mprince

Agree with most of the preceding posts. When I was younger and raced I tracked everything - heartrate, miles/time, altitude, etc. Kept detailed mileage logs, weighed myself every day, the whole nine yards. I got tired of it and got to the point that I was riding because I felt like I HAD to. That caused me to re-evaluate some things and as a result spent considerable time off of the bike, away from bikes. Now I have one bike (not the latest greatest, it's almost 20 years old with a 9-speed groupset on it), there are no computers, no data logging for me. I wear a mechanical wristwatch and a quick glance tells me how long I've been riding. If I want to know how far I rode, I put my route on google maps when I get home (but I don't do that very often). I do carry my cell phone when I ride, but only to use in case of emergency, there's no cycling apps on it.

I can honestly say I enjoy riding my bike more now (at 55 years old) than I ever have. I once again am riding my bike because I want to.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes. 4 riding buddies of mine got Afib:
one has completely aged out of riding, 3 years older than I,
one still rides pretty hard, just dialed it back a bit and quit coffee,
one got ablation, is terrified, only rides one single loop in his neighborhood,
one, a physician, got ablation and rides as hard as he ever did.

I'm fine, so far so good. It seems to me that the Afibers did too many intervals and didn't recover enough - they all share that one thing and were strong to very strong riders. I might be an example of only having trained hard for 25 years instead of 60.

big john

That's very interesting. I wonder if any studies have broken it down that way. I had a bit of A-fib a couple years ago but it seems to have resolved itself. Doctors kept telling me I looked good "for my age".
One friend had an ablation some years ago and is very happy with the result. We went mountain biking on steep trails @9000 feet as soon as he recovered from the procedure.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, I just love the "for your age" remark. Not.

big john

It's almost as bad as hearing that from a woman.

roadwarrior

I used to ride for a paycheck with a resting of 38 and a top of 220. Many years ago.

About 5 years ago I suddenly started having issues with heart rate. It simply would not go above 100. Saw a doc. Did a stress test, found my type 2 heart block was now a total type 3. If you are interested you can look that up.

With a type 3 I had to get a pacemaker which is programmed for 70-160 bpm. I am 65, but I ride a lot (about 9,000 miles last year) and the doc said 160 was OK.

Then I developed afib. So about a year and a half ago I underwent a cardioversion. That worked, as it gets my heart back in rhythm but did not fix the reason I was in afib. Most people don't even know they have afib. Until they have a stroke.

So, because of covid all the surgeries are backed up, the voluntary ones, so tomorrow I get another cardioversion. Then in the fall will have an ablation. The right side of my heart beats OK....the left side, when in afib is about 200 all the time. You can look up ablation, but it's a procedure to reduce that number of nerve endings on the bad side of my heart.

So...if you are feeling strange or getting odd hr readings, see a doctor. Really. I'm not joking.

Get a copy of "The Haywire Heart". You'll learn a lot. Velopress. A lot of big name athletes have heart problems. LIke Ironman Dave Scott. Lennard Zinn. All sorts of endurance athletes. Remember Jim Fixx who keeled over on a run and died?

Most people ignore symptoms. I'm tired, I'll take a week off. Then, suddenly, something really bad happens. Like a stroke or worse when if caught early it is a much simpler fix.

Eddy Merckx and I get to share the same heart issues. So we have that in common.

Thomas15

Lots to consider here. While I'm personally a year and a half into my return to semi-serious cycling, I have for the most part participated in some kind of physical activity throughout my life. So was out of shape but not totally out of shape if this makes sense.


Now at 62, I cannot prove it but I'm fairly certain that I'm riding stronger and longer than I ever did. That may not be saying much but in my mind it's a very big deal.


Still, while I'm now putting in the miles (100-150/week) and putting forth the effort (hills) I'm having trouble getting a regular workout routine going. On the plus side I'm climbing hills I had to walk up even this time last year and I have lost almost 25 pounds of which I really didn't need to lose. Almost to the point that I'm too skinny. So I have concluded that while my saddle time is much expanded and and more often, I cannot disclipline myself to do much to increase my 192 ftp by way of an intense structured workout plan. Maybe that is the reason why the pro's are pro's because they stick to a plan?


Anyway I think at this age we should do the best we can but not kill yourselves trying to beat anyone, speaking for myself I have nothing to prove to anyone anyway.