Hi Guys,
Should I be happy with maintaining my cycling physical abilities at 60
I am 5ft.8 70kg FTP 282 still enjoy pain and alway aiming for 300 but not been there for a couple of years
Alls you here is sleep well , eat well ,train well , recover Perhaps I could do more , should I be happy with we’re I am, or have I got this wrong. Really excited about the future of TrainerRoad
The latest pod cast I listen to , the CEO Mentioned a ranking system on your career page Fantastic
But don’t do the standard 4/5 year ranking this may work for under forty’s there are some big changes the older you get so a max of two year bans after fifty eight.
Kind regards Mark Gilson Uk
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Hard for anyone else to answer this. Very few of us are up against our genetic potential, regardless of age. Obviously, that genetic potential drops as we age, but we can still optimize what we have to work with. For me, it’s no different regardless of what age we are. It’s always a question of how much you want to do vs. what you are getting out of it. Some folks enjoy working like crazy to get as close to their potential as possible, some are content with with the fitness they get with less work. There are diminishing returns at any age. The obvious thing to stay away from is comparing your current self with younger self (especially with similar training). That’s just a losing proposition at some point, you will eventually get slower/weaker than your former self regardless of how smart/hard you train. I’m just a young pup at 55, so maybe my outlook will be different as thing start really tailing off. From what I’ve read/seen, many people perform well into their 60’s, but the 70’s show a much steeper decline.
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Long term yes. I plan to ride 100 miles on my 100th birthday.
Short term maybe there is some room to improve. I try to improve my time at the same event each year.
Let me add I’m in my 70’s.
Good topic
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I love this.
I did 100 miles (followed by fajitas) for my birthday this year, and plan to each year going forward.
4w/kg at 60 years old is very much on the right hand side of the bell curve. I’ve read quite a few arguments the the genetically average 18-35 year old will top out around that mark, and then lose ~1% per year after around 40. So that suggests to me you’re doing very well.
Whether or not you can improve is very hard to say.
I’ve spoken to quite a few experienced coaches who all say more or less the same thing: very few cyclists will reach their genetic potential, not least because for most people that will demand riding for (quite a lot) more time than their work and family demands will allow.
One thing is for sure, though; we’ll all be much better in our later years by trying to stay as fit and strong as we can. And there’s also really only one way to find out if you can get quicker… 
One book to consider is The Midlife Cyclist. It’ll tell you to cycle less hard, strength train, and other things you’re probably already doing to support a healthy lifespan. I very much enjoyed the book.
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In “Fast After 50 - Joe Friel” book, which indicates that most of the primary limiter after 50 is the decline of vo2max. Google “Intervals part 5 Joe Friel” and you will find “Anaerobic endurance” workout which helps to train the vo2max. Do this workout in your periodization plan. In base period, do low dose vo2max workouts and more and more base miles, ex: Do more and more zone2 workouts and 1 vo2max workout in a week.And the vo2max WIV(Workout interval volume) recommended in the url below is 12-30mins.
Simply put: Low dose vo2max WIV might be 12mins. Keep doing low dose Vo2max workouts until you are in the end of the periodization which means your racing event is approaching. At this timing, switch to high dose vo2max workouts(i.e 30mins vo2max WIV) to further raise your vo2max, workouts following this, is threshold workouts that help you achieve higher LT power(or we can just say : better 20min FTP Test results) with higher vo2max achieved by "30 mins-vo2max-WIV0. Information above is an version of periodization plan explained in “The Cyclists Training Bible Book -Joe friel” and “Fast After 50 Book - Joe Friel”. Joe strongly recommends in his books that plan periodization should give athletes the greatest possibility to achieve higher perfirmance. Follow any periodization plan from any smart traing app(TrainerRoad, Zwift, TrainerDay,…etc.), manually do more vo2max workouts at the right timing, followed by some LT workouts to traing your LT power and then test your FTP. This way should give you the greatest possibility to even achieve higher FTP. Hope this information helps
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Thank you Woolf
Mark