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FTP became the unabashed god. And we had become the crash-test dummies for future generations who wanted to explore elite physical fitness into middle-age and beyond. bike fitting makes good sense for every regular cyclist because the body adapts in potentially damaging ways to an unsuitable bike; Would I push myself to that brink of physical shutdown, either in training or competition, at my current age of 58? If the answer is ‘no’, then where is the line that I will not cross and what is its intellectual underpinning? If the answer is ‘yes’, and I should push the performance envelope without regard to age, then am I risking injury or even death?” Mental health gets some useful coverage which fits in really well with the press coverage this important issue is getting. Good mental health is one of the reasons I’ve always ridden, in fact if I haven’t ridden for a few days my other half bundles me out of the door and tells me to do a couple of hours on the bike so that I’m more bearable to live with. It’s interesting what he says about indoor cycling, in that while it’s convenient and effective, it doesn’t have the same mental health benefits as riding outdoors, so we should all try to ride outdoors as often as possible. Until the last few decades, 70- or 80-year-old athletes barely existed. Now there are plenty. But at this age, everything needs to be considered more.”
I have had the pleasure of knowing Phil for a bit over a decade. We collaborated on hundreds of custom bikes for Cyclefit clients, and during that time he shared volumes of experience with me. When he told me he was writing a book, I was eager to read it.
The 50s: how is my body changing?
If you're going to exercise immoderately after certain ages, is cycling worse or better for you than something like running or swimming, or are there different advantages? physician or nutritionist, for example. We will meet all of these people in future columns. Exercise may well be the finest drug the pharmaceutical industry never invented, but can we also have too much of a good thing? Should the ideal prescription dose change as we age? And is the advice different for new and returning exercisers compared to lifelong athletes? These questions will be examined next issue. As a last word on data, I’ll leave you with this thought: we may well demand ever more accurate ways to record, slice and dice our training metrics, but every data set is just an abstract house of cards without the solid foundations provided by a deep understanding of biology and psychology, how it is changing over time and how that relates to you and your life. Many amateurs perpetually train and ride in what Dr Baker calls a ‘whirlwind of doom’ where an overestimation and obsession with an FTP (functional threshold power – the highest average power output you can sustain for an hour) means that we tend to set our training levels too high and, as a consequence, are training the wrong systems and incrementally embedding fatigue that we then struggle to shake off if we're older, because our hormonal responses are less responsive and dynamic — is this ringing any bells?
The bike is quite flattering as it is low loading, but sitting on your turbo trainer at 350 watts for 20 minutes does nothing for bone density or muscle mass,” says Cavell. Phil is eminently qualified to write The Midlife Cyclist. Well, he is certainly old enough.' – Fabian Cancellara, Tour de France rider and two-time Olympic champion Not just cycling? Yes. A balanced training programme for the cyclist might also include a couple of weekly weights sessions, or “resistance training”, which will combat sarcopenia (that’s muscle-loss to you and me) and maybe the occasional run if your joints can stand it (good for sarcopenia but also bone density).
I am blown away by the level of detail Phil Cavell brings to his work― Elinor Barker MBE, multiple world champion and Olympic gold medallist Get lots of rest too. “Sleep is when you produce HGH, which will keep you performing well in your 40s,” says Cavell. Cyclefit provide a great personalised service that focuses on giving you exactly what you need. They are extremely knowledgable and friendly and no request/requirement is too difficult for them." PM Cycling is definitely going to feel harder now. But if you can keep cycling, you’re much less likely to suffer from certain diseases.
Interesting, although with perhaps too much of the medico-technical for my slender intellect to absorb. Angus, a fellow cyclist with strong interest in sport and training mentioned it. The book has lots of discussion and exploration of performance athletes, which is interesting, as much as anything because I have never, ever considered myself to be one and I take no interest in spectator sports. But such humans are undoubtedly extraordinary in their combination of mental attitudes and physiological adaptation. But he does also deal with non-athletes. With a longstanding partner, he runs Cycle Fit, a consultancy in Covent Garden. They have helped many people recover from injuries and have improved the bike setup and performance of many more. You will certainly feel a lot stiffer after rides. “In your 50s, your joints, tendons and ligaments get less flexible,” says Roberts. “The discs in the spine also dehydrate, so they become less gooey and cushioned. You may feel less flexible and be at risk of more injuries.” Writing the book has made me a more grateful and humble athlete/person. Understand my body more. Forgive it and myself more when it lets me down and doesn’t want to do what I want.
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To boost your functional fitness and bone and muscle health in older age, keep up those resistance-training habits from the previous decades. And add in extra challenges, such as single-leg balance drills. Starts well. Good science - especially about potential adverse effects of excessive exercise on the ageing cyclist (and by extension) the older athlete (all a bit scary but the literature cited is slim). Useful stuff on nutrition and the value of cross-training.
I know many midlife cyclists who do, and I hope you find out, Mr. Cavell. I feel bad that there are things you don’t know about virtual cycling and are missing out on something great. Phil Cavell is co-founder at Cyclefit in London. His book The Midlife Cyclist is published by Bloomsbury If there was one piece of advice you would give someone who wants to advance their cycling past the age of 40 or 50, what would it be?
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Nigel is a friend, a client, and I'm a patient of his. So our relationship is quite multilayered. And he's in the book because one, he is a superb cardiologist and second, he's a superb cyclist. And thirdly, he comes out with the best pithy one-liners I've ever heard. The one you're alluding to, I think, is that we trade cardiovascular and cognitive protection for the occasional orthopaedic incident, which is just beautiful. The heart of the matter is that if you cycle hard or moderately, you're almost certainly going to be cognitively protected and have cardiovascular protection. But you are occasionally going to fall off and hurt something. That's the proposition. Alejandro Valverde, aged 41 and thriving in the pro peloton (Image: Getty) Age-related muscular decline affects balance,” says Roberts. “So falls are a major problem in your 70s and 80s, and breaking a bone can be harder to recover from at this age.” What changes should I make?
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