Any early 40 year old riders...

Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and cycle about 100-120km.

I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.

I recently joined a cycling club and realised how unfit I am compared to the regular riders.

Any advise would be welcome.
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Regards, Turbo Fahel __o -\<, ( ) / ( )

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"Turbo Fahel" <nehmejm@ihug.com.au> wrote in message news:b95kbl$2o6$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
> Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and cycle about 100-120km.
>
> I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.
>
> I recently joined a cycling club and realised how unfit I am compared to the regular riders.

Club rides aren't necessarily the best test of fitness, there are some tricks involved. If your club
rides are typical, they are somewhat disorganized pace lines. In these conditions, it's all about
being able to hang on to the pack so you can draft. To hang on, you have to be able to stay with the
group during sprints and climbs. Most newbies stay (sensibly) at the back of the group, which is the
toughest position to hang on in. As a result, savvy riders, who know all the right moves, look
fitter than they actually are, so the gap between your fitness and the group average might not be as
large as it appears. If you want to get better at group/club riding, just do as much of it as you
can, and don't be discouraged, as improvement takes time.

If your club rides aren't pace line affairs, but just long-ish "social" rides, then it's just about
putting in the miles. Many club riders are commuters, and ride much more than you do.

Turbo...

Great name for a cyclist ;-)

The word "fit" is ambiguous. It sounds like you already get a fair amount of exercise. You don't
mention whether you're overweight, or what your goals are when it comes to bicycling.

Do you want to ride faster? Have more endurance? Climb better? Sprint better? All of these are
specific objectives, and there are ways to train to improve each one.

If you're interested in racing you'll need to apply whichever form of training you need most to a
greater degree. If you're just interested in keeping up on club rides, you can focus on just the
specific skill(s) you need to improve.

A lot has been written about the kinds of training that support each of these specific goals. There
are performance oriented bicycling books that describe them in detail, and Bicycling Magazine
(www.bicycling.com) has articles on how to target specific areas for improvement every month. The
Carmichael Training Systems approach has been getting a lot of press from them lately, thanks to
you-know-who.

In general you can improve your performance a number of ways, and certainly riding more would help.
Do you push yourself at least a couple of times a week to do better than before, or do you put in
about the same effort? This makes a big difference. Serious riders track their performance on every
ride, and use tools like computers with cadence and heart rate monitors.

If your goal is to ride faster and have greater endurance, you could cut back on some of the weight
training and focus on longer rides over varying terrain. When you're with the bike club, it may help
to ask more experienced riders if they think your bike is adjusted properly for you, and whether
upgrading any of your equipment would make an improvement.

I'm almost the same age as you are, and some professional racers are still going at it into their
early forties. You may not be elbow to elbow with the fastest twenty-somethings, but they may not be
members of your club ;-)

Enjoy.

-dreq

Turbo Fahel wrote:
> Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and cycle about 100-120km.
>
> I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.
>
> I recently joined a cycling club and realised how unfit I am compared to the regular riders.
>
> Any advise would be welcome.
> --
> Regards, Turbo Fahel __o -\<, ( ) / ( )
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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>
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"Turbo Fahel" <nehmejm@ihug.com.au> wrote in message news:b95kbl$2o6$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
> Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and cycle about 100-120km.
>
> I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.
>
> I recently joined a cycling club and realised how unfit I am compared to
the
> regular riders.

You just answered your own question. Become a 'regular' rider! The more you ride the better you get.

Mike - 42

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"Michael Dart" <mrdart@erols.com> wrote in message news:<b9assr01hcj@enews1.newsguy.com>...

> You just answered your own question. Become a 'regular' rider! The more you ride the better
> you get.
>
> Mike - 42

Life, the universe. Everything.

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Dave...

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"Michael Dart" wrote ......
> "Turbo Fahel" wrote ....

> > Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and cycle about 100-120km.
> >
> > I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.

> You just answered your own question. Become a 'regular' rider! The more you ride the better
> you get.
>

This is correct up to a point. Remember, however, that the human body evolved over millions of years
for survival success using a highly varied and intense activity profile. This contrasts markedly
with the routine, regular 'industrial drudgery' of distance cycling. We are, in 2003, Pleistocene
bodies in a post-Pleistocene world. You will have noticed the many older distance runners who've
been training for years and are now being struck down with cancers. I won't bore you here with
details. Nor do I want to turn anyone off cycling; I'm as keen as you are. Just put your cycling,
sleep, diet, stretching and supplementary training firmly in its evolutionary context. (See my
website: www.evfit.com)

Keith (54)

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"Keith" <keith@evfit.com> wrote in message news:b8e37556.0305080018.575ca08c@posting.google.com...
> "Michael Dart" wrote ......
> > "Turbo Fahel" wrote ....
>
> > > Want to know what you do to keep fit. I lift weights 3x a week and
cycle
> > > about 100-120km.
> > >
> > > I am 44 yrs old and started cycling over 18 months ago and looking at continual improvement.
>
> > You just answered your own question. Become a 'regular' rider! The
more
> > you ride the better you get.
> >
>
> This is correct up to a point. Remember, however, that the human body evolved over millions of
> years for survival success using a highly varied and intense activity profile. This contrasts
> markedly with the routine, regular 'industrial drudgery' of distance cycling. We are, in 2003,
> Pleistocene bodies in a post-Pleistocene world. You will have noticed the many older distance
> runners who've been training for years and are now being struck down with cancers. I won't bore
> you here with details. Nor do I want to turn anyone off cycling; I'm as keen as you are. Just put
> your cycling, sleep, diet, stretching and supplementary training firmly in its evolutionary
> context. (See my website: www.evfit.com)
>
> Keith (54)

What are your qualifications in offering this bull**** other than your desire to make money by
spamming this newsgroup?

Hawke

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RE/
>This contrasts markedly with the routine, regular 'industrial drudgery' of distance cycling. We
>are, in 2003, Pleistocene bodies in a post-Pleistocene world.

I guess nobody'll ever know, but my image of male life in the Pleistocene has a lot of distance
running in it. Sneak up on somethin like a wooley mammoth, stick a spear up it's tender parts, run
like hell, then jog for 3-4 hours following at a safe distance until it finally bleeds to death....
-----------------------
PeteCresswell

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