Your muscle mass, bone density and hormone levels will have seriously dipped. You might also begin to lose your sense of balance, which can cause problems on a bike. In the first of a series of articles on training through midlife and beyond, Phil Cavell ponders the nature of ageing and data 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. Very useful article for people of any age. Unfortunately the images were mostly decorative and an opportunity was missed to match and interplay more usefully with the text content. In Chapter One, The Ageing Cyclist – Growing Old Disgracefully, the author skillfully dissects and disseminates cutting-edge research and interviews of prominent authorities in genetics, metabolism, orthopedics, physiology, endocrinology, pulmonology, and cognition.

As a parent, I look at my 11-year old daughter and encourage her to revel in her youth and energy. To run and jump and cycle with glee whenever she can.

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The bike is quite flattering as it is low loading, but sitting on your turbo trainer at 350 watts for 20 minutes does nothing for bone density or muscle mass,” says Cavell.

We need to do more work now,” warns Cavell. “In my opinion, that means dropping out cycling sessions and adding in resistance training, running and walking.” 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." Cycling is actually prescribed by a lot of orthopaedic surgeons now for people with arthritis because it has such positive effects,” says Roberts. Controversially, I’m going to suggest a few midlife amendments to current training orthodoxy. The first is that we drop all the other strata of training, other than low intensity (LIT) and high intensity (HIT) training. We'll define LIT as anything below aerobic threshold, which coach Fox recommends could be as high as 70-80 per cent of maximum heart rate, but thinks is actually better executed at around 60-70 per cent of maximum. Dr Baker agrees with this and adds the context that ‘it's almost impossible to go too low’ for LIT or oxidative training, meaning that the most important principle to observe is that you must actually be oxidative, which you won't be if you go too high. A Midlife Cyclist is written by Rachel Ann Cullen. The book is about Rachel’s cycling journey to heal a broken mind and find joy.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Phil for a bit over a decade. We collaborated on hundreds of custom bikes for Cyclefit clients, and during that time he shared volumes of experience with me. When he told me he was writing a book, I was eager to read it. Rachel worked hard to transform her situation and continues with her running and cycling activities.