00:00:03
what did you evolve to do and what are
00:00:05
you trying to do and if there's a
00:00:06
dissonance there let's understand it and
00:00:08
see if we can kind of somehow improve
00:00:10
the situation rather than like well
00:00:11
there's nothing you can do it's it's all
00:00:13
going to be a disaster that's clearly
00:00:15
not true but you know at least point out
00:00:17
where the challenges
00:00:20
are that was the premise of a book that
00:00:23
reshaped the thinking of many cyclists a
00:00:26
manual to help us understand and manage
00:00:28
the changes of Aging
00:00:30
the midlife cyclist set a direction for
00:00:33
me that I continue to follow and in 2025
00:00:36
its author releases a new
00:00:44
book just off one of London's busiest
00:00:46
streets in an unmarked old fire station
00:00:49
is cycle fit it's one of the original
00:00:52
Sports Performance centers for 23 years
00:00:55
amateur and professional bike riders
00:00:57
have used its services so what is this a
00:01:00
fire station yes I presumed it would be
00:01:03
being called the fire station philal is
00:01:06
a Pioneer in cycling biomechanics he's
00:01:09
the author of The midlife cyclist and
00:01:11
the book you'll probably want to buy
00:01:13
when it comes out the cycling addiction
00:01:16
essentially the last one was looking at
00:01:18
sort of biology this one is looking at
00:01:19
neurobiology why we do things why we do
00:01:22
things when it's going well and why we
00:01:23
do things when it's going badly and the
00:01:25
link between the two and looking at
00:01:27
looking at some new Concepts and new
00:01:29
ways of thinking about people whe they
00:01:31
engaging in intense exercise and
00:01:32
competition how they might have more
00:01:35
control um and make better choices U
00:01:39
because it seems to be that intelligence
00:01:40
is actually know insulator from bad
00:01:44
decisions uh in life generally speaking
00:01:46
but you know intelligent people don't
00:01:47
necessarily make better decisions so
00:01:50
this book really I've been spending my
00:01:52
whole two years talking to psychiatrists
00:01:55
neurobiologists team doctors athletes
00:01:58
current and past
00:02:00
some very very famous some you've never
00:02:01
heard of it's not a sensational book and
00:02:04
neither is it an academic book it's I
00:02:06
suppose it's written in the same tone as
00:02:07
this one is this one's I think the
00:02:09
midlife cyclist is a kind
00:02:11
[Music]
00:02:14
book it's also the book which ultimately
00:02:17
led me to create the older athlete
00:02:19
series and more videos are planned this
00:02:21
winter that kind approach just worked
00:02:24
for me take for example something many
00:02:26
of us now need reading
00:02:28
glasses the same things are happening
00:02:30
everywhere in our bodies just they're
00:02:31
not all quite so visible everything is
00:02:33
just changing and and and adjusting as
00:02:36
you get older and you either deny it and
00:02:38
just move it and stick it in a box under
00:02:40
your bed and forget about it or you try
00:02:42
and and flag it up and attenuate to
00:02:45
those changes and make rational um
00:02:48
calibrations to your bike and to your
00:02:50
lifestyle and with training it's like it
00:02:52
is very possible for people people um 50
00:02:56
60 70 to perform a really high level but
00:03:00
unlike young people uh it always has to
00:03:03
be thought about you don't get your 70y
00:03:05
old who just jumps on a bike now and
00:03:07
again and wins a race that ain't going
00:03:09
to happen you know if you if you want to
00:03:11
perform really well at 60 or 70 or even
00:03:15
mid-50s there's a lot of work that has
00:03:17
to go on so do things that do exactly
00:03:20
stress the body in in a completely
00:03:21
opposite way which is completely
00:03:23
accountable to what we were all taught
00:03:25
when we were in our 20s and 30s no if
00:03:27
you want to be a cyclist you know you
00:03:28
need to kind of calcif bu your body into
00:03:30
this kind of you know this kind of like
00:03:32
ride a bike ride a bike ride a bike
00:03:35
exactly it's like well actually that's
00:03:36
not always true it's certainly not true
00:03:38
for people as they get older they need
00:03:39
to do different they need to do
00:03:40
different things I mean do do you do you
00:03:42
go to the gym do you have stuff at home
00:03:44
do you do weights what do you do for
00:03:46
your strength training yes so I'm do as
00:03:48
I say not as I do I I like I'm a outdoor
00:03:51
person I like to do outdoory things so
00:03:54
um I the things that I will do I will do
00:03:56
lots of paddle boarding cuz you're
00:03:57
standing up right and it's very for your
00:04:00
core yeah uh and it's the same as for me
00:04:02
it's the same as cycling I'm getting the
00:04:04
same I'm getting the same it's good work
00:04:06
out for your upper body as well yeah
00:04:08
it's just good for everything and it's
00:04:09
it's the complete antidote to cycling my
00:04:12
daughter likes to go to the climbing
00:04:13
wall so the climbing wall is really good
00:04:14
for for middle-aged athletes where
00:04:17
cycling is all linear and controlled in
00:04:18
these repeated repeated lows on the body
00:04:21
whereas climbing is you're extending
00:04:23
these ranges you know it's by Nature
00:04:26
inherently you're moving in a different
00:04:27
way these are the kind so yes I'll do a
00:04:30
little bit of gym work but more I will
00:04:32
try and find activities that produce the
00:04:34
same results climbing wall paddle
00:04:35
boarding that kind of
00:04:39
thing Cycles fit is currently working
00:04:41
with pro team Education
00:04:45
First it's a working place oh my God
00:04:48
it's my a& e here um so this is how
00:04:51
looks but one of those is with with
00:04:52
jewels out in J so he's got all the new
00:04:55
riders coming in women and men and they
00:04:57
uh they will come in and they have to
00:04:59
have the new new kit new shoes new bikes
00:05:01
so he's out there working all that so
00:05:02
he's taken that one of those with him
00:05:05
Phil says the new book is a development
00:05:07
from the midlife cyclist aimed at a
00:05:09
wider range and drawing on more
00:05:11
specialist advice but another kind book
00:05:14
all day we're immersed in trying to make
00:05:18
athletes perform and function better
00:05:20
that's just you know it's it goes in by
00:05:22
osmosis which it in the walls so the
00:05:24
midlife cyclist was easier in that sense
00:05:27
I didn't have enough specialist
00:05:28
knowledge or credibility
00:05:30
or credentials to just write it all just
00:05:33
you know in one sitting all on my own so
00:05:36
I just reached out to people and I guess
00:05:39
the kindness is that in in how I reached
00:05:41
out how they
00:05:43
reciprocated and then how I used them
00:05:45
how they became into the book not in a
00:05:48
cold way but they they sort of became a
00:05:50
cast of characters I suppose and that's
00:05:52
what I mean by kindness that they that I
00:05:53
wanted to feel that those people who are
00:05:56
on my team who I talk to all the time um
00:05:59
um
00:06:00
you know I wanted to have them in the
00:06:02
book in a way that when you read it you
00:06:04
felt that they were now your your team
00:06:06
you know you you know you you could take
00:06:08
you could take their advice and also
00:06:09
kindness in the sense that I wanted
00:06:13
people to try and take away something
00:06:14
which would help them provoke them to
00:06:17
maybe just change something about the
00:06:18
way that they're they they are training
00:06:21
or racing in a very positive way they
00:06:23
something they found positive that was
00:06:25
useful and these are difficult subjects
00:06:27
you know this one is even the current
00:06:29
book is even more more difficult but
00:06:30
this is difficult because you're asking
00:06:31
people they love this sport they love
00:06:33
what they're doing they're getting older
00:06:35
on exercise is a great thing you know as
00:06:37
you get older and you're asking people
00:06:38
to modify so you know it is a little bit
00:06:41
of you know it's got to be you got to
00:06:43
introduce controversial things so it's
00:06:45
how you introduce them so you people
00:06:47
well I've always done it this way yeah
00:06:49
but you haven't always been 56 you know
00:06:51
so I feel it in myself it's you know I'm
00:06:55
no different it's the way things are
00:06:57
introduced and the way things are
00:06:58
discussed is really
00:07:02
important what's clear is how
00:07:04
enthusiastic Phil continues to be about
00:07:07
improving the performance of anyone at
00:07:09
any age and that's more than just going
00:07:12
faster and the big thing we were
00:07:14
interested in fascinated with was the
00:07:17
foot cuz we understood that the foot
00:07:20
functions differently in cycling than
00:07:22
any other environment other than
00:07:23
possibly skiing in s is a peculiar sport
00:07:26
because it's it's a sport where you
00:07:28
actually want to lock the foot you don't
00:07:30
want to facilitate movement so if you're
00:07:31
in every other sport walking running you
00:07:34
want to facilitate movement with with
00:07:35
cycling you actually want to block
00:07:37
movement you want to block lateral
00:07:39
Movement Like skiing actually and so the
00:07:42
idea being that you get the right shoe
00:07:44
and then you get the right level support
00:07:46
by casting the foot and then you build
00:07:48
in some compensation to stop any lateral
00:07:51
movement so if someone's going to
00:07:53
produce power they' got to produce power
00:07:54
across the metat but mainly the first
00:07:57
one cuz that's the biggest one so you
00:07:59
want to make sure they're not wasting
00:08:00
any time with a metas or trying to find
00:08:03
the this pedal with an orthotic you can
00:08:06
just lock the foot in the right position
00:08:08
and then as soon as they hit the power
00:08:10
stroke they they're producing power so
00:08:12
there's no there's no loss there's no
00:08:14
delay yeah so you got the first metat
00:08:16
tarle fifth metat tarle and then the the
00:08:19
the bridge of the metat tasel was there
00:08:21
and with this this person here they've
00:08:24
got what's called superat so the foot in
00:08:26
its best neutral position the first MP
00:08:29
the big one is elevated so what Mick has
00:08:32
done there is filling that Gap so as
00:08:33
soon as they come into the pass stroke
00:08:35
there's no like oh I need to get that
00:08:37
down they just they're gone so that's so
00:08:40
the power is for some people the power
00:08:42
is significant not for all people
00:08:44
depends on your foot type is yeah that
00:08:46
was the Epiphany static bodies Dynamic
00:08:48
bodies and then the role of the foot uh
00:08:51
but evaluating evaluating someone's
00:08:55
function and ranges of motion is is
00:08:57
massively important and presumably this
00:08:59
is where that molding happens on that
00:09:01
sort of thing that's where we do a
00:09:03
custom foot bed so if somebody doesn't
00:09:05
need an orthotic we'll just mold the
00:09:07
foot bed for them
00:09:08
right um and that's why we do that there
00:09:11
but if if if they need an orthotic then
00:09:13
that's actually a a proper cast so there
00:09:15
foot is cast on the table uh messy old
00:09:18
business uh but then you end up then you
00:09:21
end up with
00:09:22
this PL Paris yeah and then you can
00:09:25
recast off that so if you know so you
00:09:27
know someone loses their shoes or need
00:09:29
another pair of orthotics they just as
00:09:31
long as they've got that or we've got
00:09:32
that then we can recast probably lasts 3
00:09:35
years and then you have to
00:09:37
recast all of which becomes increasingly
00:09:40
important for older athletes once you've
00:09:43
gone through a full evaluation ranges
00:09:45
emotion someone's told you about all
00:09:46
their injuries and their legacy of
00:09:49
injuries and problems and you've done a
00:09:50
full functional movement screen you kind
00:09:53
of know what you're going to see
00:09:54
sometimes you're surprised but you sort
00:09:56
of know what you're going to see so you
00:09:57
know you're already thinking down the
00:09:59
track about the changes you're going to
00:10:00
make and recommend to make that person
00:10:02
function better and that's the
00:10:04
fascinating bit I
00:10:06
think I recorded a full 30-minute
00:10:09
interview with Phil Cavell so there's
00:10:10
more you can find that in the podcast
00:10:13
playlist on YouTube or wherever you get
00:10:15
your podcasts under always another
00:10:17
adventure the rest of the Elder athlete
00:10:19
series is here thank you for watching
00:10:22
goodbye
