Thread: Rides
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Old September 22nd 18, 01:54 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
JBeattie
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Default Rides

On Friday, September 21, 2018 at 12:35:49 PM UTC-7, wrote:
In another month I'll be 74.

I got a copy of Joe Friel's "Fast Over 50". The story on fitness isn't very encouraging nor is it very accurate at least in my case.

He is saying that in order to retain as much of your fitness as long as possible you should be doing intervals. Well, I was never able to do sprint intervals and instead use a sort of power training - I climb. A lot. I'm retired and I'm riding four days a week which leaves three days of rest and relaxation. I also climb three of the four riding days and ride one day out of each week with the old and slow crowd as recovery.

This works only if you continue to work at it. While Friel doesn't give a lot of credit to Long Slow Distance (LSD) I think that is the basis of the overwhelming majority of riders. We are not racers and building racing fitness in people over 50 is dangerous. Overtraining is extremely easy to do over that edge because it is human nature to think that to improve you work harder at it.

Overtraining can easily lead to heart and lung problems. Broken bones from what used to be minor falls is because of decalcification of the skeleton and the time it takes to heal from these is extended.

And every day you spend out of the saddle is a day that you lose fitness. It isn't unusual to have a couple of weeks off of the bike because of weather conditions. Or medical conditions that require up to a month to heal. Glaucoma surgery in one eye then the other and you've been off the bike for a month. Then several weeks or a month of bad weather and now you've killed your competitive ability according to Joe.

You can train to get some of it back but he has quoted a study that says "if you don't use it you lose it" or more or less the same thing - muscle groups that aren't used can have the very nerves that trigger contraction die so that they can no longer be used. His suggestion is joining a gym but if there is one thing I am not it's a gym monkey.

My experience is otherwise. If you have this time off of the bike you CAN come back. You won't be at the same level as before but if you were riding and training you STILL wouldn't be at the same level you were a couple of months before.

If I ride a century I am not racing. I am doing long, slow distance and I'm trying to make it to the end as comfortably as possible. I just went through four saddles to get one that doesn't give me blisters on my but in my latest riding position on my new Colnago CLX. I'm no longer thinking that speed means anything but to the weirdos that thrive on competition. I was never wild about competition anyway so perhaps my opinions on this are not an accurate portrayal of the main body of sports cyclists.


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