It takes me 40 minutes to be loose !!!

Age: 40 something.
Occupation: desk jockey
Problem: leave work, can't hang on to the freight train that is 3 or 4 of my (slightly) younger workmates...legs feel leaden and heavy, no power until about 40 minutes into the ride, by which time 2 of them have turned for home. Then and only then, I find a bit of pace; and next morning the two who went home don't believe it when I tell them how well I went after they had gone. Although the guy who stayed with me can confirm it, they think we are both lying. Funny thing is, he is a cannibal but by the time I am loose, he is empty. Accuses me of foxing for the previous 40 minutes.
How can I get warmed up a bit quicker? so I can hang onto the convoy?
must be something I can do

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"...too old to be riding a bike..." my former workmates used to say. Screw them. I don't judge people for their lack of interest in exercise. So don't judge me.

Ha, I had exactly the same thing back in 04, the young bloke would pull me along for about 5k and then we would be even for the next 5k and I'd pull him for the final 12k.

Having started club riding last year I noticed that my legs hurt 20k into the ride and then went good after say 30k. The clubies presented 2 explanations;
- not properly warm, which could be true as I didn't wear leg warmers last winter.
- too much glyictrum (spelling ?) in the muscles. The muscles work better when the glyictrum levels are right.

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Training Log

There might not be anything you can do. I'm 27 and it can take me a solid hour to finally get into my groove. On many many group rides I'll be huffing and puffing trying to keep up with everyone, only to end up being the one to pull the whole group home in the end. It's led to lots of "great pull!" comments during those rides, but it doesn't work so well in a race.

If it's just part of your natural physiology the only think you can really do is learn to deal with it. That means warming up on your own beforehand. Riding to the ride is a good way to do that, or arriving early to ride around before everyone else arrives.

It only gets worse!

That's good advice, of course the other plan is to skip some of the group rides, do some closet training and get your FTP way up so you can be warming up at L1/L2 when everybody else is pushing the pace

I had a roomie that did a quick spin on my bike/trainer before heading out to run, which cut his start-up leg pain off completely.

Maybe the opposite will work for you - a few minutes on a home stepper to get warmed up. That and a bottle of sports drink 45min before you ride.

My BP meds also make getting into the zone harder.

Wayne

Thanks for the advice fellas...I have a home trainer, and have given it some thought...but I leave home at 6:00 am and am not really in the mood to do time on it, anyway I always need to sit on the pottie just before I leave so I am perpetually in a hurry...anyways, by the time I meet up with my mate, 40 minutes has elapsed and I am warmed up by then.
The main problem is at night, leaving work.
Last night one of the guys discovered he had a flat, so while he fixed it, I stretched my calves/quads(not my normal routine) and I managed to stay less than 8 seconds behind them, so that helped a fair bit. Then they slowed to let me pass, and I managed to stay with them without too much trouble.
I reckon a half-hour before leaving work, I may just have to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs to get the blood flowing- will try that tonight...

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"...too old to be riding a bike..." my former workmates used to say. Screw them. I don't judge people for their lack of interest in exercise. So don't judge me.