deacon mark

I am almost 59 and retired. I notice that due to the weather and my situation I can ride a lot which I know is a good thing. My question involves rest. I have been riding basically 50 miles a day for close to 3-4 months. I normally ride 3500-5000 miles a year but this year I has been good. I know I should rest as such but frankly I don't feel the direct need. I don't race and I do not go an try do to century's or something much longer. I just happen to find about 2.5 to 3 hours of riding find and doable. Someday's I am a bit tired but never have sore legs so I just figure do easy and do something. Better than just sitting around.

I would like to know if any retired fellows feel the same way? I ride more than most riders around but of course I cannot match the speeds of good younger riders. I know I could ride faster on less miles but I just like to ride. Anyone else feel that way.

nomadmax 

If you're not too tired to take care of all the other things in your life, aren't irritable with people for no good reason and aren't sick a lot; keep doing what you're doing. Everyone is different so there isn't really a good yardstick. At 59 if you want to go faster it's going to take more than riding 50 miles a day at a steady state. You'll never "creep" up on fast by going "medium".

Iride01 

I think many of us became mamil's when hitting our 50's and life and career slowed down enough to give us more free time.

Ride all you want. Just learn the signs of over training or doing too much. But if you aren't riding at a full out HR busting pace for many of those rides, you might seldom bump the over training wall.

7 Signs You’re Riding Too Hard—and What to Do About It

Overtraining, Overreaching, and Chronic Fatigue


Ride enough and keep putting in the mileage you are doing for another five or ten years and you'll be surprised how many of those young guys you will be passing on the road and MUP.

downtube42

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

OldTryGuy

A 72yo friend rides every day typically 40+ miles. A few years ago his goal was 24,000 miles for the year and a 100 day streak of 100 miles/day. He accomplished his goals.

big john

If it works for you and you enjoy it then why mess with it? I'm 66 and retired and I take 3 rest days per week or sometimes a short ride on one rest day. I do a lot of climbing rides and I am 200 pounds so intensity can be high. Time and intensity are more important than miles.

canklecat

Do what works for you. I usually limit my rides to around 2 hours due to a neck injury. My C1-C2 were broken about 20 years ago and still cause some limitations. So I'll ride around 20-30 miles 3-5 times a week. But once in awhile I'll do 50 or more, with one or two short rest breaks to stretch and massage my neck and shoulders. I'll do a full 100 miles once or twice a year but the neck pain usually limits those efforts.

I'll vary my rides a bit at least once a week and throw in some intervals for a 30-60 minute ride, or a hard steady state ride for up to an hour as fast as I can manage.

But usually I just ride and see how I feel that day. If I could ride 50 miles a day every day, I'd probably do that too as long as it was enjoyable.

davester

Depends on what your goal is. It sounds like you are happy with the status quo so keep on doing it if that is the case However, if you want to increase your speed or endurance you need to stress your muscles and heart by varying your workouts, including short high effort rides with high intensity intervals and much longer rides (say 100), and then follow those up with recovery days where you either rest completely or pedal/walk very lightly. Also, there's a lot to be said for switching up your exercise modes (i.e. running, strength training) especially as you get older and start to lose muscle mass.

zacster

I'm 65 and retired and I couldn't keep up that much riding. It isn't the time, nor is it other responsibilities, but rather boredom with doing it so much. I never thought I'd hit that. Living in NYC limits the good places to ride that are easily accessible so I found myself doing the same rides too frequently. I try to get out of town but that's hard as my wife still works. And then there was Covid too, but that hasn't really held me back except stopping to grab food or drink became somewhat of an issue. That has passed for now as NY has opened up some.

50 miles/day is a lot to do, and really, you can take days off. I was up to 12 days in a row on the bike just 2 years ago and felt in the end it wasn't necessary. And it wasn't 50 mile rides, more like 20-30 most days including commuting.

RadDog

I could not handle that much volume. I am a 58 year old competitive bodybuilder and strength and conditioning coach who also has done lots of riding. First, you are probably very genetically gifted towards endurance work. Also, it sounds like you are not riding that hard. No judgment, I could never ride hard several hours per day myself. I ride to tax my cardio system and to get my legs as big and powerful as possible. Unlike you, I only ride 40 minutes a day 4 days a week (lift 3-4 days) and that is absolutely all my body can handle.

However my riding style is to emulate the training of someone who races crit. I go as hard as I can for 25-30 minutes of the 40 I am on the bike. Lower body is on fire. Even this much training pushes the overtraining envelope for me.