(PeteCresswell) said:Per Phil, Squid-in-Training:
Quoted message said:on the 10 road rides I do per year, I average 15-16 alone and
about 18 in a group. And I'm about 1/2 or 1/3 of everyone's age at 21.
Take heart. You're probably making a lot of us geezers feel better about their
average speeds.
You should be careful with the term "geezer", capacity doesn't fall off
as fast as most people assume, especially if people continue to ride at
high intensity and don't get fat as they age. There've been new studies:
<http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0697.htm>
If you take a look at a pure performance race, like the Mt. Washington
climb (or RAAM), and look at the results by age group, it can be
surprising. Most people give up and get lazy as they age. It doesn't
have to be that way. I know a few people with artificial hips and knees,
they're still riding, in some cases harder than ever. Those kinds of
medical conditions would have you spending your golden years hobbling
with a cane just a few years ago. I think between the advances in
medicine and better understanding of the process of aging, things will
improve (at least in possibility) at a rapid pace. It was only a few
years ago that medical researchers discovered that weight lifting had
the same benefit (in terms of % strength improvement) at virtually any
age. It's hard to believe they knew so little (and spent so little time
on it).
Ray Kurtzweil has a new book out, his basic premise is that we're about
to hit a "knee" in the longevity curve due to medical advances. His
recommended strategy is to "make the curve", by staying as healthy as
you can between now and then. Sounds good, like what's there to loose?
