Originally Posted by hereandnow

Thanks for the responses.

As far as defining intensive exercise, the sports research cardiologist Dr. James O'Keefe, a former "long distance" athlete himself, recommends running no more than 15 miles a week. Making an estimated conversion to cycling, fwiw, my riding about 150 miles a week at a fairly brisk pace (I love it) is way over Dr. O'Keefe's standard (fwiw, my heart rate is typically 110ish during easy flats; in the 120s quite often; and in the 140s on hills).

We live our lives and take our chances to do what we really enjoy. That said, I am savoring every day of retirement and family and have a variety of interests. I would grudgingly give up cycling if it were certain that I was significantly cutting my life short, all other things equal. Just curious how others above age 55 view the subject who are acquainted with some of the related research or have formed strong opinions on the subject.