Two Whitehorse cyclists are refusing to retire their bikes.

And it's paying off.

Michael McCann, 64, and Bill Curtis, 59, both competed at the World Senior Games held in Saint George, Utah, from Oct. 4-7.

The events consisted of the hill climb, 5.1 kilometres up Snow Canyon on grades up to 10 per cent, run in a time trial format; the time trial, 40 km in Springdale (at the entrance of Zion National Park); the criterium, a circuit race of 454 minutes, plus three laps, on the old airport in Saint George; and the road race, which runs 62 km starting and ending in the town of Ivins.

In the hill climb, McCann finished third in the 60-64 age class and 10th in Division 1 with a time of 15 minutes, 53 seconds. McCann then took second in his age group and sixth in Division 1 in the time trial, with a time of 56:03. He finished eighth in the criterium before winning first in his age group and third in Division 1 with a time of 1:45:27 in the road race.

McCann said the time trial is about how you feel during the race.

"And you know you're riding relatively well when you have that feeling you're right on top of it,” McCann said. "It's like the perfect golf swing. So you're constantly trying to recreate the environment to give you that experience.

"That was one of those rides where I felt, ‘I'm on top of this,' from start to end.

"Staying focused is sometimes a challenge; and you know you're having a good ride when that hour or less seems to go by and you realize you're almost done. I felt, when I finished, that I knew I rode as well as I could have that day, and I was pleased with it.”

The road race is a different beast, he added.

"It's about being alert and being aware of what everyone else is doing at all times,” McCann said.

"If you try and follow every one all the time, at some point you're going to be toast, and when the real move goes, you're not going to be able to respond. There were a couple times during that race when I felt, ‘I got to go with this, and it's going to hurt for a while, but it's either now or not at all.'

"There was about two occasions when that happened, and I managed to stay with the move at that time, and it worked out.”

Curtis took sixth in the 55-59 age group and 28th in Division 2 with a time of 20:42 in the hill climb. In the time trial, Curtis finished fourth in his age group and 10th in his division by clocking 1:06:50 in the time trial. With a time of 1:56:45, he placed third in his age group and 11th in Division 2 in the road race.

Curtis beat personal best times he set in the time trial and road race more than five years ago.

"So I guess I'm still faster than I was five or six years ago; that's a pretty good feeling,” Curtis said.

He was able to shave more time off his previous best by focusing on training, he said.

"Training smart,” he said. "It's a combination of training on the road and also indoors with a CompuTrainer.”

The CompuTrainer is a high-end stationary trainer, which can cost upwards of $2,000.

That helps, Curtis said. As does sticking to a program.

"Basically you're just trying to get stronger on the bike,” he said.

Why is it important to continue pushing yourself to compete?

"That's quite a philosophical question, wow. Sometimes I question,” he laughed,

"You get into a race and you go, ‘Why do I do this again?'

"Certainly one of the factors is just health. I have quite a bit of diabetes in my family, and my wife calls my bike my anti-diabetes machine. So as long as I'm getting that exercise then I'm lowering the risk of getting diabetes. But it isn't just that; it's just all around health, heart disease and all the rest. And I guess it helps you to keep feeling young.”

McCann had a similar reaction to the same question.

"Without getting to philosophical, challenges are good, I think, regardless of your age. And that's probably why, testing yourself. I like the individual sports, because it's just you, you're the one who controls it all, and you live or die by what you do that day,” McCann said.

Both McCann and Curtis are both late bloomers in the cycling world.

McCann spent most of his athletic life as a runner, even earning a track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame "way back in the old days,” he said.

He started cycling only when he arrived in the Yukon in 1987, when he entered in the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay from Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska.

Since he has not spent his life cycling, Curtis can see the difference that experience makes in his fellow competitors at the World Senior Games: 75-year-olds doing 40-kilometres an hour on a push bike.

"A lot of that is because they've been doing it a very long time. They were racing when they were young,” said Curtis, who started cycling 15 years ago.

"The level of competition is extremely high. When you have 75-year-olds doing 40 km/hr on a bike, that's incredible. That tells me I've got 15 to 20 years to go.”