I was recently scrolling through my Facebook feed when a
race photo of Davide Rebellin popped up. Under the picture were a bunch of
comments stating that despite the fact he is turning 46 later this year, he was
still going strong ‘for his age’ with no signs of slowing down. This sparked
some debate amongst my teammates and me.
According to those comments, many people believe it is time
for him to hang up the bike, which led to the question---what is the best age
for racing? What I found out is that many believe the peak is in the early 30’s
and then it is all downhill from there.
And here I stand at 35 years old…..
Quickly attention turned to me. I am the oldest rider on
Team Novo Nordisk, which has promoted the youngest rider on the team to
nickname me ‘Grandpa Williams.’
I like to think that I am not on that inevitable ‘downhill
run.’
Over the last few years, I haven’t noticed that racing has
become harder due to my age or that it inhibits me from competing in any way.
Even when I was younger and racing locally in Australia, the 35+ or Masters
category was often faster than the Elite riders. We would put it down to the
fact that they often had the best equipment but at the end of the day, age did
not slow them down.
There are a few differences I have noticed after this many
years on the bike. For starters, these days I need a good warm up. In the past,
I used to jump on my bike and go straight into a full gas effort without any
warm up at all. I could attack from the start line without any hesitation and
go from 0 to 100% was no problem. Nowadays, I need to warm up before I can turn
the pedals in anger and if I don’t, my legs feel terrible.
People always told me that as you get older, it gets much
harder to lose weight. I haven’t found this to be true. It’s not more difficult
to lose weight, but it sure is easier to put it on! When I was at university, I
lived on a diet that was pretty much made up of bread, pasta, and noodles and
my weight barely changed. If I tried to do that now, my weight would blow out
pretty quickly.
When I first started cycling, I was at university and
weekends were a mixture of going out with friends and racing my bike. I would
often be out until the early hours of the morning and after only a couple hours
of sleep; I could head out to race my bike without a second thought. These
days, if I don’t get a good night’s sleep, then I struggle to get out of bed in
the morning. Long gone are the late nights and I’m often in bed before most
people here in Spain head out for dinner.
My posture is not what it used to be. My wife quite often
makes comments about how poor my posture has become. As I type this, I am
sitting at my laptop in a position more accustomed to riding a time trial than
working at a desk. I tell my wife that I am just more ‘aerodynamic,’ but she
thinks I am going to become a hunchback in my old age. Spending hours on end on
my bike has resulted in it becoming the more comfortable position.
I feel a day off the bike more than I used to. If I have to
choose between a recovery day off the bike or a short, easy ride, then I will
definitely take the ride. If I don’t, I feel much worse and seem to notice the
aches and pains a little more. I feel much better if I keep moving and do some
active recovery. I have never been a firm believer in the benefits of
stretching, but I am also beginning to come around on the topic.
When I was younger, I would ride no matter what. If I felt
tired, sore or on the verge of getting sick, I would still get out and ride.
This often ended in fatigue or coming down with an illness that required days
of rest. These days, I know my body better and recognize when I need to take it
easy and rest. This has become very important as I have witnessed many of my
younger teammates go through periods of fatigue and injury due to trying to
push their bodies too far and refusing to rest when necessary.
My days of being young and invincible may be behind me but
with age comes wisdom and I like to think that has far more benefits. I live by
the adage that you are only as young as you feel and for now, I still feel
great when I am out on the bike. Davide Rebellin has 10 years on me and is
still going strong. At his age, I can only hope to be half as fit as he is.
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