Originally Posted by
jgadamski
Confession time here: I have not always made good choices in my life.Among them was a 30+ year addiction to smoking.Which is now done.
The impact on my cycling is noticeable. I plain do not have the wind to really push hard, and am lucky to average 15 mph on a flat road ride. Hills are a weak point too.
My question is whether there are ways to improve respiratory function through cycling. Although I have been a transportation cyclist for nearly 20 years, road and fitness riding are a new experience to me.
Has anybody had experience with this?
Seriously? Lived with a 45 year smoking habit, unfiltered, and it's gone now. I'm a daily runner, cyclist and occasionally do mile training swims. Your lungs will bounce back big time, but you have to train them up. I started doing hard spin workouts at the gym, multiple hour sufferfests. Then running trails, a tough 3 miles became 5, 10, 15. I think doing cycling intervals on the road is a much harder way to go, dangerous, but is will certainly work. MTBing hills can be a killer cardio, but I found it very hard to develop any regualr routine.
Don't listen to any haters, you can rebuild your body & lungs. But, it will mean work; regular/routine/meaningful work.