At 64 years of age, downhill mountain biker Gordon Stilwell is still going strong. Photo / David Beck
At 64 years of age, downhill mountain biker Gordon Stilwell is still going strong. Photo / David Beck
You do not see many 64-year-olds cruising around on mountain bikes. You see even fewer hurtling downhill at breakneck speeds.
Auckland's Gordon Stilwell was literally in a league of his own at round three of the New Zealand Downhill Mountain Bike Series in Rotorua on Saturday - he was theonly rider in the Masters 3 category.
Watch him cross the finish line, however, and you would have no idea he was racing only against himself. He flew down the last section of the track, a look of fierce determination on his face, pedalling hard all the way to the line.
"I turn 65 next week, I'll be a pensioner. I've been riding for about 10 years and competing for five.
"I come from a rallying background, so I love the adrenaline buzz and the speed. I guess, to start with, I'd never been great with balance and getting used to two wheels instead of four was quite hard, but I got into it," Stilwell said.
The former rally driver completed the 2.3km 'Taniwha' course in four minutes and 46 seconds.
"I love the downhill, enduro is good, I enjoy that too, but you have to be super fit and I struggle to keep that going. I just love the adrenaline of downhill, I love going fast.
Gordon Stilwell stands atop the podium at round three of the New Zealand Downhill Mountain Bike Series in Rotorua. Photo / David Beck
"I love racing against myself too, I'm pretty tough on myself. If I'm not happy with how I did a section I tell myself that wasn't good enough and I go back and do it again. That sort of pressure on myself just gets me as close as I can to what I know I can do," he said.
He also enjoyed the social aspect of being a member of the mountain biking community.
"It's good to meet a few of your buddies. At the moment I'm a bit of a lone ranger in the 50s category, but I talked to some young kids here today, they said 'you've inspired our dad, he's 56 and he's going to get back into racing'.
"Hopefully there will be more of us in the future, there's no reason why you can't. I have strict rules on deciding what I can and can't do, you have to be realistic and make small steps."
When asked how long he intends to keep riding, Stilwell replies "for as long as I can".
