Originally Posted by
Velo Fellow
For maintaining minimal heart health, your wife's numbers may be adequate to lift you up above "sedentary". But, cycling always demands ever more.... or at least our vanity does. Last month I hiked the Upper Yosemite Falls trail on a hot day. It can be a quad and cardiovascular butt kicker especially for us grayheads. I doubt your wife's numbers would have gotten me to the top. But, to stay out of the hospital cardio ward a 60x3, diet, and some luck should work. Trouble is, hanging with fit 50Plussers requires more.... and cycling is never about "minimums"-- it's about Maximums whether that's 8mph on a huge trike on much faster on a full race machine.
Reply:
Yup, cycling always demands more, and I got more yesterday. I rode the Blue Water Ramble for the first time. That was only a 41.1 mile ride, but I was astonished by my results. It was raining the whole time and that should affect you, but it didn't. I had rain gear. The temperature was perfect. I've been doing core work and upper body strength training and the results showed yesterday. I had given up on being a rider who could crank 15 miles per hour mile after mile, but with the training, I was cranking 13, 14, and 15 miles per hour for the last 20 miles. Even on mild hills, I never dropped below 12 mph. To me, that was an astonishing and unexpected development!