Yeah ... but when my left knee feels like it is full of glass shards after a short hard push yesterday ... maybe I wouldn't mind feeling a little less "alive" and more "fine."

I find it a lot easier to overdo it (came back after almost a decade off the bike, at half again the weight, then had a few health issues .... ) and it takes a lot longer to recover. Now I try to overdo it in moderation .... otherwise whatever I gain through pain while riding is lost in the week i spend waiting for the pain to stop.

I know folks who never quit (check out Carbonfiberboy) and who are stronger at 70 than I was at 30 ... but it seems a lot of people who rode for a lot of years and then took time off and lost all their fitness ... need to work a lot more gradually to build up that deep base which used to support those peak efforts.

Just keep riding .... no matter what your goals are. If you can't get there by bike ... then it is material for some other forum.