tsl

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 improved 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.

downtube42

Perhaps once a week try this: remove your cyclocomputer, leave your GPS and HRM at home, take off your watch and turn off your cell phone. Go for a ride. No further instructions, measures, rules, or planning necessary.

digibud

Four summers ago when I got back to biking I weighed 285 and I was going anaerobic when I got my HR to 133. Four years later I could ride for an hour at 153 with short dips occasionally in effort. My max HR was above 173. Now I have no clue as I am now on statins and all they imply in changing your maxhr and all the associated affects. In general however, it was clear that my anaerobic threshold and max hr both rose considerably as I got more and more fit. I'm now at 195 and I'm getting the idea that losing 90lb (thus far) is helping.

qcpmsame 

Rich,
I think the replies that address some over enthusiasm is creeping in on your riding. Even with your use of the elliptical trainer prior to beginning cycling you are working on a different plane now (not your aviation background,) in riding a bike. From your descriptions you are pushing things hard and early. Maybe a little too much reliance on the HRM, too. I started back after a lot of serious surgeries and kidney failure, overweight at 278lbs, and it was many months before I was riding easily, quickly or long. First months were 2 miles a day, flat as a board and holding 10mph average was an effort. I kept at the riding, not trying to add much mileage at once and keeping a steady pace in order to build a mileage base. In January I could feel a change in my riding and distance was coming easily to me. Now I ride 15 or 25 miles daily, 6-7 days a week, a 15 mph average usually. I can hold an 18 mph pace on a flat or slight riser easily now. That took just over a year to accomplish, with my doctors monitoring my progress. I finally have good lab numbers for my blood work as far as being in CRF, my RHR is low 50's and BP is usually 105/68 range and best of all for me I have now lost ~67 lbs, so far(210 this morning.)

Be patient, use your rest days, and keep riding safely. The 50+ gang will be here to encourage you and support you.

Bill

lphilpot

FWIW, my 'advanced' age was 51, but that's probably more advanced than it appears since I had done zero cycling since high school and even then, it was just coaster-brake stuff around the small town where I lived. IOW, I have no history of fitness (of any sort, really) on which to build.

I posted a topic not long thereafter describing a difficult 5 mile ride I did. In fact, so difficult I had to get a ride home! Now, even with my schedule that basically precludes anything more than once-weekly rides, a typical ride is 30 miles at a 15-16 MPH moving average. I'm still working (i.e., wheezing) on even the little bumps here in Louisiana we call hills, but that too, will fall, given time... If I live that long!

Bottom line? Keep on doing it, oftener better than rarer, if that makes sense. Progress happens.

-=(8)=-

In my advanced age (a few away from 55) my greatest accomplishment is just being happy with where Im at.
I cant ride like I did in the 70's and 80's. With mortgages, school loans, family obligations, etc, I cant afford a
NASCAR bike--strictly cheapo "SALE" or Craigslist, but Ive convinced myself I'm OK with that and just roll on
however fast that day will allow me to. Its all good Trying to 'train' into a different mindset never helped me.
I know that sounds dopey, but I truly believe your mind to be as much of a factor in your conditioning in anything else.
Even if you are having a hard time achieving physical goals, dont let that bother you. Just remember you are not stuck
in a car and you are not beached on a couch watching Housewives of _________, you are still enhancing yourself, physically
and mentally, so a lot of goals have been attained you might not be aware of

Rich Gibson 

As I often tell my wife.."I HATE it when you're right!" I was so proud of my twenty mile days, but it caught up to me one night; I felt really crappy, physically and emotionally. By nature I don't like loose ends, thus the reason for my research, never ending questions and search for gear. I don't enjoy racing or competing at all..at least with others. I think I'm my own worst enemy. I'm trying to break 185# and reach 175#. It's frustrating and I began using the bike to speed up the process over the sheer enjoyment of it. I've pretty much decided to limit my bike and elliptical riding to around 1200 calories a day for the time being.

I don't want cycling to become a grind. What I absolutely do enjoy are those first few pumps on the pedals as I get underway; it's so exhilarating. Thanks for the support.

Rich

mkane77g

We ride for the enjoyment and the benefits are secondary. My wife and I bought our first road bikes in 1973. Our first few pumps on the pedals are the hardest. Could it be your out of the gate to fast?

billydonn

Rich,
training to change your MHR is really not looking at it the right way. MHR is relatively static.... You are training your muscles to be able to produce power from nutrients and the O2 delivery system. With more miles you should see that hills that used to peg your HR don't do so anymore, I.e. your HR no longer jumps up so quickly following exertion. I think you are right to seek flatter ground sometimes. You need miles, not constant climbing. Keep up the good work!
Don

CommuteCommando

My first stab at commuting by bike was when I went back to college at an advanced age of 35 in 1990. Stopped biking and got really fat by 2000 was at just about 300 lb and started commuting by bike again. Had a heart attack, while commuting by bike, still weighing 290lb.

I finally got really serious while recovering from that. That was huge motivation to lose weight, as well as get fit on the bike. I had avoided hills, which was a challenge as I live in a hilly area. Now that I am down to 210, I find I am motivated to actually seek out hills. I look a track cycling class last spring at 225, and it motivated me to get a fixed gear that I ride mostly on the flat river trails, and which I have decided to enter in an honest to God race in about a week.

Expectations? I have surpassed all of my earlier ones. There is something to be said about determination. Wife thinks I'm crazy, but I kind of expected that too.

My MHR is now right about 160, and I'm good with that. Don't know what it was when I started.

George

When I started riding 7 years ago at 66 I was riding 6 and 7 day a week. Now I'm riding 4 and 5 days a week and I feel I'm gaining more now than I was then. I feel much better now, than dragging myself around all day. So just like everybody else has said, recovery is very important, besides having fun.

FrenchFit 

I struck me as odd you wanted to bring your MHR up, I've been concerned with the opposite. For many years, age 60 last year, mine peaked over 200, stayed around 150-175 on a hard ride. So, I changed my diet dramatically, and now the peak seems to be about 185, staying more in the 130-150 range. I may have lost some power at the top end, but my useful energy-endurance has clearly increased.

Best exercise I've found for bike fitness has been Spin. You can work on anything you want for as long as you want, weather conditions are irrelevant, time of day is irrelevant, and the improvements come quickly. You want to work on sprinting uphills, then spinning 110 on the flats, then hard pulls in a time trial position...a good spin bike will oblige. Just saying...

cervelo-van

I started just over 5 years ago, I'm 58 now. I had not been on a bike for 40 years
It was a gong show at first. Now, I've averaged over 1000 K/month for the past few months, and typically top 5 in the Strava AG 55-64 locally with Several 1sts on some sprints.

I was diagnosed with asthma that's still not fully resolved a year ago so that's hampered my training quite a bit, and I feel there is still room for improvement

Rich Gibson 

I think a few might have taken a conclusion made by another and run with it. I'm not interested in trying to increase my MHR any more than get my hair back. Clearly I'm not happy about it and was curious if it really was true. I've discovered my engine is significantly 'rev-limited'; I've never encountered a limiting phenomenon like this. Up till now if I applied myself I could always regain my previous level. I'm currently investigating what's available to me by asking questions here. The explanation about building new capillaries makes eminent sense. You can't rush this process. I can see how that can only be done through long term steadily increasing exercise; valuable and useful information.

Originally I began riding to combine fitness and weight reduction. What I hadn't expected was a third factor, how enjoyable it would be.

Rick@OCRR

I'm not really qualified to comment since I started cycling in '68 and never stopped but having said that, I just wanted to add that all of the suggestions noted above are excellent with special emphasis on the "Rest and Recovery" rides, i.e. super-easy rides where slow is the goal. Overall though, the object really is to have fun with weight-loss and overall improved health as additional welcome benefits.

Rick / OCRR

cervelo-van

That 2 hour singing is a killer

Midnight Shadow

I restarted about 7 years ago and then had to stop because of having neurosurgery on my neck. It took a year, and a fused neck, for me to get back on the bike. I also have a heart condition where my heart misses and adds extra beats. The friendly cardiologist has me on some medicine that keeps my heart beat regular so I am riding again. However, I can not get my heart beating past 103 - 104 beats a minute due to the medication. So a year ago I changed out the cassette and the back derailer and I am not able to ride up hills better and can actually get a few miles per hour faster on the flats. I ride about 10 to 15 miles most often and it is really pretty flat. I gave up being concerned about the MPH and distance and now ride based on time. I was trying to get up to a higher speed all the time and I finally decided, after talking with the cardiologist who rides daily that it would be better for me to ride for time and conditioning will just increase as I ride longer. It doesn't fit with any of the books I have about conditioning for biking but again the cardiologist told me to forget the books and just ride. With the riding he told me will come better conditioning and while it will take me longer to get in good condition I can do it. So that is what I do now. Today I rode for just over an hour and my average speed was just over 13 MPH but I was riding and listening to music and had a great time riding. So for now that is how I have to do it. I think the most important thing is to just keep riding.
Midnight Shadow

Zinger

I wasn't expecting to come back quickly after 11 years off but was surprised to realize that I need a little more recovery time. I have had a problem riding hard daily, or I did at first. I'm also not quite up to marking wheels of some of the cyclists that pass me now. Some of it is because the bikes are lighter and there are more cyclists out there than there used to be before my hiatus. But most of it is because I'm not up to pushing the heavy gears without struggling at the end of 60 milers anymore.

Maybe I'll get a little better next season. Eleven years off is a long time. Coming back isn't quite like starting from scratch but I'm certainly not back to where I was when I quit at 51 either. I might not ever quite be. But I do certainly feel stronger than I did last March.

Btw

I personally have never enjoyed the first few pedal strokes of a ride. But I find myself enjoying it immensely after about 15 or 20 miles when the adrenalin is pumping.

bykemike 

Dudelsack 

You're probably expecting improvements to come too quickly. Go for a ride. No further instructions, measures, rules, or planning necessary. Four years later I could ride for an hour at 153 with short dips occasionally in effort. Be patient, use your rest days, and keep riding safely. Bottom line? Keep on doing it, oftener better than rarer, if that makes sense. Progress happens. Even if you are having a hard time achieving physical goals, dont let that bother you. Could it be your out of the gate to fast? With more miles you should see that hills that used to peg your HR don't do so anymore, I.e. your HR no longer jumps up so quickly following exertion. There is something to be said about determination. Overall though, the object really is to have fun with weight-loss and overall improved health as additional welcome benefits. So a year ago I changed out the cassette and the back derailer and I am not able to ride up hills better and can actually get a few miles per hour faster on the flats. But most of it is because I'm not up to pushing the heavy gears without struggling at the end of 60 milers anymore.

tsl

Bingo!

I started out with the intention of only riding to work. At the time my main job was two miles away. Six months later, I rode my first 50-miler. (Okay, so it was a struggle, more like stringing together five 10-mile rides, and it took me days to recuperate. But still…)

That winter, I discovered studded snow tires. I can't describe how delighted I was to find I didn't have to quit cycling through the winter. (Being a good neighbor in an apartment means no trainer or rollers.) By the following spring, I also had a road bike, clipless, and was trying out various pieces of kit.

Since that first year, I've transferred to a different library branch across town, more than doubling my minimum commute--just to keep my miles up during the winter. In the three-seasons, I extend my 4½-mile commute to 16¼ each way.

All this because of the joy.

on the path

About 4 years ago, at age 53 and not having been on a bike for 33 years, I started riding again. I mainly wanted to get some exercise and have some fun. No expectations though.

Now, 2 bikes and thousands of miles later, I feel I've transformed from a bike rider into a cyclist. I regularly do rides of 50 and 60 miles, and more, with very strong riders, most of whom are quite a bit younger than I.

To the OP, I use and regularly reference a HRM. I believe I'm training my cardiovascular system to do what I want it to, by utilizing "easy" days. Having said that, I don't worry about my HR anymore.

I want to improve and get stronger. I'd love to sprint up a long hill and pass that 60 year old guy I ride with, and I just might do that some day. But for now, I'm really enjoying the riding. And still, no expectations.

rydabent

Some one posted excellent advice. Do have rest days. It lets your body recover and rebuild fitness. At our ages we dont recover as fast, and if you ride every day expecting to build up, you in fact will probably just wear yourself down.

2manybikes

Do you know the hill on Tower Rd. ? Goes east off of Metacom to where the old Haffenreffer Museum used to be.
President Av. (route 6) in Fall River is the biggest hill I have found around here.

ModeratedUser150120149

I am an Accidental Cyclist so maybe my perspective might be a bit different. Oh, I had my Huffy that I once in awhile kicked around the neighborhood on. But that was it. Then one of my firefighter friends told me I needed to try Spin Class. Her invitation was followed by others from a couple other female and male folks in the gym. My first class it was all girls except for a couple infantry guys. At this point I was over 70 and coping with the age bias and antiquated management methods of the fire service. I had my butt handed to me, big time. But lots of chatter and encouragement.

Come break up I decided to upgrade my Huffy. After some time I ended up with a hybrid and a road bike. Then a second road bike at my usual travel destination. That to save money; it is cheaper to own than rent or ship.

Words have Power. I was reminded of that by my spin leader. "You are an athlete. Think of yourself that way. All athletes have issues of one kind or another. Medical status and age don't define you unless you want them to." So, like I had eliminated bias words about other things from my vocabulary I eliminated age negative or sterotype words. It made a big difference.

Now cycling as much a part of my life as anything. Since my trauma I don't go as fast. But I am getting faster. I only compete with myself. But what a wonderful race against a worthy cometitor!