTrack indoor cycle system. So curiosity got the best of me. How many watts can/do I generate? And what might be my FTP?

3rd time on the NordicTrack, I was confident that the position, saddle, bars, etc were good enough for a 1 hour ride. Having never done a full hour 'power ride', chose to start easy for 20 min (~230watts), then eval & adjust effort. The final result was 248 watts averaged for 20.5 miles. I chose a 2% grade and regulated the resistance to keep cadence between 70-80 for the most part.

At the end, I was sweating and breathing hard but not totally exhausted. So maybe a stronger ride was possible, but not by much. Maybe some carbs instead of just water might help.

How does an FTP of 248 watts over an hour stack up against other 65+ers?

For reference - 70yo, 195 pounds, 35 year cyclist, probably averaging 3000mi/yr over the last 5 years.

Kai Winters

I've learned FTP doesn't mean a lot in the general scheme of things...performance riding, Zwift racing, etc.
I'm 66, 5'4", 147lbs...my Zwift FTP is 216 and my max heart rate in a Zwift race this winter was 182.
I've done well in the ZRL/WTRL racing and TTT leagues often beating out riders with much higher FTP.
Fitness and ability depends on a lot of different factors...I climb well but on the flats against larger riders/higher FTP's I have to work harder...typical in such a circumstance but I also TT quite well and that balances out my size/FTP against a bigger rider. While not a great sprinter I can beat others with higher FTP's as well...placing, knowing when to go, etc. as well as a high pain threshold also play a big role. But overall larger, stronger? riders will beat me in a flat out sprint.
It also depends on training. You have to work hard to achieve higher levels of ability with lower levels of exertion...as Greg Lemond says "it hurts just as much but you go faster" which can also mean at a lower level of effort it is easier because of your training. But if you don't push yourself with regularity to achieve higher levels your abilities are diminished and while you may be able to achieve a high w/kg or watts it is generally for a very brief period of time and recovery takes longer thus you lose ground in an event.

While age is a limiting factor, training and determination play a very big role in abilities.
You can stage the situation for numbers...as you state in your comment "The final result was 248 watts averaged for 20.5 miles. I chose a 2% grade and regulated the resistance to keep cadence between 70-80 for the most part." A controlled example compared to say a race where near max efforts for brief periods repeatedly may sap your strength and endurance because your body/mind have not prepared for that type of exertion...compare an ultra distance rider/TT specialist to a track sprinter as an extreme example.
Lastly it depends on what you are trying to achieve. Training to be more fit, strong and efficient is wonderful at any age but at the "seniors" level it is truly wonderful when you compare yourself to others in your generation. I also believe that the increased physical fitness also crosses over the mental fitness...you are improving/increasing your body chemistry meaning you also have to train your mental processes to stay focused on the task which improves/increases mental fitness.

Wildwood

@Kai Winters - 100% agree about ftp being a minimal factor in a racing setting with much elevation change and/or surges in speed. Maggy Bäckstedt only won 1 major UCI race outside his own country. (edit: I could be wrong, but you get the point) Lots of FTP Power, maybe not so much watts/Kg Power.

I'm not a data analyst or racing guy, not seeking a coach. But I can agree the health+mental health benies.

I just wondered Power.
You know .... racing can be more than just about winning in the peloton of life.
There's always the fun bit - for us big guys.


"Great coffee this morning, made me edgy enough to square it with those wheel-sucking climbers when the road turns UP!"


FTP? Probably, because that's one standard the indoor machine makes easy - and should be decently accurate when measured over an hours' exertion.

Heck, the conditions were not even ideal. No actual competitor to chase (Hunt the Rabbit syndrome). No nutrition, only water. Not my bike or my saddle, shoes, nor bars. And if the last song had been ZZ Top instead of Elton John, I would certainly have broken 250!

edit: About – Big Maggy's Coffee & Bike Shop (bigmaggys.com)

Wildwood

New bike?

edit for clarification:
Give her a new bike.
as opposed to:
Suggest she replace her current bike.

Ray9

I am 75. I am officially old and ask uncomfortable questions. Why is there a National Guard soldier at the local medical center? There's man with a mask over there, a-tellin me I got to beware. I am not a typical 75-year-old. I can still throw a left hook hard enough to knock out a 200-pound man. I am lean and mean and take no prisoners. I will drop 30-year-olds on the road like a bad habit. That is all.

Wildwood

Good day for ridin with a wool jersey - enough sun for short sleeves!


Ride tubularly

philbob57

I know a lot of people think 75 is old. At 77, I'm not sure I am. The people who I've known who think they're old are in their late 90s and older. Just sayin'....

easyupbug 

What I have seen some folks don't do themselves any favors in their youth and these comeback to impact how one feels about aging.

EddyR

yes i agree I live in a building with some very old people and most think I am in my 50’s because i ride a bike. I must admit i do not look my age. I have always been blessed with a looking much younger than I am. I must admit walking with a cane and still having a lot of pain in the knee does not lead one to thing one is still a active person. Yes I ride but that just seems so easy as I have done it for a long time. There are four large buildings in my apartment complex but I have never seen another rider in four years and most are in there 30’s.

jppe

I was riding out your way yesterday. I've ridden all the roads around Locust over the years. Who would have thought there would be all that growth in Locust.....sometimes I'll fight the traffic on Hwy 24/27 and eat lunch at Subway, then pedal down 24/27 to Reed Gold Mine Road past Walmart....when I'm feeling brave!!! Do you ever do the Morrow Mountain Loop from the school?

EddyR

Most of my ridding in in short hops around my subdivision . I stay off all roads with a lot of traffic. I use to ride Lower rocky river to Locust on 24/27 twice a week and Reed Mine road loop once a month. Did you notice we have a bike shop in Locust now.
Did you ever come buy my place when I was a bike fliper when I lined on Lower RockyRiver rd and sold 700 bikes on CL
EddyR

McBTC

My experience has been that, keeping to a schedule is best for the long term-- nothing worse than feeling great and upping the frequency only to be laid low by something going haywire as a result of the extra effort and losing a couple of months...

jppe

I didn’t know there was a bike shop in Locust. I’ll have to check it out.

I didn’t visit when you were on Lower RR. That’s a lot of flips!

Traffic has picked up everywhere around here. Houses and subdivisions continue to pop up. I still ride from my house but I’m riding with traffic for 5 miles now.

striker65

I turned 70 last September, bought a fat tire bike in April 2016. Today I hit 10,000 miles, I ride my neighborhood mostly, 5 miles a day (weather permitting has to be at least 55°).

swampyankee2 

You don't look a day over 50! I'm jealous! I've been trying to get into a good routine of 5 -7 mlles every other day, but between the New England weather and the hills in every direction, I can't seem to build the momentum.

MasiMoe

That's some serious miles to rack up with them tires, Striker. I'm a year behind you and only been out a couple of times along the ocean where it's not busy yet but it is still stinking cold out there.

ultrarider7

I just turned 70 a few months ago, don't feel old, still ride about 6,000 miles a year. Then I see photos of myself and wonder how my old man came back to life and got in the shot!

EddyR

Will be 82 in less than a month and i am three months from my knee replacement today so i went out on this 88 Cannondale i had never ridden. Picked it up six months ago as a shed find. Under Thirty years of dirt and oil it was close to mint. Had to adjust seat and tighten shifting cable to get it into big gear. As soon as i did that i got up the hill that starts at our parking lot. 10% for 1/4 mile. Never did bother my knee. Ridding is easer than walking with out cane.
Ed

mellowyellow

congratulations Ed! I share your joy in an ace shed find! Hope your knee op goes well. My son found a 91, Peugeot st. gothard p100s in my local 'recycle' store. He gifted it to me. I, just about, rode it to the next village and back, 5 Kms total, but it was stuck in a difficult gear. So, only on the downhill and straight bits.

Uphill, I used it like a Zimmer frame, carrying the weight of my shopping.
I'm used to using my ebike for all transport, so felt quite pleased with myself for riding it at all.
Very happy to report that cleaning off 30 years of grease and dirt, like yours, its almost like new, although it has straight handlebars and an ordinary roadbike saddle.. Light as a feather, after my weighty ebike.
I thought the gears must be permanently broken, but close inspection showed that the cogs were caked in ancient grease that was like dried glue. Hot water and strong cleaner have given me great hopes for my next trial run.
I don't see me zooming up any hills yet, my ebike is always good for exercise, but only of quite a relaxed kind compared to taking a road racer up a hill.
I feel inspired to try again now I think the gears are perfectly in order.
It won't be easy!!

mellowyellow

I'm sorry to have missed your response! I think there must be very wide differences of care and attention offered to elderly/diminished capacity, folk, around the world. I'm sure that there must be many that would be very grateful to be watched at all. It may well be the case that in your own locality "it takes a lot to draw attention" as you describe.
Here, it is simply a matter of age..

*Real* care, always begins with making contact, communication, asking questions. Not in thinking of people as mindless sheep to be herded, or controlled.

mellowyellow

Use both...looks the best way for me now
I think you might enjoy that too.
It's several years since pedalling, under my own power, was my second choice to driving my car. Running a car in the countryside, seemed to me at that time, an absolute necessity, and my road bike, I had no ebike then, was a best choice, before the local gym, for best, not-boring, keep fit time..
​​​​
It occurred to me that IF ebiking to nearby towns, was possible, there could be huge savings to be made, although I have always loved driving, and giving up, entirely was a sad thought.
. Everything has, so far, worked out perfectly.
I can hire a car for a few days whenever I need to make a long trip or a delivery, too heavy for my ebike..

For almost every trip, now, my ebike has proved to be pure joy.
I have slowly discovered how to take best care of it, and fitted it with chunky tyres that cope with all surfaces.
Once, I had to ride home on completely flat tyres, but the chunky protection was unblemished!
I can visit two favourite towns, each about 40kms return trip, under my rain poncho, in wet weather, and trips to all three, nearby, local stores, in three different villages, are far better than tedious gym-time exercises. And of course, cost free

Still, the better exercise, greater energy required for NO E-POWER biking, had a lot of appeal, and I thought seriously about trying out my son's abandoned road racer. He gave it to me, but it was almost Impossible for me to ride, until recently.
Now, I'm hoping to ride short distances, without E-POWER.
I have fully serviced the lightweight road racer, it is ready to go!
I should be able to ride it to the nearest village.
Before I found out how to use the gears properly, it was hopeless to attempt a hill ..but I could use the light bike as a kind of Zimmer frame, to carry shopping.

Happy biking, everyone.

EddyR

Took a very strange fall last week just after the above picture was taken. I am hesitant to put this here as it may discourage some but I will call it a none moving accident . I never get on my bike from standing on a curb. but after a hour riding and several stops along the way I needed to get to front door of our building so I got on my bike next to the curb and pushed off but I did not have enough motion so I started to put my left foot down and it got caught between the curb and my bike. My left lean got over so there was no correcting it. I must say here I have gone over to the left many times and always fall to the left side shoulder and have never hit my head. Most of the time just a few scratches on the elbow and wondering how I ended up on the ground.
This time my foot was trapped into the curb and bent my foot bad just behind the toes. My wife picked the bike up of me and I got over and sat on a bench. Foot hurt bad but nothing else was bothering me. There was a lot more wrong later that night. Did not break any toes but they can get black and blue fast and also up the bottom of my foot half way back. Just above the right ankle very large bruise. Just below the right knee and on the lower right side of the knee no bruise but sore like don't touch me. I was wearing my Russian dive watch and the metal band took a bite out of my left wrist just above my glove.
I put this here as it is not the kind of accident you think of with a bicycle. I really has nothing to do with age but not thinking out what you are doing . I was a dumb accident I will not repeat
I am going to mention another now funny accident I had 15 years ago. I was at a rural intersection and I did not want to loosen my toe clip so I reached over to balance my self on a mailbox and the mailbox pushed off the top of the pole it was mounted on ,I slid down the 4x4 pole into a lump between two mailboxes, ouch.
Ed

easyupbug 

Thanks EddyR, I for one need reminders to avoid being cavalier when cycling.

GWG

Winter riding along with my Labrador who does better with the cold than I do. The cold is fine as long as I don't go too fast. Anything above about 12-15 mph the wind chill makes the riding much less fun. 74 and no plans to stop riding.

McBTC

doubt if I'm putting out more than ~50-75 watts (/hr?) over a total duration of about an hour and a half (~12 mph)... My efficiency is kind of like Frederick Taylor and the coal shovel, putting out more energy and only flying along when there's a wind at my back.