We hope these stories show that you don’t need to be a child prodigy to be a pro, and you can compete well into your 40s and over.

You might notice that where Evelyn is still living it up in road races, both Shaw and Armstrong performed best in time trials.

Research shows that it is the higher end, Vo2 max efforts (super hard, short bursts) that decline first as you age, followed by lactate threshold (efforts held for around an hour), whilst exercise economy is unchanged much later into life.

This study determined: “Peak endurance performance is maintained until ∼35 years of age, followed by modest decreases until 50–60 years of age, with progressively steeper declines thereafter.”

And where were the declines? “A progressive reduction in vo2 max appears to be the primary mechanism associated with declines in endurance performance with age. A reduction in lactate threshold…also contributes… although this may be secondary to decreases in vo2 max. In contrast, exercise economy (i.e. metabolic cost of sustained submaximal exercise) does not change with age in endurance-trained adults.”

Effectively, performance over shorter events is more affected by age, whilst endurance is less affected, even improved as riders develop in skill, and learn to better understand their bodies.

Of course, Glynis’ track Sprint medal shows us that there are no rules -and age most certainly is not ever a barrier. What are you waiting for?