Am i too old to keep building?

48 nearly 49 training same way/same hours thoughout my 40s and maintaining same level…I always see a bump if I can train more hours and therefore I still believe my limiter is the amount of time I have to train not my age (still hitting 5wkg at peak fitness)

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Knocking on 40’s door here and “long” power is still improving. Sprint is going a little, but I’m a TT’er!

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I’m in my forties and I haven’t been able to stick with the plan progression for quite some time now, which is frustrating. I have worked around it by tweaking my initial FTP, but it would be nice if they did eventually get out the “masters” plans for those of us that can’t progress quite as quickly as the young’uns!

Edit - I appreciate I’m not “old”, but I think some of us might hit these points somewhat earlier than others!

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2.5 years cycling, about 1.5 years trainerroad, just turned 41.

Ramp Test today - I’m expecting to meet my 2020 goal of 300 watts.

The noob gains of 20 watts in a month are already long behind me but I gain 6-9 watts every month, regular as clockwork. The only thing that gets in the way of that is injury.

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Started at 42 and am almost 47 now. Have had gains every year.

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Well, at 71, I can give you a few years. Started with TR in Jan and enjoyed the structure as opposed to just riding which is what I had done for 25years. At 60kg I am currently just under 3w/kg but I am improving and WILL get above that 3 figure by December. Once I get to a peak I am sure the task will then be to maintain that for as long as possible :thinking:

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My tongue-in-cheek answer is you need to find a group ride with a couple of fast 50-60 year olds and get your teeth kicked in a couple of times. It will be both humbling and inspiring. There are a couple of guys I have ridden with that have given me hope that I can be bringing the hurt to the 20-30 year olds well into my 60s if I remain consistent.

I’ve been riding since 2004, mostly unstructured. Last year at 41 I was the strongest (FTP/TTE at various levels) and lightest that I had ever been. I started using TR last August to add structure and got some decent FTP gains just from that. A lot of this year (at 42) my FTP has remained roughly the same, but I have increased TTE at various power levels and have set PRs for avg power and avg w/kg for 3.5min, 5min, 20min, and out to 4 hrs.

My view of cycling is it is a long game. It isn’t about weeks or months or quarters. It is about years and decades of consistency. My FTP plateaued for years at a time, but now if I can bust through the current plateau and increase my FTP by even 1-2% I will be super happy with a new PR and consider a year of hard work worthwhile.

If you had been riding since you were 10 and followed a structured plan during much of that time, sure there might not be much room to grow at 40. But that is a hypothetical comparison. You don’t know where you could have been at 30 if you started at 10 and trained hard for 20 years. Comparing yourself to that hypothetical is only going to demoralize you. Compare yourself to you 1 year ago - 16-17% increase in FTP is HUGE! Don’t forget that.

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I just want to say this is awesome. Good for you man. Just make sure you keep enjoying riding and keep the joy.

You are making me think I should change my goal of being able to beat up on 20 year olds into my 60s to beating up on them into my 70s. lol.

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43 and broke the 4.0W/kg barrier for the first time this season after 15 years of sporadic triathlon and cycling training (entire seasons missed due to work). Two years of consistency now have me from 235 to 283. My life has allowed me much more consistency, so I am aiming at 300 (4.2+) in 2021.

Train consistently and avoid injury as best possible. You’ll be good.

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This is actually pretty good advice. I’m 58 and I’ve only been riding for 4 years. One of the first things I did was latch onto a group of older (65+) guys that regularly do sub-5 hour centuries. I was dropped a lot in the beginning, but I kept going back for more. Riding with faster riders inspires me to work harder. They’re still kicking my butt, but it’s harder for them today than it was last year. You have to leave the ego at home and try to stay with the group longer into the ride each time you go out.

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You have a genetic potential that changes with age. No one, not even the best coach in the world, knows what that potential is. You have where you are right now, that changes with the effort you put in today and is limited by whatever your potential is.

All that should matter to you is you can do work today to get closer to the best you tomorrow. Who knows if the ‘best you’ is 5w/kg or 4w/kg or 8w/kg. Do work. Be better. Enjoy the process.

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I ride with people 50+ and 300-350W FTPs, so yeah, its what I aspire to in my late fifties. They’ve been riding for a long time and maintaining with only two long weekend rides and one/two mid-week rides. So as others have said, the earlier you get started with consistently riding a decent amount of volume the higher you can go!

What if the answer was yes?

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Then he/she focuses on enjoying…

I’m 64 and came to cycling late ie in my mid 50’s and came straight from the couch. I feel I’m in the lucky position of still being able to improve as I came from such a low base. My best numbers are I feel still ahead of me. That being said at some point in the future I think I’ll come to regard standing still as progress.

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Started at 50, just turned 55.
I use TrainerRoad off and on .
What works for me is dedicated some time on the trainer , 2-6 week blocks of TR and then riding outside , road, gravel, Mtb.
I find as long as your not noodling around in groups or easy solo rides and remained focused on increasing your fitness you can take TR gains and continue to improve with “ HARD” outside riding.
HARD meaning ; riding longer, hills , trying to smash segments , repeats, riding with Stronger riders etc.
I’m stronger with ever year, and riding better.
You just have to push the body if you want adaptation, whatever works.
I see a lot of 50 plus guys not only win their age group but win Races outright, so in there eyes you are in your prime years . It’s not just possible , it’s actually happening.
Have at it.
Don’t let your ideas of age be a limiter.

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Hell yeah!

For most of 2020 I’ll be 49 (not sure what that is in COVID years…) and this year I raised and extended almost my entire power curve!

I’m now stronger and more fit than when I was racing and winning in my 20’s (maybe the competition back then wasn’t so hot…?).

That could have a lot to do with structured training vs pure unbridled youth, but so what!

A few things I have noticed the past couple of years: 1) in my 20’s I had a very fast jump/snap, it’s now not as snappy (but I also don’t train it); 2) my current 10/10 hard effort repeatability has diminished from my younger days (again, I don’t train it but that’s all I trained back in the day); 3) my obsessive focus on winning/outcome has been somewhat replaced by my obsessive focus on training/process. I still love to race and compete but I don’t think I need to win to be content.

Will I ever hit a 350 FTP? I dunno, but I love to train more now than when I was young so I’ll do all I can to chase my genetic ceiling. I might also not need to hit 350 to accomplish my goals.

The best thing you can do is find enjoyment riding your bike. If you don’t like it, you’re not going to do it, no matter how bad you want to hit some random fitness metric. That said, you might have to do a few non-fun things to make your fun thing even more funner. :wink:

See you on the road!

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man, you’re young… enjoy 41. Remember Chris Horner won the Vuelta at that age :wink:

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@Mw1692 (throws up superhero numbers, only after claiming “not quite old guy non-excuse.” Keep ripping. :+1:

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That was by far the best Vuelta ever!

Also, at 35 and after years of playing football, I may be still young’ish but my body feels 87 years old.

This is my 3rd proper season on the bike after hanging up the boots and my 1st season doing proper structured training. Have gone from 220w FTP to around the 300w mark this year.

My partner and I welcomed our first kid into the world late last year so I was a fat new Dad with a low FTP inside a body of a 90 year old. After some solid training, including training myself not to reach for all the chocolate croissants in the world, I’ve dropped about 12kg of fat new Dad weight and significantly increased a lot of my metrics this year. If I can get to this Summer around 4-4.5w/kg then I reckon I’ll shock a few of the bunches I ride with over the Summer break!