Ronno6

I turned 68 on Feb. 12th
I am still coming to grips with my evolution (or devolution??) of my abilities as an older cyclist.
When I first moved to south Mississippi a bit over 5 years ago, 18mph+ average rides were fairly regular.
Then, after a litany of leg and knee problems, which kept me off the bike for 2 years, I have not bounced back to that level.
15mph averages are not unusual; 16+ required way too much effort.I guess 15 is the new 20...
Inconsistent riding has also not helped, but often I cannot work up the enthusiasm to get out there and do it.
Last year I fell just short of 1000 miles, but am off to a better start this year.

I wear a hear rate monitor now.
It is an interesting exercise....
If I work my HR up over 140 during exertion (lots of smallish hills here) it will not hardly come down.
It will remain above 130, and climb with any exertion......
I have had 20mile unremarkable rides speedwise which have seen average HR of 135 or so.
They don't feel that hard at the time, but really knock me on my butt for the rest of the day.
Seems that, if I make a concerted effort to keep my pulse under 130, I don't suffer during or after the ride, and average speeds
are not terribly worse than the harder efforts.
But, then I feel like I am slacking..............
I am going to stay with that 130 or so training level for a while and see if the effort to maintain that range doesn't increase.
Only problem is that, in order to keep in that zone, I pretty much have to turn around at the base of any significant hill.....

I used to be a strong rider; now I guess I should be thankful that I can still ride at all.