I'm sorry, but I keep forgetting your name. But anyway, I experienced what you are experiencing for years when I commuted eastbound across Albuquerque 26 to (but relatively rarely) 40 miles rt, and for the most part 30-32, several days a week. I usually commuted on a fixed gear, 67" to 75", with a moderate load, and our terrain meant steady if gradual climbing eastbound, and very often stiff headwinds on the evening return. I'd ride on weekends, too. In fact, hills and winds are everyday affairs here.
I did this from age about 42 to age about 53, though in the last 2 or 3 years I began more frequently to combine riding with a halfway trip on an express bus. I very often felt tired and found myself very easily catching cold. Long after the fact, it dawned on me that I was simply riding too hard -- in my 40s I'd beat the Rt 66/Central Avenue bus -- pass it downtown and stay ahead of it across all the mile long blocks eastbound on 66. I'd routinely break 16 mph clock running, stoplights included, and often reach 18 on the inbound. The solution? Slow the F*** down! In the last few years I took a more circuitous route up MLK through the University and up Copper, involving the same climb but now with more frequent stops through residential areas and the Fairground. My clock-running speed dropped, due to age as well as route, and due also to a nascent habit of holding back, to between 12 and 13, but it was overall much more pleasant. You may be simply overdoing it. There is quite a difference, I found, between 40 and 50 -- though much less than between 50 and 60! Different people have different capacities for exertion; I think I'm someone who is best at short relatively intense rides with intervals of rest; doing hard rides day in and day out just wears me down. OTOH, riding slowly with low gears when needed may allow you to up or at least maintain the mileage. But overall, don't overdue it -- if it's not fun, it's not worth doing! Good luck! On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 9:01 AM, Lungimsam <john11.2...@gmail.com> wrote: > Not sure this is on topic enough but as you all seem to "ride" for the > love of it and not "train" (and I don't either), was wondering what you > think about my conundrum. > > I am in good health. I get physicals. Everything always fine. No issues. > 47 years old, 5'8", 170 lbs. I thank God for my wonderful health. > > *Here is the issue:* > > After some light riding in winter, in spring I start the commuting again. > At first I feel fast and energetic, the bikes speeds along nicely. But I > quickly feel like garbage within a few days. Just so tired and draggy. I > take a day or two off the bike, start again, feel like garbage, etc. on and > on all summer, getting a teeny bit fitter, but always feeling slow and > draggy after a few days of consistent riding. I can't seem to get to the > point where I can commute every day without feeling trashed after a few > days. > > *The riding* is all on my Bleriot and Sam drop bar bikes: > Commutes: 34 miles/1950ft. climbing round trip or 1/2 commutes from an > area I park in and ride from. I even get wiped out from the 1/2 commutes. > Indian Restauranteuring once a week: ~15 miles round trip. Maybe a second > trip a week if meeting other family to eat out. Always Asian food of some > kind. > Escorting wife on her bike commute 3-4x/week: 7 Miles round trip, no > climbing. Very slow paced. > Recreational road riding to get ready for centuries consist of one 25-62 > mile ride every week. Maybe ~3,000 feet of climbing max. > > This has been this way for the last two or so years. > > *You guys do a lot of riding and was wondering how you get acclimated to > it.* Do you just ride when you feel like trash anyway and your body gets > used to it eventually? Or do you need time off, too? > > *Food:* > I like eating everything and my wife cooks a lot of Asian food as she is > Chinese. She does health conscious cooking and is fit. I don't do diets of > any kind as I know I could never keep one. Just being honest with myself. > There is no way. > > Anyway. I'm interested in your ideas and experiences with how you get > acclimated to your riding. > I do fine on centuries and I did a flat brevet once. I would like to do > some more Brevets eventually, but I get so trashed just from my regular > riding that I never seem to get strong enough to handle the type of hilly > rides they do in my area. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a circumference on the contours of which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* *(The cross stands motionless while the world revolves.) *Carthusian motto *It is *we *who change; *He* remains the same.* Eckhart *Kinei hos eromenon.* (*It moves [all things] as the beloved.) *Aristotle -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
