riding your bike to Grilli (fast food place) NOT good for your fitness... But WoW good for your soul. stop riding up a slope because you are tied. not stretching out after a hard ride. I have done all of these
A really helpful video. Right now I am stuck. I am taking care of everything as I used to, but for some reason the gains are minimal if not any and I don't know why.
Biggest thing for is not getting to bed on time - more sleep = better recovery, better sessions, and fewer missed sessions because I’m just too tired.. 😂
Yeah, I should have known this years ago. I learned the hard way. This year I am doing less, achieving more and even having fun. Incredible. I finished my metric century ride, first time ever when in Strava. Recovery is a serious issue. Age + hypothyroidism - it takes ages to recover from last ride. Kind of boring time. I could just watch GCN vids and plan my future rides on Komoot. GCN helped me to take nutrition during ride seriously. Not many cafés here, but I have carried loads of bananas. Rides are just better. There should be more videos about these topics.
The main fitness thing many of we older folks fight is body weight. Control your weight, and most of cycling gets easier. And Manon nailed #5; make sure cycling is fun. If it's fun, you'll do it, and doing it is one of the keys to being more fit.
I would add, recognise the changes in your body as you get older and adjust your cycling training and ambitions to suit. The numbers may go down a little over time, but the enjoyment goes up. Oh and of course always wear aero socks!
Also add how it benefits as you get older, after I good ride I feel tight. Like pulling up my pants and tightening my belt or something. Legs don't hurt, knees feel strong, hips are aligned. I work on a coffee machine and stand all day. I need that good core strength in the lower back, hips and knees. I'm 35, but I'm sure any 35 year old will agree that we ain't spring chickens and we don't have a team bus or someone to massage us everyday lo.
As a 73-year-old and a sport rider since age 19, I concur that as your body ages, you should adjust your training - but without letting up on your constant goal, which is optimal fitness. This is not the same as maximum strength, achieved in a rider’s 20s, or maximum endurance, which is reached in the mid-30s. Optimal fitness is a lifelong aspiration where the numbers change, but your enjoyment of the sport never falters. Thanks to Strava and fitness journals, we are squarely confronted by metrics that verify our physical deterioration over time. Our goal should be to adjust our training so we retain that wonderful homeostasis between mind and body that is as intensely experienced whatever a fit rider’s age. It sounds trite, but if we let it, our mind will accept being passed more often on the climbs than before, and will learn to appreciate the subtler aspects of cycling that eluded our younger selves in our quest for faster times. As a septuagenarian, the sensation I get just being outside on a nice day and riding more than compensates for the absence of adrenalin I used to feel while descending a steep and twisty mountain road. All I need to do is spend a few minutes with the guys I used to go to school with - the survivors, that is, because nearly half my school friends have died. To be with the survivors, most of whom have never known fitness or the joy of sport, and who now consider a visit to Safeway a major undertaking, the benefits of cycling to my quality of life have never been as profound. As the years advance, my goal is to keep riding fast enough to generate those endorphins that give physical pleasure and mental acuity. I know that if those great feelings keep happening, I will have achieved a state of optimal fitness.
All of those, plus not being consistent and very poor mental health are ruining my fitness. Luckily I have a great team helping me sort my life out. Thanks Manon. Great video matey 👍🏻
Wishing you all the very best with that internet stranger. Poor mental health is one of the things that got me to cycling, and it's probably the single biggest factor that's helping improve mine. I really do hope you feel better.
What brought me to cycling. Walking 2 .5 miles to the nearest bus stop in the pouring rain that's what brought me to cycling. How could I forget that. I fell in love with the freedom it gave me. I'll never forget that either.
Point number 5 is for me, so true. When I started riding, there wasn't even the simplest cycle speedometer. Now, .I find myself focused on average speed way too much.
All good tips, especially the last one. As several of your videos recently, mostly by Si, have pointed out, polarized training is perhaps the best way to train. If you do train using that method, that means you spend at least 80% of your time riding at an endurance pace. At that pace, you're enjoying your ride. You're working, but not hard. You can enjoy some music, look around and enjoy the scenery, and a few hours later you're back home after a great ride. The quickest way I know of to get burned out and not want to ride your bike, or even suffer an injury, is to ride hard every time you set out. It's supposed to be fun. So if you haven't looked into polarized training, I would highly suggest you do. Si has posted some great videos where he goes over the science of it with none other than Pogacar's coach, and, well, if it's good enough for Pogacar, I would say it's good enough for all of us as well.
Longer recovery and daily stretching improved my performance and enjoyment of my sports. My personal trainer used to joke: “I usually have to whip my customers to get them to train, but you I have to whip you NOT to train…”. She also “forced” me to stretch and after two weeks of daily stretching, I noticed a massive improvement. Now, I “crave” my daily stretching. (It’s a simple as putting down the Yoga mat in front of the TV for 15 minutes in the evening.)
(1) is acutally a good point, but as myself came from sime kind of depression, i just love to ride my bike now and i'm keen to get out of the house everyday on it... not easy to also get some relaxed zone2 rides in aswell and not always go fullgas
I'd go along with all of this. I have a tendency to go out full-tilt on all bike rides - as if each one is a time-trial. Maximum cadence on the flat, on gradients, etc. As a former distance runner, I know it's important to vary the sessions: fartlek sessions, track work, longer and slower runs to build up endurance, etc. Variety is the key, and that includes recovery. I've always maintained my bike well, regularly cleaning the drive-train, making adjustments, changing the chain as soon as it's at the crucial point. One question: my bike is a 20-year old Specialized Sequoia with an anodized alloy frame. It's still going strong, but many are telling me it's years past its replace-by date! There are no obvious areas of concern on it, but some pitting around the inserts on the seat posts, and 'white veins' of oxidisation around the bottom bracket. No creaking or cracking yet, and it's only ever been used on tarmac roads over tens of thousands of miles. Any thoughts, please? I'm 64 now, intend going on for many more years yet (all other things being equal!) and had hoped this bike would see me through! (PS might be worth noting that I live by the sea).
Thanks for good video, Manon. Some thoughts about recovering and enjoying the ride. I try to cover all the pulsezones. When going hard I dont get much of the scenery, but when in Zone 1, and to a certain degree in zone 2 I can sense and see a lot of the scenery. Enjoying is also playing around with taking different trails, and playing with different intensity. Listen to what your body wants to do. I think that listening to the body is a good idea for avoiding overtraining. If you dont want to go hard, you might need some recovery and easy ride. If you want to go hard and are ready for it, then give it power!
Perfect timing, I totally needed this! Definitely recovery, not like I didn't know this, but I just want to ride, I need a break bad I guess...and, OK my nutrition is iffy, not bad, but not good either.....any, thanks.
As a personal trainer who just got into cycling more, number 2 and 3 are probably my top picks here, especially 2. Runners also tend to run into the issue of not weight training. That type of training not only helps your performance, but can help prevent health issues later down the road. Even twice a week of about 30-45 minutes per week if so much better than nothing.
No. 5 definitely, was on a ride earlier this year thoroughly not enjoying it - it was cold and windy (also there was a rider about 1/4 mile behind me and I did not want to be caught). I was swearing to myself and thinking just get home... Then. No... I was in one of the most prettiest parts of the Peak district (just above Bradwell near Great Hucklow) and the sun was out, it was Sunday and I was in no rush to be anywhere. Totally changed my ride and mindset and turned it into one of my best rides.
I had a trainer when I was younger and thinner. His advice was golden and it was a 3 part structure. .Breathing. . Heartrate and Recovery. . I am now 47, 183cm tall and 103Kg heavy, oh and a smoker. . I am riding with younger people built like whippets and they have all the gear and still get annoyed when I blast past them on a long uphill or sprint. . I am no pro but believe the correct use of the 3 parts must take place before gadgets and gizmos fine tune the rest.
The past few month I have been training really hard for the RADRACE 120 and my local UCI Grand Fondo. I cannot stress enough how important recovery and just going out on a relaxed social ride is. If training is all you are doing there will be a point where you stop liking to ride your bike. Remember we are not pro and this is for fun. Thanks for the great video Manon!
I'd like to add simply working too much and having too many responsibilities and just not freeing up enough time. Basically anything that limits our training time(or gets in the way of recovery as mentioned.)
Food is my nemesis, that and adult beverages. But I bike to get out in nature to clear my mind and a little exercise every week (I do gravel/easy single track). I’m not planning on any races in my lifetime, but maybe a bikepacking trip or two, so for it’s about being able to bike many terrains while carrying a load of gear, no matter how slow I take it.
A couple things I have done are game changers for me these past couple months. First is my wife startedaking a different type of yogurt. Normally yogurt made at home takes a few hours. This type takes 34 hours! Uses "Insulin Probiotic Pure Powder" and half and half milk. Taste and texture is similar to cheesecake with a slight tart yogurt taste. Within a couple days I noticed an unexplained lose of 2 or 3 pounds. And more energy. Then last week we started the routine again with mixing vinegar and a glass of water for the very first thing in the morning. Amazingly again I recorded a drop of 2 to 4 pounds my scale. And also an increase of performance in my daily cycling. For the most part, NO MORE SORE TIRED MUSCLES! For a year or more I have been experiencing muscle soreness and aches as though I've been overtraining. Even after days of rest. New type of yogurt and vinegar.......
It wold be great if amongst all the links and advertisements you gave the Manon the decency of telling us who is she is and some of her links! Great video and some timely reminders!
That Pinarello looks mint! Great points, esp like #1 and #5. For the power obsessed (guilty!) riding without a power meter every week is a great way to ditch the data and just ride for fun.
That book sounds interesting but £13.28 for postage! Brexit must have changed things a lot. I remember that few years ago one could order books from British Amazon and the delivery cost was something like £4 plus £1 per book.
I get baked too much. I can still snatch KOMS though, but now I prefer all types of riding. Trails, roads, gravel paths etc. Just not downhill, that's a bit nuts for me. Feels good to be riding again though. Cycling is so important for my mental fitness, I have ADHD and PTSD. That last comment from Manon is exactly what I mean, gravel slowed me down and it's enriching, rather than flashing past everything on my Bianchi. Thats a short term hit like crack or something. Still love it though. 😂
Not using the kind of chammy you need, not washing your bike shorts EVERY time you use then ... can lead to uti in women cyclists and that definitely knocks you out of the saddle and messes up your fitness and how often you can ride your bike. Really would love to see a women specific GCN video about how to endurance ride or even enjoy a bikepacking adventure. How do you bring enough shorts? OR how do you wash and dry each night before the next morning's ride? Please help.
Down time and how it is spent is just as important as the training time in some ways more important. That goes for any sport. Good stuff my lady do keepemcoming wont you.
if your winning races and generally riding strong then all that's left is to rest, 2 squat sessions per week so you can continue to bend that frame, lots of stretching, food and sleep, job done, as you say people when riding well seem to think they can improve and maybe you can but try resting then compare and see the difference
Good video! for ANYONE wanting to be fast on a bike or using a bike as a fitness machine. BUT!! I don't care about my fitness LoL. I have never been interested in racing or playing the numbers game. I just enjoy riding, I don#t have bike now but planning on getting one when I got the money. riding a bike to me has always been about going somewhere? ride to the beach, ride to the shops, ride to my friends, riding with friends or just going out because it is a rainy day an I want to ride in the rain. thinking about an E-cargo bike.
The worst thing for your biking ist doing the same boring round every week or even more often. You don't need the comparability. Take another route every time and enjoy the variation of scenery. There is no risk with it: if the road ends, just make a u-turn and try another one.
I've never done training in my 50+ years of riding. But the for around the last 4 years all I've done is ride and ride and ride. Got some big miles. But over the last year or two things went backwards. Ended up with nerve damage in my legs. :/
No 2 is actually the reason I'm cycling, focused too much on just cardio when running and hiking and that's led to weak calf muscles and in turn I've had both calf strains and plantar fasciitis. Thankfully not as bad as my mate, who did the same thing but ended up tearing his achilles tendon playing football due to weak calf muscles.
I was really focused in thecpandemic, I lost 2.5 stone and was building up to a 100k ride. Then I got covid. Two weeks later I rode 24 miles and it was horrendous. I just can't get my mojo back and have put 2 stone back on 😢.
The thing probably weights 8kg-s give or take so I would not call it a strenght training. If you have no other means at the spot I recmmend squat jumps - high intensity and explosive power.
heh, i do pilates, yoga (some), weight training, and i'm still not a very good cyclist. ok, i can do any distance, but not very fast, 18-19 km/h is the usual.
Excellent video with excellent tips and advice! Sometimes I get so caught up with miles that I get totally burned out. Quality over quantity seems to help with my training.
I do hot yoga or pilates 3 to 4 times a week. Often I will do 1 hour of yoga and 2 hours of biking. I definitely get tired so on off days I will do a gentle yoga
Hey ! I have a question, I currently do 3 spin sessions per week (at home) + 2 ST sessions per week (at the gym, focusing on upper body only). I want to have 2 rest days per week. Do you reckon it's a good plan? Or should I do Full body or lower body ST sessions every week? Thanks !
Junk food is great for bicyclists because it's available everywhere. It's made of fat and lard, full of energy. Those are great fuels if taken with a shot of ketones with every mcfatburger. Don't forget bacon, the other snack bar.
As important as healthy diet is, I think the convenience and time saved eating junk food can be a plus. If you spend hours every week in the kitchen whipping up healthy food on top of an already busy life that can really get in the way of training time.
Stellar content again gcn and Manon! Super helpful tips! Further to your 'recovery ' I have found that SLEEP and post ride stretching/ yoga and a good marinade tub session with Epsom Salts (magnesium sulphate) go a very long way to prevent muscles developing myofascial trigger points/dysfunction. You have to take care of those muscles you used so hard and be kind to them by pressing the reset button!
I never had issues lacking any off the bike strength training. Although I have weekly sprint and HIIT sessions. Half of the HIIT sessions is done at low cadence/high resistance seated and standing. I suppose I'm already getting enough "strength" training from those. I can't afford to indulge in food which helps keep my nutrition quite simple, hard to mess it up. Additionally, I'm well adapted to not eating/drinking on rides up to a century, in hot tropical summer temperatures. Makes everything utterly simple, not to mention, cheap!
Packing some breakfast bars and water on the bike cost almost nothing. And the strength training is important. I have just gotten back into cycling in my 50s after a 20+ year hiatus. After I have started taking it seriously in November I have managed to move from the B17 rides into the A21 groups.
@@bindingcurve what may cost nothing to some may cost a fortune to another! I used to make my own salted rice crackers and served as my ride fuel when I used to eat. It truly is cheap....But took a bit of time for me to make. Eliminating carb fuel had little effect to my long rides. What cause much bigger effect is eliminating ride hydration. But I adapted in a relatively short period of time. I did used to do strength training but it complicated structuring and recovery with cycling training. I also used to be regular at the gym when in my mid twenties but wasn't into riding back then. Perhaps if you never did any strength training your whole life, it's going to make a huge difference. But for me, my legs are pretty strong, I can mash all the way in a 5 hr nonstop ride until my feet is blistering. Until I stopped doing it and started getting used to easier gears because blistering on the feet is not cool!
@@marksIItimewarps "I can mash all the way in a 5 hr nonstop ride?" So you doing a 100 miles in that time? "my feet is blistering" Dude, learn to take care of yourself.
@@bindingcurve Only 70 miles. Descents are slow due to heavy traffic and I ride a heavy utility bike. 32 to 40 lbs depending on the load. I began using soft-soled shoes or gel inserts and the blistering went away. Spinning stops blistering as well but I'm really not used to spinning unless I'm sprinting.
How about people just joined the trend of buying, having and riding a bicycle during the pandemic. Most people I know who got into that trend just stopped/quit. 😢 I know it's out of the topic but I just want to share it ✌️
We tackled assembling the bike as a family project. ru-vid.comUgkxzg0clhbtRf2gGxPkVETFKJJKGqdsorQu The package is heavy, but I have 2 teen boys that were able to move it. The written instructions were great- we didn't need to watch the videos, but it was good knowing that the option was there if we needed it. After we were able to get it set up, the boys each rode 3 miles and I rode 8 and the bike stayed quiet. The display is easy to reset, and you can put it on whichever setting you are using (time, distance, calories, etc). I will say that my butt is a little sore from the seat, but that could be because I haven't rode in a while. While it is comfortable for me, it was not comfortable with the seat position for my friend (could not move the seat back far enough and he slightly looked like a kid riding a tricycle that he had outgrown). He also said that the seat hurt his manly parts. We are going to look for a different seat that will be compatible with this bike for him.I did purchase the Wahoo Cadence sensor and strapped it to the crank of one of the pedals. This will sync with my Apple Watch, iPhone and will import data in to my Health app. Wahoo does have other sensors available other than cadence. I can also keep either my phone or my iPad on the display and they both feel pretty secure.
I got an indoor trainer a couple years ago. Really helped me not even maintain, but increase aerobic base fitness over those long months. Made a big difference, it was worth the money spent. Something worth considering for you??
