Rebuild begins. May was huge disappointment crashing in regional TT. Was closer to road edge than thought and a car came close by spooking me further right and hit the dirt then ate it at 30+ mph. Had fastest pace of day including the p/1/2 guys. Sooo sad.
But here we are. Riding gravel and running getting all the aerobic volume back. Setup the shed for Zwift season.
Some of the hilly gravel pace has been fun and great.
I used to base most of my year around multisport racing, and that would wrap up mid-August. I’d then switch to a run focus with the goal of a few races in October/November. During this time, I’d only bike 2x per week, and they would be very short rides. One would be a 2x20 SST ride, and the other would 2 sets of 15 30/30s @ around 125% of FTP. I was always amazed how well I held onto my bike fitness riding <2 hours per week for 10 weeks.
At age 51 I’m still fortunate to have not had a loss of capacity that has materially changed how I ride bikes. I still ride the fastest group rides with the young crit bros and prof-amateur masters guys, and though I’m not spending a ton of time at the front, I can hang. And though I almost always enter age group at this point, as I veer more into gravel I still eyeball the overall.
I’ve gotten less and less structured over the years. When I want to get in shape, I do a ton of Z2 hours. That works for me - not for everone, like Spackler is different. I wear down quickly with a lot of high intensity work, so I limit it - mostly taking the form of the fast weekend group rides or actual races.
I burnt out of Zwift a while ago, but I’ve started getting more and more variety. Nordic skiing - both skate and back country. Wife wants to try biathlon this year, so the Tahoe-Reno area better watch out for stray .22 rounds from the both of us. Running. A lot of CrossFit to keep up the bone density and muscle mass (I can ride 5-6 hours alone zero problem - I cannot do a 20-minute weight workout alone to save my life)… A lot more off-road riding. I think the variety really helps keep things fresh. Though I do some rides with older crowds and enjoy it, I like to do all these things with the younger crowds at times, which keeps me mentally younger, I think. Though at some point I’ll make the transition to the geezer-rider, it’s not just yet.
I try not to ever get significantly out of shape, and I think that helps a lot. I did a couple times in my 30’s, and it sucked getting back. I’m sure it would suck even more in my 50’s. I am quite fortunate to have had zero significant health problems, basically ever (knock on wood), which helps in that regard. So does good nutrition and great sleep.
Welp…63 over here. Like going broke, happens gradually at first and then all of a sudden.
I didn’t think I’d like “just riding”, but wrong again. No power measurement, though I may start back as I find it’s a good motivator; like adding weight to the bar. My early morning rides this summer were sublime and long z1.2 got me back to respectable form. Just went by heart rate.
I jumped back in the Wednesday nighters this summer and was welcomed back as the old guy who used to ride pretty well. Some respect, yo, until it was game on and then I turned myself inside out but played it cool, pretending to take strong pulls that didn’t hurt when in fact, it was all I could do. These guys typically are from late 30’s to late 50’s and in the grips of Strava and Zwift fever. I found that I don’t care that much about being slower, but still want to gain some pop back if I can. And there’s nothing like an intense pick up game of racing. Still love it and it definitely helps the overall fitness to red line a bit. I just do not want to crash and the guys coming over the top for no apparent reason spooked me. I then found out they were going for Strava segments. I’m still not thrilled about that going on but at least I know now.
As with Trail, more weights for me. Cross Fit with the ladies is kind of fun. Being the grey beard with nothing to lose and nothing to prove is liberating and I just don’t do burpees.
I do some yoga, sort of.
More gravel for me now, long and slow and joyous. Lots of time for “remember back in the day we used to…yeah…good times, good times”.
Sleep is huge as is nutrition. I need to work on both.
To clarify one point, trying to do intensity and higher volume simultaneously would likely no longer work for me. So by dividing them I end up with varied training stimuli, just spread way out. I’m sure it isn’t as effective as a more traditional build but gotta play the hand at this point.
Wisc. used to get cold enough that one can do a bit of XC skiing. My issue is that I’m way too clumsy and crashed way too often and probably do my ACL/ MCL… Snow shoeing should work for me I think.
Down the road, there’s an outdoor ice-skating facility called the Heiden Haus, named for none other than the Heiden siblings (road cycling, track cycling, and speed skating). Hailing from the same village is none other than a certain Connie Carpenter, whose exploits are well-known. I’d love to learn how to skate (and perhaps put those cycling quads to use), but alas, I’m a klutz.
The rifle shooting aspect is interesting, and I’d love to take up a bit of target shooting on an old style bolt-action. So instead of a proper biathlon, I’d get a fat bike and lug the bolt-action around.
Very apt description.
I appreciate hearing from everyone. I’m trending towards what McNulty and Trail are doing. More weights and yoga these days than before. I have grown to love yoga and find it equally helps the head as it does the body. I would say one thing I’ve realized (and I’ve spotted this before) is that I was likely spreading myself out too thin in the past and was overtrained as well as being too thin at times. I really, really wish I never would have run the way I did. I was reckless with it.
I’d say I’m probably healthier these days than when I was focused on specific training. My old man is in his 60’s and still pushing good watts. Most importantly he is healthy and that is where I want to be.
Romain Bardet is great as always.
I’d get a fat bike and lug the bolt-action around.
We could be onto the next new thing here! Fatathlon? I’ve been trying super hard to not get a fat bike, and keep my stable at 4 bikes. But they look super fun.
In other news, I enjoyed reading in CN that part of the Ineos November team camp strategy to motivate and re-invigorate the Grenadiers was gracing them with a team visit to the Man. U. training facilities and stadium.
This would be the Man U. that < checks notes > is ranked 13th in the Premier League and has also undergone management upheaval recently.
I like the name. You should trademark it!
Although as for yours truly, perhaps fatars-athlon might be more appropriate 
If they are lucky, they can experience the infamous Old Trafford Waterfall first hand.
Whatever you do, do NOT watch Breath Of Fire on MAX
I do something very much like Yoga … well, it’s like Yoga in a way that Scrambled Eggs are like Crème brûlée
Y’know … as a someone who still oftentimes identifies as ‘Surfer’, I should like Yoga … I mean it’s all about Balance and slowness and Calm and so on; which is kinda how I am IRL, really … but if I were actually JOIN a class and I try it … I’d be all like: “Okay, I can touch my toes. Great! Can we move on here? I haven’t got all day! What’s next? Move it people!”
I do quite a bit of yoga now too, but have only really gotten to where I feel like I get something out of it ( from both a physical and mental standpoint) by having a good repertoire of moves to the point where I can construct my own routine that meets my physical needs and that I can do on my own (mental side). I would never even consider doing a class.
On the cx racing front, I’m really enjoying seeing Casasola and Orts up there at the front of races. Nice to see some variety in the flags on the race results. Orts looked great on Monday.
I meditate now. And twice a day and it is very beneficial for slowing things down and resetting mentally and emotionally.
The first 5 minutes is devoted to nicknames bc of the coffee, then I settle in.
I have to say I’ve noticed very much the same thing. In days gone by I would do a local race on a Monday, Tuesday night Worlds, a recovery day, maybe a 10 mile TT on Thursday etc, but now I have to moderate my intense efforts. If I race local league MTB on a Monday night I probably only have one more intense session in my that week. In terms of power numbers, my 20min power has remained pretty much constant over the years I’ve owned a power meter (early 40’s to early 50’s) but my short power has fallen off a cliff. The last 10 years has seen not far off a 25% drop off in my 10 second power! There’s been a similar drop in my 1 min power. I can still hang with the youngsters at the local worlds but I’m definitely not doing as many turns and need to be smart (staying more aero etc). Definitely fun to try and not lose it completely! Someone mentioned knowing then what I know now - my training now is definitely way more focussed and I am way more aware of going really hard when I need to, but then going easy heaps. I also do a lot of fun volume on my mountain bike - probably th increase in volume has been a big contributing factor to my FTP remaining similar.
Yeah, both of them are looking like they’re going to be regular fixtures up front. And Orts is unflappable. Pauwels-Sauzen (Iserbyt/V’hout) were trying to work him over and he patiently just bided his time and dropped them both. Casasola, OTOH, I think, could learn some of that patience. She is just raw aggression.
Movistar re-signed Nairoman. Sometimes I wonder what Movistar is still doing in this sport other than being a development team for the rest of the peloton.
Their argument with riders like Nairoman is to help Movistar (the teleco sponsor) with reach in South America. He’s clearly a man of few words, probably more of a texter, but if that’s what the sponsors want?
I think Movistar’s '24/'25 roster is a decent “moneyball” (lower budget) type roster. Their problem doesn’t seem to be so much roster, but figuring out how to use their guys.
Some good stuff at Merksplas in the cross world. Iserbyt has become the male version of Betsema for me (I root against him), even though that should arguably be Toon Aerts. I don’t know what to think about Aerts - he used to be one of my favorites. Some outstanding team self-sacrifice at the end on the men’s side, spoiler protected:
Thibeau Nys could have tried to sprint for second, but sat up and drifted back to 4th so Lars could get 3rd and build his lead in the Superprestige total points standings.
Damn! Great finish for the women in this morning’s cross.
That was great - my legs are still in sympathy pain just watching the last lap…but I was hoping it was going to be Zoe B wire-to-wire! Still a great race by Zoe.