pepperbelly

After not doing much this winter I am out riding again and going to the gym for an indoor ride when the weather is bad.
Yesterday and today I rode a paved trail around a local lake. It’s a 6 mile ride. I only did one lap yesterday and again today. I was going to do 2 but my calf muscles started twitching like they wanted to cramp.
I want to start stretching my distance. I should be doing 25-25 miles per ride. Is it worth just resting for 15 minutes then going another lap?
I may ride a different trail soon just to try. My lake trail has almost constant ups and downs, a lot of twisty curves and bridges that have a post, or 2 posts, at one end and several have a 90* turn at one end or the other. It is really difficult to just get in a rhythm and ride. I am constantly changing gears. I average around 14mph even though I have to slow down at the bridges and a couple of climbs that really slow me down.
My goal is to be able to go on group rides up to 50 miles and not be afraid of dropping out.

Is it as simple as just keep riding and getting in better condition and the distance will follow?
For what it’s worth at the gym I do 45 minutes and plan to stretch that to an hour or more. I just do a steady level 5 or 6 so I am just exercising not training.

BTW I don’t like hills!😎

Carbonfiberboy 

I've started over so many times in the past 2 years, I've lost count. I get going and something happens. Supposedly that's all over. All the docs say I'm good to go, so I'm at it again and I've been at it for one whole week already! Good for me! My first problem is leg strength and recovery. I go to the gym twice a week and I'm on a new-to-me program where I do one set of each lift until I can't do another rep, shooting for 30-40 reps. I ignore the aerobic part, take a brief rest at the end of each rep if I need to to keep going. It's just about strength/endurance. If I can't do 30, I drop the weight next time. If I can do 40, I raise it 5 lbs., etc.

I'm trying to do something, bike or gym, 6 days/week, doesn't really matter how much because I'm doing my cycling indoors, so I quit when my legs hurt too much. I'm shooting for an hour on the bike in Z2 each day. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll be able to do that. I'd like to work up to 1.5-2 hours on non-gym days. Then I'll go outside and start doing some harder work, hills or little intervals. That's the plan. I've done this before, but not at this age. I'll see how it goes.


Cycling is all about hills. Hills are the point. Can't do them right off, but you'll get there. One learns to love hills because that's where it all happens. I think one should be able to ride about 30 miles, mostly flat, before working on hills.

BTinNYC 

I find starting over to be difficult. My expectations are high and my judgements on 'how much and how hard' are off. I typically overdo things, then have to take extra days off, etc. Steady state is much easier to manage!

pdlamb

I beat your restart by a week. (See, the competitive urge never goes away!)

I got my circa:1999 restart going by riding with my daughters down to the bookstore on weekends, 5 miles away, where we'd sip fancy coffee and browse the books. My wife would take anyone who was too tired home, and I'd ride back. Fast forward a few years, and I started commuting by bike: same kind of thing, only separated by 9 hours instead of half an hour, and every day. That really build up my endurance over a few years.

So yes, I think resting for a few minutes and repeating the lap is going to be good. Probably not as good as doing the whole thing straight. Best I could tell, I got an endurance benefit of about half the shorter ride when doing two rides a day. (Liberal Kentucky windage applied!)

Classtime 

If it hurts too much to ride with the cramp(s) then of course stop, stretch, and then get back on the bike. You will cramp less often the more you ride. 14mph is not bad. Keep riding. Maybe stretch the calfs first? Cramps continue to be mystery.

staehpj1

Are you hydrating well? Taking in enough electrolytes? Getting enough potassium? A deficiency in any of those can lead to leg cramps.

MinnMan

My advice (and of course, YMMV) is to not worry too much about what you accomplish on any particular ride. Just keep getting out there day after day (well, not 7 days/week, but, say, 5), and the distance/endurance/improvements will come.

If you are enjoying your rides, you will keep doing them. And if you keep doing them, they will get longer.

pepperbelly

I drink water all day but I thought about electrolytes after too. I don’t drink Gatorade and I probably should.
I have been trying to lose weight and have cut carbs and sugar, no bread etc. I am probably not eating well enough. I have to figure out what to eat to have energy but not gain weight.

zandoval 

When I get that twitch its a sure sign of an impending CHARLIE HORSE!

Back off stud. What s the rush. I know ya want to go, Go, GO, but take a step back old Geaser. Enjoy the ride. Getting back into it is not a chore. You are out there for the enjoyment.

And of course, You Know This...

As for me, I often push a little too hard and suffer pushing back the sheets to dance around the room in the early morning hours doing the Monster Mash.
Cramps are a bugger...

pepperbelly

What makes me mad is that I used to be an athlete.

Jughed

And forget about speed, at least in the beginning.

Ride a comfortable pace for as long as you can. Easy breathing, smooth pedaling, focus on cadence... sure, go out and give it the beans every so often, but for the most part just ride smooth and comfortable miles.

The fitness will come.

MinnMan

Also - don't get into a rut doing the same route over and over again. To the extent your local geography allows, vary your destinations and your loops, so that it stays fresh. Seeing different things and spending part of your brain energy on navigating will keep you more entertained and more engaged.

pepperbelly

Some of the symptoms of low potassium seem to apply to me-especially fatigue and muscle weakness. It would explain why some days riding are easier than others. Since I have been cutting carbs my diet hasn’t been great. I have avoided bananas due to high carbs. I just found that avocados are high in potassium too.
I am going to change how I eat and see how it goes.

OldTryGuy

180° opposite this reply at times. My bicycling enjoyment comes from varying routes AND riding the same routes over and over and over. Mind over boredom by changing efforts throughout the ride.

pepperbelly

My lake trail follows the shore all the way around. It’s a nice ride but just difficult to maintain a pace. I have a couple of other trails that are flatter but longer. I need to get in some kind of shape before I’m comfortable riding them. Neither are very long but for now they are out of my comfort zone.

zandoval 

But ya see... That is why you enjoy it so much... Ha

pepperbelly

I’m just not happy with how my body responds now at 65.
I will see how a change in diet changes my performance.

Jughed

PB - another thing to consider as we get older is consistency. We don't rebound like we did...

Figuring out a way to spin the pedals all winter helps a bunch. Typically, you come into spring in better shape than when you would stop before winter.

First warm day on the MUP is a thing to watch. A bunch of people suffering their first rides after hibernating.

Dino_Sore

The older I get, the faster I used to be!

big john

Yes, and I used to be strong. Now, a 40 pound box of cat litter is a challenge.

I've found that any time off the bike takes a toll on my ability to ride distance. I can ride year round but if I slack off on climbing the next climbing ride can lead to cramps.
If I ride and climb a lot I almost never cramp. If I try to do too much too soon that's when cramps happen. I have had cramps when I'm in shape on long rides with a ton of climbing but normally the more I ride the less I cramp.

Same thing with the lower back. First long climb equals back pain. If I climb a lot every week then no back pain or cramps.

If you feel like you need electrolytes there are many products you can use. I've had good luck with Heed, Perpetuem, Cytomax, and capsules from Hammer products. Also people seem to like Nuun tablets.

These days I rely on regular food most times. I do like bananas, PB&J, or even dried apricots. Apricots have potassium. A friend used to bring those little pretzel squares stuffed with peanut butter.

big john

I say forget about average speed. Think time and intensity. Obviously you're going to slow down going uphill, or into a headwind, or maybe when it's hot. At this point just try to increase your saddle time without overdoing it. Build gradually and don't forget rest days. Sometimes when I don't feel like hammering a bunch of miles on the road I will take the mountain bike and just ride around the dirt and stop to take pictures, have a snack, or walk through a creekbed.

terrymorse 

Yeah, as someone in the same age range, training is different now.

I used to be able to just get off the couch and pile on the training volume and intensity for weeks at a time, and I saw my fitness surge.

Nowadays, I am more careful about how quickly I ramp up the training. Increasing volume doesn't seem to be a problem, but I'm more careful about dosing the intensity. And it takes longer to recover from a hard workout. I can still ramp up the training fairly quickly, as long as I plan it to have enough recovery time.

Best wishes on your fitness journey. One good thing about being detrained, you get to watch steady improvements.

big john

I retired at 65 and I was pretty detrained at that point. I was still riding at least on the weekends but not feeling good about it. Since I didn't go to work anymore I thought I could get back to where I was in my 50s but no dice.

It took longer to make small gains than ever before. Gains do come but require patience. Even when I seem to be at a certain level it isn't consistent. Still, I feel better than I did while I was working. I'll be 70 in a few weeks and I still have some pretty fun times out there with the club and even solo sometimes.

MinnMan

I was in pretty good shape last summer, but was mostly off the bike in the autumn, owing to injuries. It takes a long time to come back. I am feeling improvements, but each time this happens, I wonder if I'm going to recover my former fitness or if this is the time when I find myself on the big drop-off. 'Cause strength and endurance don't last forever.

It will be what it will be. i just keep riding and enjoying what I can.

(age: early 60s).

pepperbelly

If I can’t get to the level I want I will just be content with rec riding no matter how fast or how far.