I go out every week with my riding partners and we generraly do about 25 to 30 miles offroad. We always take this at a fair pace, or at least at a pace that keeps my heart rate well up for most of the ride. Last weekend was different though as we went out to an organised cycle event that was about 10 miles away. This was organised for all grades of rider from the accomplished roadie, right down to family groups. I wanted to get out there a bit quick so chose the route to give us a flatter route, but still offroad. The trails were also better than we normally take being gravelled cycle routes and not the broken offroad tracks that we would normally do.

Got to the venue, looked round the trade stands, had a Bacon sandwich and basically enjoyed the event. Eventually we got bored though and started on the way home. Running a bit late, so took the easier tracks again, and arrived home to find that we had taken in 10 extra miles to our normal rides, and we had done a higher than average speed.

I know we had not taken in the big hills that we normally do, we had not had to wait for the group to reform, and we had not broken out into the out of breath, legs dead and sweating buckets mode that we normally ride in. We had time to look at the scenery, the different route took us through parts of our locality that we had not seen and made us realise how lucky we are to live in the area that we do. Not only did we all enjoy this ride, we all had to admit that we were not as shatterred as we normally would be.

It made a pleasant change to have a ride that did not leave us with legs of lead, and a lack of energy for the rest of the day, so I actually watched the tour that afternoon, without missing the important bits by falling asleep.

Sometimes I go off alone and make a point of taking a camera...it forces me to take in the surroundings. I still cover a surprising amount of ground and feel it the next day...just enjoyable; lengthy, but not intense. Variety is good and helps the training, I think.

"Gentle Cycling"

STAPFAM?

I've been away one week and has the world come to an end?

Gentle Cycling, INDEED!

Don't worry, As we had such an easy ride last week, we are going to do a 60 miler in preparataion for our 80 mile night time ride in October. Still off road off course, and as my mates had a rest day on Sunday, they will probably punish me on the uphills again.

Thank you.

My world has now returned to order again. For a minute there I thought I was in another time-frame continuum universe.

Truly, the Pope is still Catholic.

Catholic, yes. But German?

I'm kinda backwards. In the summer, I have road slicks on my mountain bike, so the only trails I ride are the gentle ones. In winter, I put the knobbies back on and I go for it a little.

OK. BREAK'S OVER! Get back to your torture rides! :D

mQuit thinking you're still 25 and can take 30 miles of offroad riding. Lighten up and enjoy easier rides and a good workout at the same time. bk

Pardon my ignorance. What's a DF? I know I'm going to say, "Oh, d'oh!" when this gets answered.

Diamond Frame (Traditional Bicycle)

And, I didn't always know that earlier, and I am sorry to have used an abbreviation - shouldn't do that.

Have a great day.

Diamond Frame -- term used for normal bikes by those who ride recumbents (bents). :)

Digital Gee,
I'm glad you asked the question.

D'oh!

One thing I learned fairly quickly after I started riding: there's a great variety of riders, even among over 50's.

For those who pack some extra weight and ride at an easy pace, there's nothing wrong with that; it beats the heck out of just vegging on the couch.

But for me, pushing myself for the 11 months since I started riding has gotten me with 3 pounds of the weight I set out to be (although now I think I should be 10 pounds lighter than that) and gotten me in better shape that I would have thought possible.

With my bad back, I ride a recumbent too, and I'm probably never going to be able to keep up with a fast club paceline, but I'm going to keep pushing myself, anyway. Hats off to all those who still ride hard.