***PSA*** We're really excited to say that we've secured the following men's & women's races on GCN+ this year* Gent Wevelgem Dwars Door Vlaanderen Scheldeprijs Brabantse Pijl Amstel Gold *Territory Restrictions Apply - we are updating schedules to include the full information right now.
(almost) 67 yo now. I understand training sometimes seems pointless, but realize you are training today for what you will be able to do in 10 years. Do it to attain your goals this year, be realistic, and accept the joy of being a better/fitter rider as a side benefit.
I'm 72 ride daily almost 3 years straight. Heart issue ended racing years ago. I'm still fit and stronger than any of my old friends. Mostly ride gravel for fun. Couple road rides with velo club and much younger riders keeps my speed . Slower and don't care. Happy to still ride.
Well said and our roads should be alive with the sound of cycling. 61 year old here, one of those kids in California on a Sting-Ray in '67 and beyond. And I am thankful to still be riding in the big ring when I'm coasting downhill. 😎
I'm 73. I don't pay a lot of attention to training videos or cheerleading from the pros, but I love to ride. And when the mood is right and there is little traffic or pedestrians I push it, and sometimes I get what is usually called a "runner's high." I love that feeling. I think we're all competitive to a point - pros and former pros are a lot more competitive even if they're only competing with themselves. Also if we're too competitive and tend to compare ourselves to pros (even at my age) it can be discouraging. So cycle for whatever reason makes you happy, whether it's competing with others, competing with ourselves, or just getting outdoors on a great day. To paraphrase an old saying, "Whatever makes you feel good, do it."
;-) My respect to all of you "young fellows" hope you can still ride on for very long. I great any road cyclist, but if they are twice my age or more, I give them a big smile and hope that I shall be able to still do the same at that age. Hope for all of you that you can keep up cycling for as long as you wish!! My hero is Robert Marchand who just did a record on his 105 year age - living example that cycling is healthy. What a crazy thought still to be able to even get on a cycle at that age and survive an hour of riding. Did not need to go fast for the record, guess they had to make a new entry for 105-year old cyclists in the record books.
Since you asked . . . I ride a lot of miles (10,000/year), but I have never "trained", or tried to hit numbers. I only keep track of my miles with a free paper calendar and a #2 pencil. When I bought my last bike, I removed the built in power meter that came with it and donated it to a charity! Sometimes I ride hard and sometimes I don't. I am riding because I think it is fun and great exercise. I am guessing there are at least a few GCN fans like me?
I train for many hours so I can enjoy the amazing climbs in my area. Plus I enjoy powering up a hill while everyone else is struggling to just make it to the top, or sprinting for an imaginary finish line.
I call this training to be fit enough to enjoy the rides I want to do. Living along Skyline Drive and the Blueridge Parkway in Virginia, I can quite easily find 3 to 5,000 meters of climbing in a 100 km ride from my front door. Training to be able to hold 4 + w/kg for 40 minutes at a time is just a way to guarantee you won't run out of gears (I also have a 32 on the back) and crack on a long climb.
I'll share this with everyone. It was about two years ago I did a 12 week interval training plan. The plan was 20 minutes of intervals, (30 seconds as hard as I could go and 4.5 minutes of recovery) x 4. I did this 3 days a week, for a total of 60 minutes of interval training in a week. I did no other training during the 12 weeks. I lost about 30 pounds (2.1 stones) and dropped 2 sizes in my waist line. I can tell you this, at the age of 58 training keeps me from making "old man noises" when I get up from a sitting position. Enough said.
When you are 70 Being only 58 seems young! Riding for fun is great. Riding to be fit and strong is great. Enjoy the time you can ride with leg power before you need an e-bike. I am hoping to make it into my ‘80s
I ride hard on my structured intervals so the recovery/endurance rides are more enjoyable. My FTP was about 230 when I started watching GCN in 2019. Now it's 280 and my endurance is way up. I can DO so much more on the bike and it's just so much fun!
I like to go up to Mt. Diablo and take my cross bike on a bunch of the trails up there. I need to be fit to deal with that kind of elevation gain, let alone actually getting from my house to the mountain and then having to do the hard part. Fortunately, doing those trails is in itself training for doing those trails, so as long as I keep doing them consistently, I'll still be able to.
Well, if you just roll easily on a flat landscape you can just "float". For myself I like to cite LeMond: It never get's easier, you just go faster. :-)
Zero interest in racing, but seeing that my random routes with spontaneous efforts resulted in a fresh power curve point every once in a while is priceless.
I usually did a long ride on the weekend, and to enjoy the long ride i need to be a little bit 'fit' and 1 hour session indoor training on the weekday really helps. 👌
I started doing a bit of interval training last year when I first got my heart rate monitor, but eventually did not like it anymore so I just rode kind of hard. Now that I've got a power meter since the beginning of this year I am following a proper plan and already see huge improvements. Just yesterday I rode 80kms with VO2max intervals at the start, and at the end of the ride I still broke my all time PR on a local climb. This just shows me how fit I can get with proper training and makes me kind of proud.
I don't actively train. But I do set a consistent distance and time goal every week and have found myself actively sprinting far more recently because I've found more joy in it.
24:17 That was a smooth save there. Nearly knocked the bottle over but in one smooth motion kept the take going and managed to complete the rest of the explanation. Much like cycle training, you can see the improvement in presenting over time...
Faster, further, and fitness mean freedom, in my view. The ability to ride all day, and the confidence to tackle more ambitious and adventurous rides, is a gift that you give to yourself. Having started cycling less than a year ago, I now see roads as adventures and can't wait to extend my range and enjoyment thanks to increased fitness.
I started my personal cycling season on friday. In my first session, I only did 13km in zone 3 and was DONE...like Holy crap?! I did a 100km last summer. Wtf?! After just 4 sessions I am back to riding 30km every day easily. It does come back pretty fast, I have to say. On that pace of gaining, I will ride a 500k every day in just a few weeks. Wish me luck. Lol
I mean, I just got back form an hour-ish ride and I feel fantastic. I've been trying to force myself to not just stare at my garmin and instead stare at the surroundings instead, and it's been a treat. Still trying to keep up my pace and rebuild my stamina, as I do want to get back to doing grand fondos but tbh, I'm not doing it as training anymore I don't think, it takes away a lot from it, there's so much I just don't remember seeing.
Came for the subject, stayed until the end because the presentation was so professional. Great job, guys. From opening to end, It was a pleasure to watch.
I propose that the reason we train is because we want to challenge ourselves to be the best versions of ourselves we can be, given all of the demands in life. It's similar to wanting to progress in our careers, except we don't get paid money for it. We get paid "fitness satisfaction grins".
I just started indoor training. Originally my wife wanted a trainer so that she can ride while watching the kids. But after trying it myself, it provides me the opportunity to keep up my fitness up using structured training as I don't get to go mountain biking as often as I would like due to having young kids. Especially in the summer in AZ. So now, I won't feel like I'm going to die when I do go on mountain bike rides and enjoy them more as I won't be struggling and can keep up with friends. Our trails are very punchy in AZ, so basically a lot intervals.
Started riding extremely unfit and overweight, all those efforts over the last few years - losing weight and getting fit - makes climbing and riding fast a real pleasure, so in my opinion, absolutely worth it!
Cycling is the activity I took up when my body could no longer tolerate the training for running. Now it is a mix of cycling and running that is typically focused on recreation and general fitness. I still love being outside and moving even if I am not going to compete - it's fondos, fun runs and turkey trots.
Finishing a 12 week training plan right now. Most structured training I’ve done in over 30 years. I feel great. I look forward to my workouts and the challenges they brings. Half way through the plan my FTP is up 43 watts and at this moment I’m down 20 pounds. I have plans to ride across the US this summer and this training block has built amazing confidence in my abilities.
Usually get on my trainer during my lunch time and do a GCN training video,but today I got on and just pedaled high but comfortable steady pace for about 25 minutes. No intervals. Felt good.
I am an have always been a "just to enjoy" bicyclist, and i have made it to 71, and still enjoy. However, i had had brain cancer 4 years ago, and lost some of my fitness, and that concerned me, so I have made it a point to concentrate on climbing over distance as my daily goal.
Dan's correct; a balance is what you want. I'm lucky enough to live near Richmond park so my week consists of intervals and then the weekend is reserved for a nice relaxing zone 2 around the park staring at deer not power meters.
I find since I started doing polarised training I'm enjoying riding even more. When I'm staying in Z2 I find I can appreciate the scenery etc more than if I'm smashing it in an unstructured manner.
I'm 57 and just enjoy riding, usually doing 60-70 miles per week. I don't worry about hitting any particular numbers. When the mood hits me, I'll push a sprint on a nice flat, or more often, try to do a climb faster than I have before (Strava). Just like you said in the video, I rarely have a bad ride.
I do like getting a segment PB but not bothered about K/QOM. However, the best rides are when I pass near a deer, impressive bird of prey, or something equally noteworthy. I'm not especially fast but cycling makes me fitter - not the fittest. Happy cycling and cycle happy.
Just started my 44th season and yes, I started when we wore wool shorts with real leather chamois. Very much pre-computer days and I only got a bike computer four years ago. Even still, I only have four data fields... current speed, clock, ride time and distance. It's all about smiles per miles for me. Yes I train mostly based on my old Cat 1-2-Pro days, but if I feel like crap, I go easy. If I feel good, I go hard until I feel like crap. :)
When I was racing training was critical. Now I just ride for fun. I don't train as it seems like work for me. Everyone is different though. I need that mental incentive for fun and for me training does not make me happy. Being fast makes me happy, but I'd rather use the organic way of getting faster by riding more to get faster. Competitive group rides make me happy, too.
This winter I had a heart attack which I’m currently recovering from. Because of all the cycling I do my heart was very strong and therefore less damaged by the heart attack. I guess “training” might be in the eye of the beholder. My heart is pretty sure I was training it to take a licking and keep on ticking. I’m 68 now and expect to keep on riding for many more years.
I train for an hour three times a week for 10 miles on a dutch bike with 3 gears. It's trained me to sprint quite well. I have also bulked up a bit. The ride includes going up an incline and plenty of wind drag.
I found a coach and have just started a training plan. Why? Motivation and getting the most out of my effort in shifting some significant tummy timber. I love cycling but can loose my mojo for periods, so the support seems to really help.
As a Masters racer (60yrs) I and my riding/training buddies realised years ago that 'training' looks more like BASE training than a Smashfest and this is due to recovery time being longer such that a week is too short to do Smashfests and Base and then turn up on Sunday fresh enough to race an hour crit. The real risk is going too deep in the efforts and then not recovering all week and if not rested then spiralling down till you take some time off the bike and reset. Causes can include: general ageing, poorer food input as income is constrained, too much coffee and not enough water, inconsistent or non existent recovery stretching etc. The challenge is that your mind is still remembering the hey days and wants to ride accordingly but the body is in the present day.
I like riding my bike but I also really enjoy structured training. For me, it's even more fun than just riding pointlessly. I just like to have a goal and feeling of accomplishment after a good training.
@2:49 Is there a point to training as an amateur? Of course! I train because I like setting and reaching goals! Climbing up a long, steep grade (without stopping lol), long milage records, specific routes, etc. Reaching goals and kicking a** (on my own personal level) = fun!
When covid is over, I look forward to the excitement of being second or third wheel into the last corner and opening up a sprint and winning the Crit race. I’ve won about a dozen crit races over the years before covid, and nothing beats wheel to wheel racing. Training hard makes racing possible.
16:30 That BMX track is under the same roof as Manchester Velodrome. While waiting for a track 'taster session' a few years back, I walked through to have a look. You always think a BMX track can't be that scary, but I took one look at that starting ramp and thought no way would I launch myself down there at full speed! The scale of the place was phenomenal, it made a normal BMX track look like a collection of speed bumps. So yes I will be watching that documentary. Kudos to Hank for even attempting it!
It's not that I enjoy training as much as actual bike rides, but the 1 or 2 evening trainer sessions per week I get in on the back deck help me ride farther and faster for less effort on the weekend when I can actually get out into the countryside and up the hills.
I simply started riding more and more. At first I was done after 3 kilometers. After a few months 10 km was just a warm-up and was doing as many as 70 km a day with energy left to go further.
A number of times I've taken up a coach (for running, not cycling) and I've just canned it after 2 months. I find that I'm a bit of a "pleaser" and so try to exceed or stick religiously to a plan that I just spiral. I've found a more "old school" style of training where I just go hard on climbs or on segments (segmintervals are great fun, 1 segment on and 1 off) is far better. But I accept I should see coaching as a two way street and I now know I respond to time instead of distance much better in planning my training.
I love the feeling of training; not during the effort but once you’re done and on a workout high for the rest of the day. It’s also more fun than going to gym.
Intervals make me happy, great feeling when one hits ones targets and the speed varied through threshold intervals is a thrill! 2 x 20min threshold are my favourite! 2 or 3 1 hour interval rides per week, plus an endurance ride at the weekend 😊
I ride a hole lot and never did a structured training plan. But in a normal ride I go usually fast and put in some extra efforts every now and than anyway. So I stay fit and well trained, but without a definitive goal there is no point of a structured plan at all, because it doesn`t matter, wether i peak this week or the next one...
I've signed up to a 155mile ride in September and I'm so unfit at the moment. Trying to find the balance between enjoying training and just prepping for it.
Training vs just riding. I'm currently following the Maratona del Dolomites training program I saw on GCN a few years ago to get ready for a gravel century this summer. Now tomorrow I've got a scheduled 2 hour ride, but the weather forecast calls for 39 deg F. (3.8 C) and a rain snow mix. Now I'm getting stressed, because it's a scheduled ride and since I'm on a program I feel like I need to do it.
Purpose is key ...suffering with purpose is ok...we are all different. And the beauty of cycling say vs running is that just riding is ok...just running can be always below the necessary to run well
My training is on Zwift but it’s not structured and I’m fine with that. I’ll do ad-hoc stuff like push for a PB up the Volcano KOM but if I miss the PB it’s still training. The purpose of it is that I can enjoy my outdoor rides more because I’m not struggling up every little rise along the way.
Thinking about hacks and bodges, perhaps when talking about nutrition there should be a “hack or stodge”, from Oxford language the definition of stodge is “food that is heavy, filling, and high in carbohydrates”.
My training for the last couple of years has been simple: there's a mountain, there's a sweet view at the top, I'm going to ride up to see the view and by the time I get there my legs will be cooked. Repeat 3-5 times a week, while also going for a run once or twice in there to keep things fresh, and I'm managing to both be fit and enjoy it.
I ride with the only purpose being to enjoy myself, to explore and to honour my body and health. To me the pursuit of happiness means dropping the pursuit all together and, stop (or go in this case); look around (There's so much beauty in this world), take a breath, smile and repeat. The day to day growth of becoming ''better'' & ''fitter'' will be the result inevitably. Also, I do train or push myself really hard sometimes, because I enjoy going really fast or just generally love a good challenge...
I never actually train, and don't have a power meter, use Strava, or ride indoors, but I do ride a little every day, about 160 km/week, sometimes more in nice weather, and on yearly long-ish summer tours. I'm pushing 60, and can still ride up any hill and manage a decent pace on the flats, and very much enjoy myself on every ride, even the really wet, cold ones that destroy me and my drivetrain. The whole point of riding, for me, is to get somewhere and have fun doing it while I still can, and I'm accomplishing those goals without getting too excited about data.
I (70 yo) train for three reasons. 1 Beer 2 Pastries 3 Riding 150 km then the struggle to the top and the triumph over that struggle, earning the elation and the view before rocketing down. Did I mention beer?
Simple reason to train. Be better at the things you enjoy. Whether that's gaining a few watts to make hills more enjoyably painful, or picking up higher and higher scores on old arcade cabinets. No one else ever has to care for the human soul to enjoy progression!
I (and most people) tend to be goal oriented -- get in shape for one or more local rides, be able to ride certain climbs, etc., otherwise it's too easy to take "a day" or two, or three, ... off. I'm really enjoying being much more fit than I've been in years. Also, when you're riding on the edge, it's much harder for any other problems to occupy your mind.
Re Simon's Epiphany again. When I raced in Belgium, back in the 80's. My 'Bike ride', would be first thing in the morning, for an hour, to loosen up the legs. I would explore the local paths & lanes. . Then Breakfast, prepare bike, bottles, race food. Rest, maybe play cards, read ! Eat Lunch. Either drive, or ride to race if local. Ride race 110, to 120 k Crit..(As locals, would finish if in prizes, if not, would pack & save legs for another day). Ride, or drive home. Clean bike, wash kit. Eat meal. Rest. Go out behind Derny for between 30 mins, to 1 hour. Rest, time with family, bed..Repeat maybe 4 times a week. Loved the Derny, really works for me. And last season, I would of had access to one, but cannot get to use it, because of the lockdown. And yes have been told, I over trained in the past. Bring on E3 & Gent Wevelghem..
On the subject of so many people getting into the sport now... Been riding my current road bike since 2011, I love it but it's time for an upgrade. Got a pretty nice promotion at work and thought I would treat myself to a new bike and at this point it looks like the fall is the earliest that will be able to happen due to demand. Would love to see a video on tips to either getting a new bike at the moment, OR how to avoid making a snap decision on a bike you might not love but you're buying out of FOMO.
I train (heart based) on the trainer, to enjoy riding outside. I sit 8+h per day so I need to get out of my head, which I get (to some extent) on the trainer and outside. Like getting PBs, but I will never enter a race or achieve KoM. In short, smiles + mental, physical benefits
I stopped training (and racing) when I realized I wasn't going to get any better than I was at the time. Before the invention of power meters and measuring wattage I was out doing about 450 kms/week completing a variety of interval training sessions only to find out when it came to racing that I couldn't climb a hill to save my life. Despite winning the occasional weekly criterium I was dropped in any race that included an incline over 5%, regardless of how many hill climbing kilometers I put in while training. Exhausted and frustrated with my lack of progress, I finally gave up on setting goals my body couldn't reach and decided to just ride for the sheer joy of it. Now my "training" consists of preparing myself to complete the occasional charity ride where I get some additional happiness from raising money for worthwhile causes.
Never did some special training, but made longer rides, from about 200 to about 400km/week nowadays. The only kind of "interval training" I do/did is when trying to hang on or catch up with some other riders , but nothing scheduled. As i read that once above 50years of age it's not considered healthy to do climbs at maximum capacity ( heart rate) special training for those is not an option anymore, I pedal them at low gears disregarding other riders.
Most impressed by the Paton vid. However.......... the weather's getting better, people are getting out and everything's looking up. BUT WHERE IS SI'S GARDENING SECTION!
Yes, there is a point to training, but maybe not what you think. My doctor recommended starting my day with a hard cardio workout, so I often start my day (at zero dark stupid oclock) doing intervals.
Si I feel ya on the inner tubes. I have 35 of them with small holes I planned on patching up in my garage in a box. I got tubeless setup using Cadex tires in October and now have 1300 miles without a flat...so maybe I need to throw them tubes away?
I have been a competitive athlete for over 5 decades...and it has always been about the journey, not the destination. I always enjoyed the training more than the racing...
To put it simply: Riding is more fun when we're fit. For example, I hate it when: 1. I have to stop to catch my breath two times, on a climb that I used to scale faster, without stopping. 2. A 4-year-old girl on a trike passes me on a climb (OK, it was an e-trike, but still . . . ). 3. I check my FTP and find out it's 38% lower than it was 20 years ago. (Does that predict the year of my death?) 4. I become convinced that my speedo cal is off because it's reading too low, only to verify that it's accurate when I check it later. 5. I realize that I could have *walked* up that hill, as fast as I just *rode* up it.
Training. Never go out to just enjoy the scenery. I still do but I want to get fitter and faster. Club runs, fast and the fact I can “just” keep up with the younger and more experienced rider is ace and only possibly because of my training.
When Si had his epiphany. I'm sure if Si went to see the doctor. They could have prescribed some cream for it. I hope the padding in his cycling shorts was up to the job as well.
