How To Stay Cycling Fit Over 60 – Top Tips To Defy The Years On The Bike

Whether you’re a lifelong cyclist, looking for new ways to stay fit as you get older or are the founder of road.cc, these cycling fitness tips are for you! Make your 60s and beyond the best years on your bike yet!

Road cycling, gravel cycling, cycle commuting and just about every other kind of cycling are great ways of keeping fit, especially as you get older. We’ve enlisted the help of a coach to get some advice on how to best approach cycling at age 60 and above.

https://road.cc/content/feature/fit-over-60-cycling-fitness-tips-306263

Let us know any of your tips on cycling for over 60s in the comments section below…

With thanks to Jason Streather from PDQ Cycle Coaching: https://pdqcyclecoaching.co.uk/

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You might have seen our recent video about cycling for the over fifties and how to boost your fitness, but a lot of you have asked what about our cyclists who’ve had a few more birthdays than that? I’ve been joined by Jason Reva, um, of PDQ Cycle Coaching. Hello, Jason? Hello. Hello. I’m alright.

Um, to, to talk about cycling for the over sixties. So we’ll ask the most obvious question first. Um, which is, why is cycling good for the over sixties? I mean, it’s good for the over forties and the over fifties, so I’m not,

I can’t see why it wouldn’t be good for the over sixties, but why is it particularly good when you hit your sixties? Well, I’m a bit biased ’cause I love it, but anyway, but, um, it’s low impact And of course, yeah. Actually thinking about it low impact

As we age is, is important really. ’cause our bodies have actually a bit of wear, taking a bit wear pound aren’t, they’ve taken a bit of wear and tear by the time he hit his sixties. Some of these questions, I’ll say it now, were written by a younger man than me.

Are, are there any things that you need to look out for that would tell you that you need to stop cycling? You don’t need to stop, but I always recommend when I’m looking after someone in their forties, fifties, 60, 70, eighties mm-Hmm.

To have a good old health check every year to make sure because that any underlying problems can pick it up. Yeah. So it’s not even That surface. Yeah. Um, you No, That’s for Yeah. So it’s common sense really, isn’t It? It’s, it’s common. It’s common sense. So for a lot of cyclists,

And not just racing cyclists going fast or feeling like you’re going fast, um, is one of the things that is most enjoyable about cycling. Should, should you give up on the, on the idea that you’re gonna be fast in your sixties? Never.

No. As a time and place to do, to do everything. Yeah. Um, and it, it’s nice to get fit enough Mm-Hmm. That you can challenge yourself to go fast up a hill. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Down to the race. Yeah. You know, and, and, and there’s obviously that days you’re just

Cruise around and you join Countryside and also speed is relative, isn’t it? Yeah. I mean, especially if you’re riding on your own and you are measuring yourself against yourself, That’s what you gotta do. Yeah. You mustn’t compare yourself. I’m Gonna match a 20-year-old. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Unless you’re very special 60-year-old. Yeah.

So we got to take it in context to how old we are and where and where we are. If you’ve imagined all your life or you just it beginner cyclists Yeah. Know You can always set goals Knowing your body I guess. And uh, for a lot of us older cyclists, we probably have

That advantage over some of our younger cycling And not beating yourself up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You’ve got to be realistic, that’s the thing. Yeah. Yeah. That’s definitely the thing that I’ve learned as I’ve got older is to be realistic about what you can do

And also not to do, not to push yourself too hard. I know this sounds sort of counterintuitive for a lot of people, but I want to be able to do it again tomorrow and the day after that. And the day after that. If you’re happy, a happy cyclist. Always a fast cyclist.

And that’s what I always tell all my people, you know what I mean? So that’s speed dealt with. I’m assuming that like maintaining muscle mass is going to be key here. And I’m also wondering whether there’s gonna be differences here for men and women, um, as they age.

It is a, it is a big thing. We, when you are younger, you can get away with every, a lot of things, can’t you? Yeah. But as soon as you get forties, the fifties, we lose three to 5% of, uh, muscle. Yeah. In every, in every decade. Yeah.

So we have to work on that. Yeah. When we get into our fifties, when we get in the sixties and seventies. Yeah. We have to work on that even more. Yeah. ’cause it does accelerate as you go past these sixties. It does, doesn’t It? Yeah. And, um, ladies post menopause. Mm-Hmm.

It accelerates even more. Yeah. So in theory Yeah. They have to work on on even more and even earlier sometimes. Right. So that, that could be another subject for Future Yeah, yeah, yeah. Future Talking about that. Yeah. So, um, you haven’t got to do weight training. You haven’t gotta be a bodybuilder. Yeah.

You know what I mean? I don’t ask people to do that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Even you can do some strength exercise, it’s just normal squats. Yeah. That’s what I do. I squat squats and um, some press ups and things like That. Yeah. And that’s and that’s good.

Then you can move if if you get into it Yeah. You can go to the gym Yeah. And do and do some stuff and you can do some cable work And things like that. The reason I ride a bike is so I don’t have to go to the gym. But anyway,

But all this takes time. Yeah. And you have to fit it around life. Yeah. So Whatever works best for people. And the other thing is we, we lose quite a lot from our forties upwards and it accelerates when our fifties and sixties Is that VO two? Yeah. That Little

Extra kick Extra, that extra kick that when you’re going up that little one one minute climb. Yeah. Yeah. I used to be able to punch over there. Yeah, Well You lose that. Yeah. You know, I mean we’re just getting over it and nowadays, you know what I mean? Especially when you’re getting older,

It depends whether you, you are new to the sport. Yeah. If you find all your life, you’re probably fine. You can still go out and do 3, 4, 5 hour Rides, Might matter. Fuel matter fuel a bit more energy drink where you are younger, you probably get through it a bit easier.

Um, whether someone coming in new into the sport Mm-Hmm. Um, they might be strong. Um, but they would, you would wanna build them up to their endurance. Yeah. Yeah. They still need to build it up. I mean also ’cause part of endurance to me, I always think is psychological.

Some of it is in your, is in your head, you know how long you can, you can Keep it going. You can keep it going. Mm-Hmm. Um, and as you say, fueling is is very much a and also I wonder as well if older cyclists do have an advantage in

That you’ve got a lot of muscle memory there. If you’ve been riding for a long time, you Know, you get tired. Yeah. And one, the one dividers who’ve been doing it a long time Yeah. They, they, they set to a certain pace and they can carry on, can’t they?

Yeah. Yeah. Where someone who hasn’t built that up in their Yeah. You know, endurance and the fitness new to it, they will just go bang, won’t they? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, yeah. You have to stop and get a Mars bar or something. Just anything from garage just to get home, don’t you? Yeah.

We’ve all been at some point. Yeah. Indeed. We did our video on, uh, fitness for the over fifties about how their training would change from your forties to your fifties, but presumably it would also change a bit of what you should be doing or what most

Of it should be doing from your fifties to your sixties. It might in theory. Yeah. I’m not, not everyone’s, everyone’s different. Everyone’s different. Everyone. I treat everyone different to how they are. Yeah. Yeah. But you need, you might need more recovery.

Yeah. And um, I still like to do the the 80 20. Yeah. Um, When we’re younger we can, you can do more, more efforts can’t you? Yeah. The older we get we need a bit more recovery. Yeah. But as long as you’re doing those short efforts. Yeah.

Um, a couple times a week Mm-Hmm. That keeps those fast tritch muscles going. The vo two max going sometimes. Is that strength a punch? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That keeps it going. But the rest of the time we’re doing steady and rise at zone one, zone two.

Yeah. But then if you’re tired, you need, I like to ride as and listen to their bodies too. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. And if you are really tired, uh, you just have to rest and recover. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I always three days training Yeah.

And a rest. Yeah. But then all, all is my 80-year-old. He does one day, one day on, one day off, one day on, one day off. Yeah. Like that. It all changed, all changes. Obviously We talked about, uh, muscle mass, uh, and exercises to help maintain that.

But what about diet? Do we need to think about our diets when we get in terms of what we do? We like, for instance, we need to be eating more protein. You see a lot of people say, well, as you, one of the things to, That’s one of the big things.

Yeah. You know, you, you eating, having, having some protein and um, even having some protein after you, you know, train ride. Yeah. Get it in you in the first 20 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? If you go, if you do go on your turbo

Trainer, do and do a little hit session, having that. ’cause we, we, when you get older, we need to recover. Yeah. And The protein, the protein is repairing your muscle. It’s gonna do that. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s, that’s one of the biggest things, right. Um, getting that protein down you and,

And repairing, repairing the body. And I guess you’ve just gotta find the right protein that works for you, whether you’re a, if you are, uh, whether you’re a omnivore or a vegetarian or or a vegan. But there are plenty of different protein sources out there that work for everyone. So obviously

Sometimes just easy to have a protein drink, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? But it’s always good to have food. Obviously our metabolism slows Mm-Hmm. The older we get. I used to eat like a horse when I was young. You know, you shovel the food,

You don’t you Yeah. Don’t do that anymore. No, same here. Actually. Yeah. I’m eating less. I space it and I space it out more, you know, space. My, my natural rhythm has ended up, I it is very fashionable. This like, um, fasting sort of thing, isn’t it? Mm-Hmm.

And I, and I’ve turns out I’ve been doing that for years, but it’s just like, it was the, it’s just the rhythm of my, you know, the way I live, I guess lifestyle. I still have big dinners. Yeah. Same. But I tend to have lots of salad. Yeah.

Beef, oats salad and, and um, vegetables. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, and that’s good for your immune system too. And just beef everything out with that. We’ve Covered nutrition, but what about exercise off the bike? I mean, are we talking essentially then weight bearing exercises like we mentioned earlier, Weight bearing exercises.

So we’ve done that, trying to keep our strength there and Flexibility and Cool. Well, yeah, exactly. ’cause obviously when we were probably younger. Yeah. I dunno about you, but I was, no, I was a cyclist and we didn’t do it, did we? No, I know, I know. Yeah.

I started doing flexibility in my late forties and that is actually probably, um, pardon the pun, the core part of my daily exercise routine is actually flexibility. Like, you know, um, cat and cowing Yeah. And, and a bit of planking and all that sort of stuff. I’m Impressed. That’s very, that’s very good.

So it is, it it no, it is very important. Yeah. You know, I mean the older we get trying to do some flexibility. Well, I noticed it, it, it, um, improved my comfort on the bike. I always used to, like, after a long ride, I’d come home

And have a little bit of like lower back pain. Yeah, yeah. On one side and doing and doing that, you know, the cat and cow every day. I mean only for like, you know, a few minutes. I I I do about 10 minutes a day. The other thing is Pilates and yoga. Yeah,

Yeah, yeah. And, and go to a, you can do watch on YouTube or go to a club. Yeah. And it’s a social then, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. So you get an out, you can take your Wife and also that’s the thing is yeah.

You, you, um, you can really work on your technique then. Yeah. That’s the, that’s the thing that I always am aware of is that I’m doing it on my own. So yeah. I watch the videos on YouTube and I look at myself in the roof.

I did it in the kitchen. So look at myself in the reflection in the cooker to make sure that I’m Yeah. You know, ’cause it’s easy to shortcut on these things because That’s right. Because if you’ve got the wrong technique, you can hurt yourself. Yeah, exactly. If you’ve got the wrong technique

With doing weights, you’ll hurt yourself. Yeah. So It’s Not, I’m not, you could No, you end up worse in the worst position. Yeah. You can do. Yeah. So technique is key for all, all this, For all of these things. Yeah. It’s not, and it’s, as I say, it has benefits,

Massive benefits off the bike too. That leads us on talking about flexibility to talking about your position on the bike Now, does that need to change as you, as you get Over? It’s changed. It’s changed since I was riding me 2030. Yeah. It’s Involved. I mean, I’m guessing though, for most of us

Or for those of us who’ve been riding a long time, this, you’ve evolved your position and by the time you get into your sixties, you are probably pretty comfortable with it. And maybe what you need to do is just be listening to your body to see if you need to adjust it. Yes.

Yeah. I’ve become more relaxed on, on the bike. Yeah. So I stem higher up. But yeah. But um, yeah, I’ve always, it’s nice to have a bike fit. Yeah. You know, and that could change every few years, couldn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. Especially a different bike because, you know,

Depending on, if you work on your flexibility Yeah. That will help you on the bike for comfort. Yeah. And, and Oh definitely you can Get to certain positions, otherwise you could be just upright. You can’t bend your back and things like, so, and then you’re hitting all the wind, aren’t you? Yeah.

Yeah. That’s even harder to divide a bike Then, isn’t it’s Yeah, indeed it is. Yeah. Some of us, as I say, if you’re an experienced cyclist getting out there on the busy roads of Britain or wherever you are, if the roads are busy, um, probably isn’t that daunting.

You’re probably used to it. Um, but what if you’re a, a newer cyclist, uh, or you just, you know, things have made you more nervous about traffic and the potential for falls and, Um, it’s always good to go out with a friend. Yeah. Maybe experienced rider. If, if or

If you know one. Yeah. If you know one, I suppose you can join. Well, the other thing to do Is, is possibly join a club. Join a club. Exactly. I suppose. And the other, the way of avoiding traffic is to ride indoors. I mean, it’s not like, that’s not

Yeah. It get you fit. Yeah. It will Get, it will, It will get you, it will get you fit. But obviously when you’re out on the road, you’re using all your, you Are using your core. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You’re using Your, your Body. And also I just like being out in

Nature. I mean, that’s part of the, That’s what’s about being cycling and, and technically the older we get, apparently our reactions slowed, don’t they? Yeah. So I’ve been told Yeah. So and more we doing on, on the road. Yeah. Um, I suppose that keeps ’em sharp. Keeps

’em sharp, you know what I mean? Yeah. If I had to change three things, um, and I’m saying I as your general 60 something cyclist had to change three things, what would the three things be? Strengthening conditioning. Yeah. Right. Put that in there. Your flexibility. Yeah. And stretching. That might probably goes

Into the strength and conditioning too. Yeah. And your recovery. Mm-Hmm. You got, you know, we’ve gotta remember we need little extra recovery when we were 20 year olds. Yeah. And I’m All about the resting meal already, so that’s fine. And then just enjoying, enjoying riding your bike. Yeah. I think that’s key, really.

I mean, as I say, for a lot of cyclists, I guess who are hitting their sixties or in their sixties, if you’ve got to this point and you’re still riding your bike, you must enjoy it. Yeah. I’d hope you, you’re still, you haven’t been doing 50 years of on the bike, um,

Just to punish yourself. If you’re happy, if you’re happy on the Bike, you will end, probably tend to be quite fast on the bike and enjoy it. And that’s what it’s all About. Thanks for joining us in this video. Um, if you come back in 10 years time,

I’ll be doing the cycling in the, for the over seventies. Look forward to that one. See you then.