Originally Posted by
Rich Gibson
For you guys in the over 50 range what sort of improvements have you noticed as you continued biking? I have a feeling I'm expecting them to come too quickly.
You're probably expecting improvements to come too quickly. It's a real shock to the system, cycling is, and it takes a while for the body to ramp up just the plumbing and infrastructure to carry it out. We generally think of "cardio" as only the heart. Enlightened folks will include the lungs, as in "cardio-pulmonary". What we really are taxing when we start out cycling, and have to completely remodel, is "cardiovascular".
It takes time to build all the new capillaries and blood vessels your legs need to support this new activity. Only after the new infrastructure is in place can you really begin building strength, power, and endurance. And, sadly, the older we get, the longer it takes to remodel the infrastructure.
When I started out, someone in this forum said that without a formal training regimen, just riding around, you can reasonably expect to improve for five years or more.
In my first year, I found that to be the best bit of information I got. It gave me long-term perspective, and eliminated the unrealistic expectations I had of flying across the planet, wind in my face, etc. It removed most of the pressure and nearly all of the disappointment.
This is my eighth season, and I'm still improving. A couple of times a year, for specific goals, I work a slightly more formalized training regimen. (I'm training now for a very hilly century, 11,000 feet of climbing, coming up the first weekend of September.) Otherwise, I just keep riding, pushing a little here and there and improving every year.
Nothing made me feel older than my first few months of cycling. Now, nothing makes me feel younger than cycling.