Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Bicycling loves that sort of thing - vague enough to be true, impossible for the rider to figure out. This time of year, I ride and hike and workout at the maximum level from which I can recover each week and then do another week, etc. It does come to about 10 hours/week. However I know very few people my age capable of performing at this level. It's taken me 20 years of hard work and study to be able to do this. I have no idea of METs. They're not measurable on the road. I do know my training stress score (TSS) - 400-600 each week. Today's ride was 76 miles and 5500', ridden all out, barely able to function at the end. Strava says 2346kj in 5:23 - of which 1:37 was in zone 4. It'll take me all week to recover from that puppy, though of course I'll get a lot more exercise during recovery. I'll have my 10 hrs. this week and 12 next week., I kinda guess there's a lot of METs in there, but of course no way to know. These are the peak weeks of my year.
But could I go out and ride 1:30 every single day, every week? Maybe, maybe not. That's ~160 miles/week, every week, no recovery time, no allowance for weather. For sure I wouldn't have the slightest interest in even attempting that.
Be that as it my, I would say, IME, that the article is generally correct. To maintain real fitness takes a heckuva lot of time and effort. Giving it all you've got seems about right. Give the aging process an inch and it'll take it off your quads.
It would be nice if there were a straightforward TSS to METS conversion but I could not find one.