Was listening to the Roadman podcast where a World Tour coach was talking about the three pillars of training: consistency, duration and intensity. He said too many of us focus on the latter two but that the goal should be consistency, and it’s not just training the habit of getting on the bike every x days, but building in enough recovery so that we can train over years without having to pause for injury. Got me to wondering about my own consistency so I looked at Strava and was happy to see that over the last 4 years, my annual number of cycling days has stayed between 256 and 258. I had never thought about that as a goal, but I take that as a huge win. As I get older and accept that my power and endurance numbers won’t be what I hit in my 40s, I’m going to take my motivation from the fact that structured training has kept me doing what I enjoy in a way that’s sustainable, hopefully for as long as I have the desire to throw my legs over a bike.
For other 50+ cyclists, how do you view your goals now compared to when you were a decade or so younger?
Sounds about right to me. I take some solace knowing that I can always work on weight and strength as well. Masters racing really keeps me motivated too.
As a 70+ cyclist I find the first 2 , consistency and duration to be my goal. I try to not lose either one. I know I’m not going to increase them. I have already lost the intensity(power) battle. So being able to ride 100 miles each year on my birthday is now my goal. After I reach 100 I’m not sure what the next goal will be.
A decade or so ago I set a goal of 20 hours a week, which I rounded to 1000 hours a year.
The past several years I haven’t bothered trying to maintain those goals, yet I break though every year. Though I do include running time as I feel that running is more challenging physically. I do take extended breaks from training where I ride for fun only.
I’m closer to 60 than 50 and have started to diversify. I started running a bit around the holidays and travel last year, and have kept that up this year too. Earlier in the year I added a few days of yoga/stretching and some dumbbell work. I’ve pulled something in my back/butt that doesn’t seem to fully want to heal, so I’ve taken some time away from anything that has me getting down on the floor and back up frequently, but once healed, intend to get back to it. I’m in the process of moving to Colorado, where I’ll be able to incorporate hiking too. All that to say that as I age, I find I have less patience for multiple days on the trainer and am far more motivated to do lots of different things to stay active and just enjoy life.
Next year will be lots of riding, running, hiking, yoga, and strength, more for longevity and health than for trying to maximize output on the bike.
Honestly, my goal is to have fun. Stay fit. I’ll bike. Run. Lift. Hike. As long as move.
I can handle a bike better. Tend to need fewer watts to hang on. I’m also 90% gravel. Not winning anything. I enjoy the ride. Stop at every aid station. Enjoy the views and BS with friends.
Just turned 50 and it’s been dawning on me the last couple of years that I’m going to have to do a lot more core and strength training to stay happy on the bike.
I’ve gone well well with consitancy (6 days a week for the past 10++ years) but fallen short with duration and probably intensity. With a family just dont have the time to do huge rides, 2-3 hour is big for me). I race a lot and it shows. i’m startign to see that the fast guys are doing longer group rides on the weekends with one set of intervals and their fine.(FYI 56yo@10-15 hours a week)
Same age as some of you guys above, late 50’s. Regularly attending a good exercise class, stretching and warmup I’d have shunned in earlier decades, and less weights than previously , but overall it enables functional strength with the icing on the cake being consistent indoors twice a week and outside at the weekends. 6 hours a week, FTP numbers are miserable, some rides are fantastic, some disheartening, we persevere.
At 59 (how did that happen?) consistency has probably been my greatest boon. In 2025 I was faster than previously outdoor. Even if I can’t do exactly what I want on a daily basis I do something. For 10 years now (about 8 of “real” riding) I’ve been VERY consistent:
Mon - Off
Tues - Medium ride &/or workout.
Wed - Easy short ride.
Thr - Medium ride &/or workout.
Fri - Off
Sat - Hard or long ride.
Sun - Long or “whatever” ride.
Consistency, duration, and intensity - Check. Obviously things change up depending on weather, health, events, family, etc. Over my 50s I tend to do only 2xWorkout per week as time marches on. Or, 2 days of hard segments…or something of the sort. For 4-5 months per year I do strength work on Mon/Wed/Fri almost without missing a beat. This is my 3rd year of it but really 2nd where I feel like I know what I’m doing (well, kinda). Lifting heavier now. Yet, I always look for consistency first. If you were to look at my Strava training log almost every week is the same pattern.
Less focused on FTP and more on overall fitness.
Also, dialed in my fueling over the last 2-3 years. I need all the help I can get.
I’m 57 and still have the fire to improve. I was lucky enough to retire at 54, so have really ramped up the training and racing the last few years. I may not have as much punch as I did in my 40’s (I never had much anyway), but I hit all kinds of power PR’s last year and had some great race results the last couple years. As much as I hear about master’s athletes not being able to recover as fast or not able to do as much volume, my experience is that you can still train much more than the vast majority of amateurs and see gains well into your 50’s. I’ve been pushing the limits the last couple years pushing into consistent 20+ hour weeks with 1000+ tss during my peak build blocks. As long as you build up to it and take fueling and recover very seriously, I think most people can do more than they give themselves credit for. And that’s not to say there aren’t limits (I believe I was flirting with overtraining a bit last season), but you can do a lot as a master’s athlete. This past season, I feel like I got as close to my genetic potential as I’ll ever get and I’ll probably never hit those numbers again. Part of that is just the drive required to keep training harder/longer to fight against father time, but last season didn’t feel very healthy at times. Maxing out your performance is fun, but not at the expense of your health. I’m planning to back off a little next year on the fitness and focus on getting more aero on the bike with some core work and chung testing.
Another thing I’ve changed in the past few years is a focus on a shorter (but more intense) cycling race season. Rather than trying to be “kind of” fit for most of the year, I go all in on a ~6 month cycling season and do zero structured training the rest of the year (but still ride and race for fun). During that off season, I’ve diversified a bit with rowing (on the water and ERG), hiking, and increased weight work. I’ll do a little of that stuff throughout the cycling season, but it kind of swaps places/priorities in the off season. And when the cycling season rolls around (and it’s coming quick), I’m starting with a pretty decent aerobic base even though I haven’t been doing big hours on the bike since July.
i am 58 and i still am chasing increasing my ftp. however, i have no idea what my ftp was when i was in my 30s or 40s because i got a power meter in 2020, when i was in my 50s. i actually don’t think that i will be able to increase my ftp overall, but my goal each year is to get back to my 2020 ftp every summer for my end of the season events that are important to me,. my ftp “increases” are only an increase from winter to summer. in reality, i am just fighting a decrease in ftp, but i am still feel as if i am chasing it, but i am not under any delusion that i will increase it year to year. i am more consistent riding now than i was when i was younger due to the advent of zwift and smart trainers making inside riding so pleasurable.