Cycling is an endurance sport. You lose your fast-twitch ability as you age, but your endurance peaks when you hit 30. I don't think I really started feeling my age until around 40.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't think I'll still be riding at 40. There are a couple of people who are still riding after having kids, like Mary King, but people say that you lose your nerve after you have kids. It's the risk.
I may, however, begin riding again when I am 60.
As a kid growing up - I can see now - it didn't matter what I did, as long as it was something I could be really good at. Cycling just happened to be the opportunity that came along.
I've been in motorsport my whole life since I was eight years of age.
Endurance is not a young person's game. I thought I might even be better at 60 than I was at 30. You have a body that's almost as strong, but you have a much better mind.
I don't see myself racing at 50 years old. I enjoy racing, and that has been my whole life. But one day I will take time to look at other things. I know that everything has an end date, even life, and I also have a family and there are other things to enjoy than trying to be first into the corner and fastest out.
My first Olympics was Munich in 1972. I am better now than I was then, in knowledge and experience. The age of top riders generally tends to be older than in other sports because it takes a lot of time to be consistent.
I think 40 is a good age to run a country. But I've always been fast.
I'm definitely a lot more comfortable now in my 40s than in my 30s - that's for sure.
It's kind of like a midlife crisis kind of thing. When you turn 40, you have to run the marathon, while all the parts still work properly.