Originally Posted by treebound

Us 50+ folks have to be a little more cautious with just jumping right into the thick of it. Sure you will probably make it there, but the ride home might be an issue. Bonking out and hitting the proverbial wall when your muscles go on strike and your body starts to look for a grassy bed to take a nap in hits different people at different times. Plus if you do bonk out it might delay things later on. Building up more slowly can actually put you farther ahead as you get deeper into the season.

With that said I'd recommend on getting some evening miles in after work, 5-10 to start off with, then build up to a 20 mile ride on a weekend. If things go well then you can ramp up faster, and if the knees and neck and other body parts start to complain then you can slow down the gains until your body adjusts.

It's better to bonk in the evening or on a weekend when you can call for a ride or take a two hour recovery break than it is to bonk on the way in to work and then end up huffing and puffing and sweating profusely for the entire morning at your job.

That being said I'm planning on just jumping right into it with my 22 mile each way commute once my home and side job schedules allow for the bike time. Just because I'm over 50 doesn't mean I follow my own advice. 8-). I will however try to get a few miles in around town just to wake the legs back up some.

You could do just fine, or you might have issues, as might I. Use your best judgement and take it from there.