|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
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. But I can tell you that even after long periods off of your bike, proper training can bring you back to the point in which you can be satisfied with your own performance as long as you aren't trying to compare it to other people who think that the reason for living is to beat someone to the end of a TT. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 12:28:38 AM UTC+2, Frank Krygowski wrote:
I think one of the beneficial effects of bicycling is that if you're doing it in any enthusiastic manner, the intervals are built in. Well, unless you live in pancake land. Around here, you're bound to climb hills, often short and relatively steep ones, unless you choose your route very carefully. Living in pancake land the problem with intervals is the motivation to do so, because it is hard and it hurts. If it is windy it is easy because here you can easily plan a curvy route with alternating head winds and tail winds. Riding with a powermeter also motivates you to push and you see when you are pushing. Strava segments also helps to motivate to push. I check several Strava segments along my routes and my Garmin tells me to get ready to race that segment 150 meters or so before. I like that. Lou |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 12:54:03 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 12:28:38 AM UTC+2, Frank Krygowski wrote: I think one of the beneficial effects of bicycling is that if you're doing it in any enthusiastic manner, the intervals are built in. Well, unless you live in pancake land. Around here, you're bound to climb hills, often short and relatively steep ones, unless you choose your route very carefully. Living in pancake land the problem with intervals is the motivation to do so, because it is hard and it hurts. If it is windy it is easy because here you can easily plan a curvy route with alternating head winds and tail winds. Riding with a powermeter also motivates you to push and you see when you are pushing. Strava segments also helps to motivate to push. I check several Strava segments along my routes and my Garmin tells me to get ready to race that segment 150 meters or so before. I like that. Lou Yesterday a friend wanted to go on a long ride. For him that would be 40 miles and he is slow. So we did 40 miles riding along mostly at 12 and 13 mph and although it ended up beating him up pretty badly I would think that he could do 50 miles next week. On the return trip I was pretty surprised at the amount of declining roads. On the way out I hadn't noticed at all the slight climbing. I decided to call this my aerobic endurance ride...…... |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
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. YOU GOT A CARBON FIBER BIKE? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
On Friday, September 21, 2018 at 5:54:16 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
YOU GOT A CARBON FIBER BIKE? Yes, I crossed over to the Dark Side again. But the thing is that although there is only some 6 lbs total weight difference from my heaviest steel bike to the CLX, the ride quality of the CLX is easily the best of the lot. It doesn't bounce on those low spots when you're descending at 40 mph and while hitting bumps gives you a jarring just as any other frame material it doesn't continue reverberating from it after the initial strike. As soon as I recover from the expense of building it I will switch to tubeless which will reduce the weight by some 2 lbs. because of the flat kit. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 12:11:01 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: On 9/24/2018 11:32 AM, wrote: On Friday, September 21, 2018 at 5:54:16 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote: YOU GOT A CARBON FIBER BIKE? Yes, I crossed over to the Dark Side again. But the thing is that although there is only some 6 lbs total weight difference from my heaviest steel bike to the CLX, the ride quality of the CLX is easily the best of the lot. It doesn't bounce on those low spots when you're descending at 40 mph and while hitting bumps gives you a jarring just as any other frame material it doesn't continue reverberating from it after the initial strike. As soon as I recover from the expense of building it I will switch to tubeless which will reduce the weight by some 2 lbs. because of the flat kit. You have a 2 pound flat repair kit? Two spare inner tubes weigh about 200 grams, or is you go for the really light tubes (Continental's Supersonic tube) about 110 for the two. -- Cheers John B. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Rides
On Monday, September 24, 2018 at 9:11:03 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/24/2018 11:32 AM, wrote: On Friday, September 21, 2018 at 5:54:16 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote: YOU GOT A CARBON FIBER BIKE? Yes, I crossed over to the Dark Side again. But the thing is that although there is only some 6 lbs total weight difference from my heaviest steel bike to the CLX, the ride quality of the CLX is easily the best of the lot.. It doesn't bounce on those low spots when you're descending at 40 mph and while hitting bumps gives you a jarring just as any other frame material it doesn't continue reverberating from it after the initial strike. As soon as I recover from the expense of building it I will switch to tubeless which will reduce the weight by some 2 lbs. because of the flat kit.. You have a 2 pound flat repair kit? You don't? One bag, a couple of innertubes, a couple of CO2 cartridges and a filler or a pump and a multitool? I have a scale and I have weighed many of these things and they all were close to two lbs for a road bike and not some heavy POS touring bike wi8th 32 mm heavy wall innertubes like you ride.. The question is - why have you never weighed any of this? Or do you simply contradict for the reasons unknown to thinking humans? |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Get your rides in NOW! | Bill Sornson[_5_] | General | 1 | August 15th 09 08:42 PM |
How do you log rides? | Patrick Lamb | General | 35 | January 23rd 07 03:04 PM |
Mr. Six rides a uni! | patmoore | Unicycling | 2 | November 23rd 06 11:14 PM |
Mr. Six rides a uni! | skrobo | Unicycling | 0 | November 23rd 06 05:39 PM |
RR: Two new rides | G.T. | Mountain Biking | 5 | February 23rd 06 06:40 AM |