International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2018, 13, 112-114

https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2017-0019
© 2018 Human Kinetics, Inc. BRIEF REPORT

Maximal Aerobic Power in Aging Men:

Insights From a Record of 1-Hour Unaccompanied Cycling
Carlo Capelli

Purpose: To analyze best 1-h unaccompanied performances of master athletes in ages ranging from 35 to 105 y to estimate the
decay of maximal aerobic power (MAP) across the spectrum of age. Methods: MAP at the various ages was estimated by
computing the metabolic power (Ė c ) maintained to cover the distances during best 1-h unaccompanied performances established by
master athletes of different classes of age and by assuming that they were able to maintain an Ė c equal to 88% of their MAP during
1 h of exhaustive exercise. Results: MAP started monotonically decreasing at 47 y of age. Thereafter, it showed an average rate of
decrease of ∼14% for the decades up to 105 y of age, similar to other classes of master athletes. Conclusions: The results confirm,
by extending the analysis to centennial subjects, that MAP seems to start declining from the middle of the 5th decade of age, with an
average percentage decay that is faster than that traditionally reported, even when one maintains a very active lifestyle. The
proposed approach may be applied to other types of human locomotion for which the relationship between speed and Ė is known.

Keywords: master athletes, best 1-hour unaccompanied performance, energy cost of cycling, aging

The decays of maximal aerobic power (MAP) and of anaerobic
capacity were recently estimated in cycling master athletes from 35
to 80 years of age by analyzing their absolute best performances in
track competitions.1 It was suggested that MAP would start
declining after 45 years of age, with an average decay of about
16%/decade.
These results were questioned by other authors2 who pro-
posed, based on a similar analysis extended to other age groups, an
earlier onset of the decay of MAP (around 26 y). In addition, they
also observed that the average rate of decline of MAP per decade is
indeed lower (~12.1%).
On January 4, 2017, Mr Robert Marchand established (Paris,
France) the best 1-hour unaccompanied cycling performance at
105 years of age, covering 22,457 m in 1 hour. What it is even more
noteworthy is that Mr Marchand is also the current holder of the
best 1-hour unaccompanied performances for master athletes at 103
and 101 years—in 2012 he covered 24,251 m and in 2014 he
pedaled the distance of 26,927 m in 1 hour!
These remarkable results prompted us to reappraise the issue
of the decay of MAP with age, trying to extend the limit of the
explored ages up to 105 years.
To this aim, we used, along with Marchand’s performances, the
best 1-hour unaccompanied performances of master cyclists (Table 1)
(http://www.cyclingmasters.com, accessed on June 11, 2015).
Methods
To estimate MAP, we first need to calculate the metabolic power
(Ė c ) maintained by the athletes for 1 hour. Ėc was calculated by
neglecting the effect of acceleration from the stationary start as the
product of the total energy cost of cycling per unit of distance on a
flat terrain (Cc) times the ground speed, s. In turn, Cc is given by
The first term is the metabolic energy spent against rolling
resistance given by the overall mass Mt (85 kg = 75-kg body
mass + 10-kg frame) times the coefficient Crr, which is the amount
of energy spent over a unit of distance and per unit of the overall
mass against frictional forces times the acceleration of gravity
(g, m/s2). The value of this term depends on the characteristics
of the tires and of the terrain,3 which, for Mt = 85 kg and for
Crr = 0.031 J · m−1 · kg−1, amounts to 25.8 J/m.4 The second term is
the metabolic energy spent per unit of distance against air drag; it is
proportional to the square of air speed v—which in absence of wind
can be considered equal to s—and to a constant k′:
k 0 = 0.5 C x ρ A η−1 (2)
where Cx is the dimensionless drag coefficient, which can be
considered constant at the range of investigated speeds3 and equal
to .58 for a cyclist riding an aerodynamic racing bicycle3 and .84 for
a traditional racing bicycle5 in a fully dropped position. The air
density ρ for an air temperature of 20°C and a barometric pressure of
760 mm Hg, disregarding the contribution of water vapor, amounts
to 1.205 kg/m3; A is the frontal area of the subject riding the bicycle
and amounts to ∼0.44 m2 for a subject of 175-cm height and 75-kg
body mass.4 For an overall efficiency of cycling, ηc, equal to ∼.22,6k′
amounts to 0.68 J/s2 · m−1 · m−2 for aerodynamic bicycles and to
1.01 J/s2 · m−1 · m−2 for traditional racing bicycles.
Ė c maintained during the 1-hour performance can be then
calculated as
Ė c = 25.8s þ 0.68s3 (3a)
for aerodynamic racing bicycles and

C c = C rr M t g þ k 0 v2 : (1) Ė c = 25.8s þ 1.01s3 (3b)

The author is with the Dept of Physical Performances, Norwegian School of Sport
Sciences, Oslo, Norway. Address correspondence to carlo.capelli@nih.no.
112
for traditional racing bicycles.
Equation 3a was applied to calculate Ė c of the performances up
to 80 years of age; Equation 3b was applied to the calculations related
to Marchand’s performance, as he used a traditional racing frame.
 Maximal Aerobic Power in Master Athletes 113

The 1-hour unaccompanied performance is purely aerobic—

the anaerobic sources do not play any substantial role7—and it may
be reasonably assumed that a well-trained athlete is able to
maintain a fraction (F) of MAP during 1 hour of exhaustive
exercise equal to 0.88.8 By knowing Ė c corresponding to the
speeds reported in Table 1, the corresponding MAP values were
therefore obtained.
The threshold age after which MAP begins to decrease
monotonically (age0) has been identified by fitting the absolute
values of MAP as a function of age by means of a 2-segment linear
regression following the method detailed in a previous study4
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(GraphPad Prism version 6.00 for Macintosh, GraphPad Software,

La Jolla, CA, USA). Type 1 linear regressions were computed by
using the least-squares method.

Results Figure 1 — Absolute values of maximal aerobic power (MAP) and

oxygen uptake (V̇O2 ) as a function of age. The arrow indicates the age
MAP appears to remain stable until 40 to 44 years of age; (age0) after which MAP starts monotonically decreasing.
thereafter, it is characterized by a steady rate of decay with age
(Figure 1). The solution of the double segmental regression reveals
that MAP begins to decline at 47.0 ± 6.9 (SE) years of age.
Afterward, it appears to decrease by 0.034 ± 0.002 kW/y (0.34 ±
0.02 kW/decade), with a drop of V̇O2 max per year of 0.10 ±
0.01 L/min (1.3 ± 0.13 mL · min−1 · kg−1 · y–1 in our hypothetical
subject of 75 kg of body mass).
To compute the percentage decay of MAP per year, we
calculated the percentage decreases of the 2 parameters, setting
to 100% of the average of the values of the first 3 intervals of age. In
Figure 2, the percentage decay of MAP is reported as a function of
age together with the regression line and the 95% confidence
interval (F = 248.6; P < .0001; r = .98;). The slope of the regression
lines indicates that MAP decays by 1.41% ± 0.09% (95% CI 1.61–
1.21 %) from age0 onward.

Discussion
Figure 2 — Percentage decrease of maximal aerobic power (MAP) as a
By applying a model that calculates the Ėc maintained during the function of age after age0 ± SE. The regression line with its 95%
1-hour unaccompanied best performance in cycling, we were able confidence interval is also indicated.

Table 1 Distances Covered in the Best 1-Hour to estimate the corresponding MAP and describe its decay as a
function of chronological age in master athletes. The results
Unaccompanied Performance in Master Athletes in the
confirm those presented in a recent paper4 and extend them to a
Nine 5-Year Age Intervals Considered in the Study, very advanced age. In addition, the findings suggest that MAP
Together With the Distance Covered by Robert would start decreasing from the middle of the fifth decade of life
Marchand at 101, 103, and 105 Years of Age with a subsequent average decay of about 14%/decade. This is in
Age, y Distance, m Venue contrast with the view that MAP should decay more slowly in the
general population, by ∼10% to 12%/decade, and even more slowly
35–39 48,315 Sydney, Australia in athletes.9 However, the rate of decay of MAP with age for people
40–44 48,411 Sydney, Australia older than 40 to 50 years remains controversial, and some ob-
45–49 49,361 Manchester, Great Britain servations suggest that the loss in MAP in the older decades may be
50–54 47,960 Manchester, Great Britain close to 15% to 12% every 10 years.9,10 In this regard, it is worth
55–59 45,019 Carson, USA noting that if Ė c is calculated using the anthropometrical char-
acteristics of Marchand11 (body mass 51 kg, height 168 cm) and the
60–64 44,228 Carson, USA
corresponding A = 0.37 m2,1 MAP seems to decay even faster with
65–69 43,732 Manchester, Great Britain age, by ∼1.56% ± 0.05%/y (95% CI 1.70–1.43%). On the other
70–74 41,227 Newport, Wales, Great Britain hand, if we use Marchand’s MAP values,11 the percentage decay
75–79 38,494 Aguascallentes, Mexico seems still to remain remarkably high: 1.48% ± 0.08% (95% CI
101 (2012) 24,251 Paris, France 1.22–1.67%).
103 (2014) 26,927 Paris, France
The discussion of the causes of the progressive drop in MAP
with aging goes beyond the scope of this report, but the reader is
105 (2017) 22,457 Paris, France
referred to an extensive review that has treated this topic.12
IJSPP Vol. 13, No. 1, 2018
 114 Capelli
The keystone of the proposed analysis is the model that
predicts Cc once we know the characteristics of the frame and
of the track surface, the anthropometrics of the subjects, and the
environmental conditions. In the majority of cases we assumed
standard values and constants. This may have introduced an
unpredictable bias in the estimate of individual Ė c and, hence,
of the corresponding absolute values of MAP. Nevertheless, this
should not have substantially weakened the general conclusions on
the decay of MAP with age.
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Conclusions
By estimating the Ė sustained to cover a given distance on a track in
1 hour, we found that MAP starts declining in about the middle of
the fifth decade of age in cycling master athletes. Thereafter, it
seems to decay by ∼14% to 15%/decade even in master athletes.
These results would be substantially strengthened if we could
longitudinally follow a cohort of athletes across their life while
they try to establish their best 1-hour unaccompanied performance
every 5 to 10 years in parallel with assessment of their V̇O2 max;
this would confirm the reliability of the proposed approach and
would also confirm or disprove the alleged percentage decay of
MAP with age, especially in the more advanced decades.
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