3940dxer

Thought I’d follow up again with my conclusion, which is train harder and hang in there.

I keep hearing success stories from other senior riders. Last week a friend and I rode down the coast and in Santa Barbara we fell into a conversation with a local homeowner. He mentioned that his brother, who's in his 80’s, often rides to SB from Malibu and back. And I got a copy of Cycling Past 50, which is really excellent, and filled with great info. I’m only part way into it, but the big take away for so far is that it’s all about the training. It sounds like if you just do 2 rides a week you lose strength. 3 is minimum, 4 is better. (He also makes the point that if you try to train too often you’ll actually lose strength, because you never have a chance to recover.) So as Johnny Carson used to say, “It’s all in the timing." I’m convinced that a senior rider can be fast and almost as strong as the younger folks, but it takes more and more planning and commitment. I hope to find some in-between place that makes me stronger than I’ve been recent years, without trying to be some hyper-focused super athlete. (That’s not me.)

That book has a ton of numbers and charts. It’s almost too much, but one interesting thing was a chart that addresses the fatigue and recovery cycle, and the way your body “overcompensates” (becomes stronger than before) after fatigue and recovery. This made me think that if I do a big training ride say 3 days before my group ride, my overcompensation sweet spot might coincide with the group ride, giving me a little boost.

I'm also trying to educate myself about lung capacity and breathing, which I think has been an issue for me. And I made an appointment with my cardiologist to get her take on this. I think she might have some insight into the physical limitations and what my upside is.

Meanwhile, I exchanged a couple messages with the group leader. He basically said don’t worry about it, just come out with us. So that was very reassuring and took off a lot a lot of pressure. I went out with them a couple of days ago. It was one of their easier rides but I could tell I was a little stronger. I mashed up the hills a little better, and just fell behind briefly a couple of times. So in the coming months I’l work at getting a little faster, skip the most challenging rides, and I think it’ll all be ok. I'll never be one of those amazing 80 year olds that leave the kids in the dust but I think I can get to where I keep up well enough and enjoy riding with my friends for at least a while longer.

Thanks again for all the replies.