 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
It may have been done before, who is the oldest person you know who still regularly rides mountain biking not road. I was talking to someone the other week who was doing a 38 miler at 66 I was well impressed and thought I hope I am at that age!
i'll ride til my last breath
I have good news - 66 is nothing. Many guys that age could probably whup your ass 😉
Someone on here will know that lovely ranger chap at GT who broke his neck and still rides out to help all and sundry. I cant guess at his age but my mission is to look as good as he does when a "tad grey".
66 isnt that old for cycling - i regularly see a woman out cycling with her husband with them both going along at a fair pace and slipstreaming each other. Just look like a couple of roadies out for a training ride - only one of them isa veterans world champ from 30 years ago and they are both over 80 now. Heartwarming to see.
Father in law still goes fell running at 80.
He's entered the National Champs again this year.
Bit annoyed as the oldest age category is 60 odd.
He's trying to get them to introduce some more categories beyond that, as he feels it's a little unfair that he has to compete against youngsters. 😀
I occasionally ride with a couple of guys in their mid-sixties, we're talking proper gnarly singletrack offroad MTBing too (FoD regulars will know or will have heard of H and know who I mean 😯 ) Also within the group of friends is an 82 year old but he's only riding fireroads and doubletrack now on MTB.
Shared a table in a coffee shop the other week with a roadie who still competes and rides 250 - 300 miles a week aged 74 🙂
Indeed, theres a few at the FoD who inspire me, i wanna be riding still at that age god willin.
CWS - the ranger (Carl) is 74 (I think) although he regularly helps out at events and always says it's his birthday (So all the women give him a hug 😀 ) So he's probably about a million
There's an old boy that I sometimes end up riding with on the road, at 82 he still manages 100 milers.
Two or three years ago he got T boned on a roundabout and broke his pelvis, he was straight back on his bike after a couple of months off 🙂
My mate Pete & I are still doing all-dayers and regular weekly larks about on the Chase at 60 & 59, although as we're singlespeeders it doesn't really count.
Our buddy "Old John" still gets out on his new carbon Specialized Camber about 3 times a week at 79.
Many moons ago I did a road ride on my slicked out Zaskar with some roadies from Bruces bike shop in Kendal, a fair few appeared to be retirement age, they absolutely blew me to bits on the return from Keswick taking in two passes. Some of the retired roadie guys I met around that time were knocking out mega milage, all be it whilst only being able to stand and walk whilst stuck in the position of being on their bike. Age means nothing, be very aware of the quiet old guy on his winter hack with full guards, dynamo, saddle bag etc he may not be fast, but when it comes to the long haul...
Few month back passed an old chap riding a mountain bike while taking my road bike for a spin out, evening I said, hello was reply , head down arse up for maintaining a good 22+ mph average up hills and down , after about 7 miles he pulls up alongside and says cheers for the tow im turning off here!!! I suddenly thought im a long way off a fit cyclist!!!
My dad is 74 and still rides offroad regularly. Not as extreme as in the past though. Just got himself a new KHS alite 2000sl too.
the oldest of the sweary northerners is 56....and you have seen the stuff they ride.
not bad for a Gary Glitter lookalike old codger....... 😆
use it or lose it eh?
What ton said..
[url= http://www.recognitionpr.co.uk/clients/id/7451 ]Track champ[/url]
+ I am only a couple of years from pensionable age as are a few of my riding buddies most of whom have been riding for quite some time on and off road 😆
Helped a guy to fix a broken rear mech at last years Three Peaks Cyclo Cross - "Cheers mate! You've just helped the second oldest bloke in the race....74"
And some of these fellas [url= http://www.autumntints.org.uk/constitution1.html ]The Autumn Tints Cycling Comrades[/url] have seen a summer or two.
Dad of one of our regulars often rides with us. I think he's 76 now. He just sets off a couple of hours earlier on the assumption that we'll catch up with him (which we often fail to do).
Earlier this year he did Snowdon with us - UP Rangers and down Rydd Du!!! ...and that in snow/ice conditions too.
When I started riding in my mid 40's my neighbour was 60 and was then and is now fitter than I. You can maintain stamina well into your later years, it's speed and strength you loose and your recovery from injury is much slower.
He doesn't ride anything except bridleways now after a skiing accident/broken colar bone, he's 65. That's fairly normal as the risk of serious injury is greater and recovery time is much longer or possibly never !
My old cycling club did have a member who was 98.
He didn't do the club runs anymore but led a group of the older riders on the pub run (40mile with a pub stop every 10).
Theres a guy in his 60s who I often see doing triathlons, he has a 1h45 sprint time, which i'm fairly impressed with tbh.
Was downhilling at Blaenau on Thursday with a chap who was......74 😯
The average age of the 'cafe hoppers' who ride 50miles + every week from the shop is 64 😀
Took my dad for his first mountain bike ride a couple of weeks short of his 70th birthday. He was quite impressed - more than twenty years ago he'd dismissed mountain biking as a bit of a fad but 'the bikes have come quite a way since then'.
I turn 70 next week and still ride MTB at least 2 days a week--little slower and a little more carefully I must admit--like a little more hike-a-bike on some really technical sections.
Find I take a quick rest stop more frequently, but still riding the same trails as when I started 20 or so years ago--annually hit Moab, Crested Butte and Durango trails.
Went for a 2 day ride with my dad last month, he's only 64 but has many years left in him and this was his training for a 5 day coast to coast ride. Looking good for me!
I turned 60 in July and I've just come back from a couple of months in Greece (the Mani), a mix of working (nothing exciting, pushing wheelbarrow loads of crap around and some joinery) and riding in the mountains of the Taigetos range. All the time that I was there, feeling the sun on my back, I honestly felt about 15 years younger. I haven't ridden any better in years.
Now that I'm back in my other home, where it's damp, dull and windy, I feel about 70, never mind 60. It's all I can do to motivate myself to do anything, let alone get out on a bike for a few hours.
I just need a kick up the arse, I know, but give me dry rocky trails over this quagmire we've got here any day.
The older I get the more I need the sun, that's about it.
The LVRC has a fair few riders 70+ still racing today.
Local roadie, Geoff Wiles, is still doing it & he must be close on 70 himself - in fact he and an old friend [url= http://www.pbw2012.cc/ ]re-rode the Peace Race[/url] as a tribute to a former colleague & friend earlier this year.
The 3 peaks cyclocross has a 70+ category thats well gnarr