Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 28, 2014 21:51:23 GMT
Hi all looking in!
Apologies in advance if some of this is not too well ordered/vague.
Context:
I've been riding regularly now for two years ( although it's all I did for my first 25, in a utilitarian fashion to get to school, work and in play). I have a Decathlon Riverside 5 (built like a tank) and have done 1500 miles on it.
In May this year I got myself a Triban 500 and have done 800 miles (400 in August). I don't push it but I like physical activity ( I'm 56). I'm reasonably fit, but coming back from years sitting on my ass in an office. I left that 7 years ago and have been active in house renovation but haven't had the time to do other than regular walking until getting back on my bikes.
Today I wanted to see if I could push it a little so went on a 30 mile ride. I'm 6'2" and weigh 192lbs. Large (ish) frame. I set of with two bottles, a chocalate bar and some new clothing. I was able to stick the bar in the pocket at the back and munched it after 10 miles. I had some porridge and a boiled egg for breakfast.
I was determined to do a none stopper over the course ( I usually stop 2/3 times for 3/4 minutes to eat and drink). I was pleased and felt strong and for some my av speed of 16.1mph would be snail like, but for me it was a milestone. I also tried to balance getting the liquid in with the need to get it out. I always stop to water a hedge. Could be age?
However, I didn't get at my second bottle because I didn't want to stop and I couldn't reach down safely to get at it. Although I finished strongly and my data ( sorry would put up my Strava but don't know how to), shows my av speed was continually improving as the ride went on, and within that I felt ok at the end. The following needs to be added; I sat in my armchair all afternoon like a wet lettuce. I've eaten healthily this evening and immediately after the ride. Nice bath too! But I may have overdone it a tad, or underdone the nutrition?
Considerations:
* Apart from the hydration deficit, any other tips on nutrition, either before, during or after the ride.
* Considering getting a heart monitor. I have the Garmin Edge 200 but especially due to my age, another model preferable/sensible. Any views?
* Should I get a more structured regime in place to train to or just go on enjoying the countryside? Perhaps only I can answer that one. I think I will go for the former.
* Any other views from all readers ( particularly interested in the similar age bracket views too.
I'm really enjoying this biking. Today I closed in on a group of seniors having a ride. I clung on to the back of their peloton and had a chat! I guess getting on a bike is a starting point. What any one person wants to get out of it is an individual matter.
Thanks for reading and any comments welcome!
Best to all, jalopeno
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Post by beatnik69 on Aug 28, 2014 22:14:37 GMT
Jalopeno, I'm 40 and took up cycling again around bout the same time as yourself. I was signed up to do a 60 mile ride at the start of June. I had been riding to work and bike (17 mile round trip) 3 or 4 days a week for a few months and went out a couple of times at the weekend on longer runs. The longest I did was about 30 miles and like yourself, to put it mildly but crudely, I was fucked when I got home. I felt ok physically but after I had showered I sat down in my armchair and fell asleep. Since then I've done the 60 miler, and continued commuting, done a couple of 40-odd mile rides and last week did an 85 mile ride. I was knackered after that one but not much more so than after that 30 mile ride. If you can find someone or a group to ride with it makes it much easier than going out on your own. You will still be wrecked afterwards for a while but your fitness levels will improve. Good luck!
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Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 28, 2014 22:30:07 GMT
Hi Beatnik69,
Thanks for taking the time to reply and for your encouragement. I'm most often a solo cyclist but sometimes go with a friend or my son. I think I'm thinking about a heart monitor because I don't want to overdo it and don't know whether I am. I have done a 65 mile ride and felt fine both during and after it but today I perhaps went at a pace that youth coveted but age reviled.
All the best and thank you,
jalopeno
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Post by erictherat on Aug 29, 2014 8:40:19 GMT
Pete R - I think the most important thing you say is that you loving riding. At the end of the day - that's what it is all about. If you enjoying something, you put in the work and get better at it - and love it more etc etc. As for improving fitness and nutrition, as a 42yr old smoker, who does no "training" I cant really advise expertly. However after a year of riding more seriously my fitness have improved massively - from just riding for pleasure. seems you eating sensibly and drinking well. I doubt you getting dehydrated - not in our climate on a 2 hr ride and needing a "comfort break". what colour is your urine when you get home - if it is light I think you ok. for improving fitness - for me hills did it. "dont buy upgrades - ride up grades" - I live somewhere very hilly and cant leave town without a categorised climb. At first I hated them - now i love it. - find a hill in your area, not too steep (5%) the longer the better, and ride it. dont worry about times, just keep in your comfort zone - after a few weeks you should see your time improving. once you comfortable on the hill, you can start to push it. do the first part in comfort, then maybe up the pace for the last 100m, then 200m, etc. I would worry that a structured training programme would make riding a chore, not a joy. For some folks like Rocket - get a buzz from it - but you can improve fitness without that structure. Not to the same level for sure, but enough to be a decent rider. most important - keep on riding, keep on enjoying.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2014 19:30:43 GMT
Pete R - I think the most important thing you say is that you loving riding. At the end of the day - that's what it is all about. If you enjoying something, you put in the work and get better at it - and love it more etc etc. As for improving fitness and nutrition, as a 42yr old smoker, who does no "training" I cant really advise expertly. However after a year of riding more seriously my fitness have improved massively - from just riding for pleasure. seems you eating sensibly and drinking well. I doubt you getting dehydrated - not in our climate on a 2 hr ride and needing a "comfort break". what colour is your urine when you get home - if it is light I think you ok. for improving fitness - for me hills did it. "dont buy upgrades - ride up grades" - I live somewhere very hilly and cant leave town without a categorised climb. At first I hated them - now i love it. - find a hill in your area, not too steep (5%) the longer the better, and ride it. dont worry about times, just keep in your comfort zone - after a few weeks you should see your time improving. once you comfortable on the hill, you can start to push it. do the first part in comfort, then maybe up the pace for the last 100m, then 200m, etc. I would worry that a structured training programme would make riding a chore, not a joy. For some folks like Rocket - get a buzz from it - but you can improve fitness without that structure. Not to the same level for sure, but enough to be a decent rider. most important - keep on riding, keep on enjoying. +1 on the hill training. The old fashioned way to get fit & fast! I do follow a very loose training schedule and whilst I'm a lover of the data from my cadence and heart rate monitor I sometimes easily overdo the focus on stats (something which my cycling mentor - my club's secretary is always quite quick to point out). You can easily get caught up too much in the details rather than learning to ride on feel and, when in a group, intelligently - conserving energy for when it matters. Having said that I'll be following a stricter training schedule come winter so I'll be able to race to a decent standard next season. As an aside towards stats - my resting heart rate when I first started cycling was around 78, which went down to 65 before joining a cycling club and after 2/3 months with a club it's now around the 54bpm mark (those measurements could have actually even been lower, but I'm a caffeine addict so coffee may skew the results!). Is that any use to training? Not really, but it does help motivate when you see stats improving, although I only really use the HRM for checking what HR zone I'm in on longer rides (which usually ties up with what I'm feeling from my body anyway). If you ask yourself whether the extra stats will help motivate you more then that should give you the answer you need as to whether the extra outlay is worth it. Do rides feel any easier? No, the hill on my regular commute still feels just as hard but instead of it taking 6 minutes, it's down to 1 minute 50! If you have the money to spare then by all means go for the sensors/stats as I say they can boost your motivation, but you don't necessarily need them to enjoy riding and become a better rider. I know my reply is probably as clear as mud, but hopefully I've weighed up some of the pros and cons. Nutrition wise - this is a bit of a left field suggestion, but one that may not be shared otherwise! One of the racers at the club has gotten me onto sometimes having an Ella's Kitchen baby food pouch as a pre-ride meal. It's mushed up & easy to eat in a hurry (with the 4 months + ones pretty much tasting the same as innocent smoothies and the older ones more like a decent quality meal blended) but all contain around the right mixture of carbs and protein required. They're quite expensive to use regularly though! Left field suggestions aside, I find a meal with some pasta or brown rice the night before then a breakfast of granola & natural yoghurt and a banana on the morning seems to do the trick followed by flapjack/rice cakes (whatever I can make with the ingredients lying around in my kitchen) and the occasional gel (if required) when on the ride. I also have some isotonic drink with carbs that I use for longer 3 hours plus rides & without carbs for rides over an hour (less than an hour and I'll just use some water). Post ride I swear by a large glass of milk or chocolate milk within half an hour after the ride then just have a high protein meal with some fish or meat at tea time a couple of hours later. Above all I'd heartily recommend looking towards the club route as most have Sunday socials that go as fast as the slowest rider (stopping at the top of hills to regroup) and if you can manage 30 miles on your own you'll definitely manage 50 in a group. Plus it adds a social aspect to riding with new people to ride with and when you have your arse kicked I find no better motivation to get out and beat those riders next time (although that may be my competitive streak)!
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Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 29, 2014 20:55:42 GMT
eric/
Keeping it fun is essential, agreed. That varies from one to another. The hill tip appeals to me. I have some nearby and it would be pretty easy to get out and do a spot on them. The great thing is there are a good variety of routes, flat, slightly hilly, some tougher ones (for me) if I want them, all to prevent it becoming a chore.
toonsi/I take your point about intuitively monitoring our bodies. Your reply is far clearer than mud and I appreciate the pros and cons approach because things are rarely black and white. There is much in there for consideration re diet too. I'm in two minds about Heart rate monitoring and a few months ago fell firmly into an opinion that I can intuitively monitor things. Now I'm not sure I trust myself to not push it too far. In a way that's self monitoring too though. Perhaps just taking it on and keeping enjoyment at the centre will lead to developments naturally anyway. Just a thought.
I appreciate both sets of comments and the time taken to write them. Cheers and Thanks!! jalopeno
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2014 22:54:17 GMT
There is an abundance of information out there on t'internet that will help loads from a technical point of view but I'll chuck in a bit of advise from a personal point of view that I feel is important and you might want to think about. It might be a load of old cobblers but it works for me. Pete R .... you might want to consider the importance of mental approach to cycling/fitness/performance, as I feel that this is THE key ingredient to improving cycling ability. Enjoyment and motivation is the key. If you cannot sustain the enjoyment of cycling and the improvements in performance you seek over a period of years, you will struggle in the long run and burn out. If your attitude is right, you will do well. How do I do that? I find mixing up my cycling helps to keep those cranks a turning. Lightweight touring, full blown touring, climbing, sprints, long day trips, a quick spin down the coast etc etc all come together to keep the interest going for me. I switch things about when I'm getting a bit stale with something. I dabble(d) with heart rate monitors, cadence and stats etc but after reading up on things, I find that I know instinctively what I need to do to sustain my levels of performance. You know when you need to push things a little harder than usual or when you can afford to ease up a bit. If you get out often and put the miles in, it WILL all fall into place but you do have to have the motivation to do that. I normally cycle alone and I am very much self motivated. I set myself mileage targets that provide the bedrock of fitness and use Strava both socially and statistically to encourage me to improve my performance. The way I would do it would be to initially to burn off any excessive weight and only then look at improving performance. Losing weight? I am strict with myself when I need to lose weight. Long regular rides on a low carb diet does the trick to get back on an even keel. I find that climbing definitely improves performance by building muscle strength. Spinning at a faster cadence is often recommended but throwing in sessions of hard climbing in a low cadence of 50/60 really does get you motoring. If you have the right mental approach along with sensible nutrition to keep you healthy, the physical conditioning and improvement in performance will follow if you can get out regularly and get the miles into your legs. As you ask in your original post, I'm 50 years of age. After the referee has blown his whistle to signal the start of the second half ........of life, I find cycling is a fantastic way for gadgers like me to maintain fitness. Just have fun, put the miles in and enjoy yourself, mate.
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Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 30, 2014 18:14:46 GMT
Thank you DaveFY7, that's most useful, and like some of the other posts I'll read it over a few times and consider it all.
I've lost some weight already, pre Triban 500 (purchased this May), on my Tourer, on which I've gone outwith panier, food/drink/camera and built up to 3/4/5 hr leisure rides at about av.speed 11mph at first and now 13/14 depending on weather and how I'm feeling. These rides were a way of getting fitter and a platform for getting from home to enjoy the beautiful Staffordshire countryside and over into Shropshire etc.
On from that I began to feel fitness benefits inc. lowering of blood pressure, general toning and so I offloaded about a stone in weight. This year another half a stone has done and I'm trimmer. With the better weather and the new bike I've gone on to get a Garmin and enjoy the Strava element. I do a lot of thinking on the bike and find it's good for that/relaxing/working things out. My time is my own so I've now started to do more mileage and vary routes as well as bikes depending upon what kind of ride I want (similar to yourself in some ways maybe).
I
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Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 30, 2014 18:26:38 GMT
Apologies for sending the post before it was finished!
I see a key element in the responses I have had is the enjoyment of it. I take that approach anyway but having it reiterated is confirmation. It's the priority. Another comment a few have made including yourself, is putting some climbs in. I have some good ones about including one which saw a buzzard pounce after. That made me shift!!
I am a self-motivated person and can work in teams but am very comfortable on my own too. In summary, It looks like I just need to go on as I am, perhaps with a few adjustments, and put in the miles. Thanks for your time! You continue to enjoy your cycling too!! Cheers, jalopeno
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2014 21:15:41 GMT
It sounds like you are heading in the right direction, mate. Just keep on going and you'll do just fine.
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Pete R
Peloton Rider
Posts: 55
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Post by Pete R on Aug 30, 2014 21:23:27 GMT
Cheers Dave, Thanks for your support. Best wishes to you. jalopeno
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Post by robertsims on Aug 31, 2014 11:32:48 GMT
How to become a great champion...'ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike'
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