The Midlife Cyclist: The Road Map for the +40 Rider Who Wants to Train Hard, Ride Fast and Stay Healthy

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The MidLife Cyclist‘s discussion of heart health was particularly timely for me. I had a serious dehydration experience about a month ago, literally while I was reading the chapter on heart conditions. Getting some depth of understanding about what might be going on in my chest helped me feel more at ease. It also motivated me to make a doctor’s appointment. Why worry, when you can get answers and move on with your life? I understand that now. I am old but I am no longer bold. But I still love the great outdoors, and cycling is an escape for me into nature and the wilderness. In a sense, cycling has become a means to an end, as well as a means within itself. Cyclefit provide a great personalised service that focuses on giving you exactly what you need. They are extremely knowledgable and friendly and no request/requirement is too difficult for them." PM Watch out for weight gain, too, which will make life harder for you on climbs: our fasted glucose levels rise after the age of 50. This is possibly because we are less efficient at metabolising glucose. What changes should I make?

Men enduring symptoms of low testosterone – such as fatigue and muscle loss – should also see their GP, because blood tests and treatment are available. I am not sure this is different between indoor/outdoor cycling. I suspect that off-road riding is more challenging because you are moving around so much. I remember that my upper body used to be in agony after a cyclo-x race or MTB race! You could use a heart rate monitor and use a percentage of your highest recent recorded heart rate or you could use the RPE/Borg Scale and the ‘sing-a-verse’ methodology (which I prefer, incidentally). It’s important to note that riding in an oxidative state involves metabolising fatty acids as a fuel source, which could be important if you’re also trying to manage weight as well as gain fitness. short bouts of high intensity interval training - anaerobic sessions which may be hard work but will (and this is from Lieberman again) “make us not only stronger and faster but also fitter and healthier”. Controversially, I’m going to suggest a few midlife amendments to current training orthodoxy. The first is that we drop all the other strata of training, other than low intensity (LIT) and high intensity (HIT) training. We'll define LIT as anything below aerobic threshold, which coach Fox recommends could be as high as 70-80 per cent of maximum heart rate, but thinks is actually better executed at around 60-70 per cent of maximum. Dr Baker agrees with this and adds the context that ‘it's almost impossible to go too low’ for LIT or oxidative training, meaning that the most important principle to observe is that you must actually be oxidative, which you won't be if you go too high.Riders who pedal into older age will enjoy a raft of benefits, from improved cardiovascular fitness to enhanced mental health.

There is nothing like competing with your support system within inches. In addition, with technological advances in the virtual cycling game, I communicate with my teammates via Discord. Much the same applies. There’s useful stuff about getting comfortable on the bike. People like me don’t adjust their positions to take account of aging, and newbies might be tempted to follow the fashion for slamming their stems or simply need some guidance and the book is pretty good for that. But fitting you to a bike needs to be done in person and no book can substitute for that. Not just cycling? Yes. A balanced training programme for the cyclist might also include a couple of weekly weights sessions, or “resistance training”, which will combat sarcopenia (that’s muscle-loss to you and me) and maybe the occasional run if your joints can stand it (good for sarcopenia but also bone density). The author also points to the truism that the challenges we face are primarily caused by “information and moderation deficit.” Mr. Cavell, a lifelong competitive cyclist himself, risks being seen as biased when he asserts that cycling can be “used as a panacea for solving the worst physical and cognitive effects of ageing as an athlete.” And we no longer metabolise alcohol efficiently, so drinking a lot in your 60s is not a great idea. You need to think about your inflammation burden – through stress and training – much more carefully as well.” What changes should I make?I think The Midlife Cyclist is an important book. One of the curses of our age is that people live for a long time but endure poor health for a large chunk of those years. Phil Cavell is trying to do something about that by showing that you can remain fit and healthy through exercise for far longer than most people think possible. The cover pitches it at racing cyclists, but I found it equally relevant to me as someone who rides a lot but doesn’t race. Much of what it contains is relevant to anyone getting older who wants to maintain good health, regardless of their sport, or even if they do no exercise at all (because this might persuade them that they should!). This inherent fear of the unknown and the emotional and physical pain of the known was a prime motivation in my transition to becoming an ‘indoor specialist.’ I no longer accept the inevitable reality that ‘I could really hurt myself or worse during this race.’ Phil and Julian co-founded Cyclefit in Central London over twenty years ago. It was the first company dedicated to dynamic bike-fitting in Europe. It is also in this chapter that Mr. Cavell makes his first mention of virtual cycling when he writes,

In the vast majority of cases, exercise in middle and old age will do you good, mitigating the effects of the infirmities noted above, and significantly reducing your risk of copping cardiovascular diseases (40%), strokes (25-30%), diabetes (40%) and even cancers (20%). Yoga and Pilates are great ways to counter the declining flexibility of your joints and spine. Injecting variety into your training will also help.I may start racing again, but then again I may try and not enjoy it or find that it is not for me anymore. My dad was a glider pilot and used to voice this old pilots law, I took a leap and assumed his query was more than rhetorical and replied. This was my answer to Mr. Cavell’s questions. Cyclefit continues to work with male and female pro-tour athletes, helping them control the process of building resilience to training and racing in their bike set-up. Judging by the book and the comments in this thread the difference between an amatuer and a professional is that a professional will have a coach who will have the time and incentive to produce training plans that are relevant for the the rider at that particular time of their fitness/season/life, whilst the rest of us mostly have to use trial and error to find what works or settle for suboptimal. Daily hydration also becomes a much bigger challenge in your 60s. “Muscles carry water, so if you’ve got less muscle, you’re naturally less hydrated,” explains Cavell.