First, the bad news. As we grow older, in addition to our declining senses (eyes, ears) we must also contend with reducing muscle fibre, hormones and bone density. Not everything goes down: our blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body weight, for example, move right on up. But our heartbeat max takes a drop and, as if all this wasn’t bad enough, our very cells just don’t work as well as they used to. Atrophy. But this shouldn’t lead us to think that we’re redundant just because our genomes didn’t evolve to last past our late 20s. Paleoanthropologist Rachel Caspari points to an exponential boost in art, culture and civic activity in the Upper Paleolithic era 30,000 years ago, at the same time as a demographic deflection or a shift in lifespan took place, resulting in our ancestors actually living long enough to become invested and contributing grandparents. Initially, Caspari was unsure whether the lifespan uplift in adult survivorship was due to biological/genetic factors or behavioural shifts. After screening our older ancestors from the Middle Paleolithic era – between 140,000 and 40,000 years ago – it became clear that a cultural shift had helped Stone Age grandparents make their offsprings’ lives markedly less Hobbesian – i.e. ‘nasty, brutish and short’. Performance pioneers Phil's book can help you be as good today as you always said you were ― Carlton Kirby, Eurosport commentator bike fitting makes good sense for every regular cyclist because the body adapts in potentially damaging ways to an unsuitable bike;

Ageing is scientifically one of the least understood areas of human health. Is that possibly because scientists are also human and therefore have a cognitive bias towards the holy grail of arresting, or even reversing, ageing instead of explaining the mechanisms at work? Let’s be very clear from the start – this book isn’t a training manual. There are many fabulous books that will walk you through periodised training methods, but this book explores the concept and philosophy of training, and whether it applies differently to midlife athletes. We question the underlying principles of training for cycling in ‘Midlife Performance – Too Late for Speed?’ I was surprised how much is still not known medically about the midlife athletic body. Longitudinal studies are being conducted. I wanted binary answers to binary questions much of the time, and sometimes this was not possible.I may start racing again, but then again I may try and not enjoy it or find that it is not for me anymore. My dad was a glider pilot and used to voice this old pilots law, There are breaks in virtual cycling. I’ve been in many. The chess game is still there. To take it a step further, I am able to discuss my next move with my mates in real-time as it is unfolding. I think it was Sean Kelly who said "The difference between amateurs and Professionals is that when an amateur isn't going well he will train harder whereas a pro will rest."

They opened Cyclefit bike-fitting classes in 2009 and went on to work with Trek Bicycles a little while later to help create their worldwide bike-fitting educational program. Cyclefit’s educational DNA is in almost every fitting studio in the UK and many around the world. They worked with Trek’s professional racing teams for many years.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. There may well have been plenty of times when our human ancestors pushed themselves to the brink of physical collapse, fleeing predators or pursuing food. But until very recently, the chances of someone surviving to even 40 years old were vanishingly rare. Indeed, the life expectancy of pre-industrial humans was about 30 years, so for all but a handful of our 300,000 generations of evolution from the great ape, a 40-year-old human is genetically irrelevant, a selective aberration. Reading this book, you sometimes feel that Cavell doesn’t really buy into his recipe of sensibly balanced training for the midlifer. “I’m the last person you should listen to when it comes to structured training”, he says. Another subtitle says “Lord save us from moderation.” One of those being why midlife female athletes seem to be better protected against heart disease. Why is that? I hypothecate with the help of cardiologists, but it is still not fully known.

cleats are only for keeping a firm connection to the pedal in a pre-adjusted stance to suit the user’s feet; A must-read... this brilliant book shows you that getting older doesn't mean getting slower! ― Alan Murchison, The Cycling chef and masters cycling championA 30-year lifespan seemed to be the upper end of the age spectrum for hundreds of thousands of generations of our ancestors for a very good reason. It allowed the individual to mature, breed and parent offspring to maturity. So, while there’s certainly evolutionary pressure for Homo sapiens to survive to 30 years old, that still leaves me very unlikely to win an all-out sprint against my 29-year-old self, whether on a bicycle at Eastway or running away from a hungry leopard. I’ll almost certainly lose because there’s plainly no selective imperative for me to win. Indeed, if you take a strictly gene-centric view, there’s actually a selective advantage to me losing a sprint for survival against a younger close family member, so they can survive and propagate shared genes through their offspring.