Hello everyone,

Well, I'm in a good position to talk about it! After 40, work, responsibilities, children, your dear wife: so many factors that mean that we no longer do sport or that we don't have enough free time to train!

Can we progress by bike past forty? Whether you're starting from scratch or almost, apart from professional runners who have their best years behind them, why not consider raising your level and enjoying yourself after 40? Of course it's possible to do it...

You can always improve no matter your age.

Of course, as far as I'm concerned, I didn't start from scratch. I already had, let's say, old remnants from my youth, as I had ridden in the FFC, but that was more than 25 years ago!

I still rode from time to time, but I did about ten outings a year. It's not completely stopping cycling, but close...

Take care of your tendons!

After a certain age, we have a few little problems that young people don't have, it's true: tendons that harden, we are no longer able to go up a gear like that, without warming up for a long time or without stretching afterwards...

 

From a cardiac point of view :

Even if we see relatively young athletes having cardiovascular accidents, at 40 years old, when you start cycling again and you want to do it a little seriously, it is still better to do a stress test on a bicycle preferably.

Might as well avoid a heart attack, eh...

There are sports clinics, such as Sportiva near Lille, with podiatrists and cardiologists specializing in sports, and it is best to have a check-up when you are about to do any exercise. cyclosportive or regular outings.

Every year on Mont Ventoux, a place of pilgrimage for cycling enthusiasts, some of whom are more or less well-prepared, cyclists have cardiovascular accidents.

I saw some again last year so be careful when you start exercising again!

Especially if you have a history of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk in your family.

One of the secrets when you want to get back into sport and progress after a certain age is consistency and patience!

Above all, you must not be in a hurry and want to go, as they say, faster than the music...

Your body reacts more slowly, but it still reacts when you put it through training after 40.

If you subject yourself to a progressive training load, there is no problem, your body continues to react and the phenomenon of overcompensation still exists.

You are limited by certain physical factors: your maximum heart rate in particular, but for everything else, your body is always capable of adapting to the effort and progressing over time.

Over the course of a year, by starting cycling seriously again, at the age of 43, I have personally lost 25 kilos and considerably increased the speed at which I am (still) able to ride.

In July 2017, I just completed my 2nd stage of the Tour and the first 100 kilometers at an average speed of over 35!

When I started going out again at lunchtime during my lunch break at work, I had a hell of a time doing one-hour outings at an average of 27 or 28 km per hour. When I was at 28 km per hour, I was really happy, it wasn't bad. A year later, I'm able to do solo outings at 33 or 34 km per hour and when I join a group that rides fast, that I regularly meet during my lunch training sessions, well, these are outings that end with an average of 35 or 36 km per hour without me being completely exhausted...

Above all, don't skip any steps: if you're not used to doing endurance sports like cycling, you absolutely must start by working on your endurance .

If you don't have stamina, there's no point in going out to clubs or going out with friends. You'll push each other, you'll ride faster than you're physically capable of handling, and you'll do more harm than good to your body.

When you do an endurance ride at a pace between 60 and 80% of your maximum heart rate (MHR), your muscle builds: it develops fibers that will provide the oxygen necessary for the proper functioning of your muscular system.

It's essential to do endurance rides for several weeks, if not two or three months, to develop these muscle fibers. If you skip these steps, you'll regret it later when you need to work on a little more power or a little more speed.

If you want to keep up with your friends, ride in a club where there are groups of different levels, don't be ashamed to join a group that will allow you to ride at this cruising speed of 65 to 80% of your FCM and which will not put you in the red.

This is what will allow you to develop the endurance you will need to have later in the season.

At one time, this is what coaches and trainers made young people do at the start of the season when they banned them from riding on the main grid.

The idea was this: to work on both endurance and velocity and gestures. When you have a pedaling rhythm that is between 80 and 100 revolutions per minute, you work on velocity. You do not necessarily use your muscles in power and strength, but this will allow you to acquire this automatic gesture, this perfect gesture in terms of efficiency.
This smooth pedaling, a movement without breaking in neutral which will allow you to be much more efficient later in the season when you want to take gears or develop more power on hills or passes.

Finally, after 40 years, the recovery is not that of a young 25-year-old!

At 25, you're as fresh as a daisy after a ride in just a few hours! After a big ride at 40, you need to be particularly careful about hydration and your diet.
We, the “old” lol, it will take us much longer to recover… Some training sessions reduce this recovery time and there are athletes who recover faster than others but nevertheless if you pay attention to eating well: to recharging your batteries when you return, recovery will be easier.

For lunch or dinner, make sure you load up on carbohydrates (starches) to replenish your glycogen and fuel stores, and take care with your protein intake to nourish your muscles. A good diet will boost your recovery abilities.

A recovery drink can also help you, if necessary, to recover better, here

recovery drinks

The massage !

You can also use an electrostimulation device to do recovery massages. I use it regularly after big outings when I feel muscle tension and frankly it's super effective in addition to classic stretching...
With good equipment it works very, very well.