Feeling Old and Decrepit

[g-boaf]

Anything hip related is really, really bad to recover from.

I probably would have had it easier if I had hip replacement surgery, but I elected for screws to keep my original bone. Longer time and some drawbacks but I still have original bones, even if the leg is now shorter.

From mid March to around November was how long it took for me to be walking on my own feet, but badly. I'm doing better now with walking and I'm riding, I'm happy with that.

[P!N20]

Pm me brumby33. Let’s go for a ride.
I’m not fast.
And I’ve been here 20 yrs so I know heaps of good places to ride

Tim

Can vouch for Tim being an excellent cycling companion.

[queequeg]

Firstly queequeg (how did you come up with that user name?)

Queequeg is a fictional character from Moby Dick. In the X-Files, Dana Scully named her dog after the character from Moby Dick, and I named my character after her dog. My avatar picture is Scully's Dog (who was later eaten by an alligator).

I also chose the name due a scene from an old Tv Series "Mad About you" (Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt), who after choosing Moby Dick for their bookclub to read, struggle to read "Moby Dick" for the book club meeting the next day (because they left it until the night before), and when they are discussing the characters in the book, Paul Reiser's character has no idea who Queequeg is and just says he is some sort of "mystical being" lol

So, when it came time to choosing a random avatar, I just went with it.


Happy 50th Birthday coming up, hope it's an important milestone for you.
Yep, just had a family dinner on Saturday night, so it was nice and cosy and without everyone making a huge deal out of it.

Secondly it appears that you've competed in Cycling a lot and have many that you know around you that have that same interest, I've had none of that at all in my life due to 35 years of shiftwork, I know nobody except a mate I met at work because his wife, like mine is Japanese and he had done a lot of touring in his younger days, he is the same age as I am but a lot smaller set but he used to race Bianchi in his 20's. But he is now living with his family in Japan (something I'm also considering a couple of years down the track)

Actually, the vast majority of my riding has been just me. I started riding to and from work in 2008 just to get fit. They built a new cycleway along one of the major roads in Sydney as part of tunnel project, and I was sick of sitting on a bus for up to 4 hours a day and figured I couldn't possibly be slower than that. So, I bought a bike at the age of 35 and just started commuting every day. I lost 18kg in 6 months and then started riding on my own on weekends. I eventually stumbled on a local bicycle user group that did various rides around my area, so on weekends I would sometimes join up with that group. Ages varied but were mostly older than me (but they were also a lot fitter!), and I used that to push myself up to longer rides. I did my first 100km, 160km and 210km ride with them. In 2011 we moved house out of the area (due to growing family) and by then I had become so fit that the old group was now too slow for me, and as I had moved further away it was just not possible to join their rides anymore.

So, for a few years I was back to solo riding and commuting before I found the Audax Cycling Club, which does lots of long distance rides all over the world, and I started doing 200km rides regularly. In 2015 a new local cycling club started up in my area and I also joined them on weekends for group rides and continued to commute during the week, while also doing solo Audax rides. I dabbled a bit with racing and was ok at it, but a non-cycling injury in 2017 put me off the bike for a couple of years and I never returned to racing. I told my doctor where to shove his diagnosis in 2018 and got myself fixed by another doctor, was back on track in 2019 and then Covid hit. 2020 was lots of riding on the indoor trainer and lots of solo riding, thankfully because I live in a huge LGA and could ride all day without breaking any lockdown rules.
2021 and 2022 however saw many changes with kids schooling an working, and with the commuting to the office now gone, my fitness took a dive.
So, here I am in 2023. I have done almost 2,000km for the year. In a normal year, by the end of June I would have covered about 9,000km
These days I have a small group of local friends that I do rides with. We take the gravel bikes and head out onto the trails and take the low traffic options. I have dropped my weight by almost 8kg in the last 7 weeks so it is getting easier again, and I am going to head into the office a couple of days a week just to break up the monotony of being at home all day during the week.

I am hoping to pick up my Audax riding and tackle some multi-day rides as it warms up, then next year I am going to resume my full schedule and find a new balance that works.

BTW I lived in Japan as a teenager. I used to love riding around there. I really must get back one day as I am sure it has changed a lot. I was in Tokyo.

[Imwit]

Pm me brumby33. Let’s go for a ride.
I’m not fast.
And I’ve been here 20 yrs so I know heaps of good places to ride

Tim

Can vouch for Tim being an excellent cycling companion.

Thanks for the personal reference PinZo.
Might call you for my next job application

[JPB]

Today was my day for feeling it. Not sure why but my legs were shot, back was sore and numbness in my hands ( probably from too much pressure because of sore lower back ).
Not to worry, I will do a few evening walks during the week and hopefully feel good next weekend.
I find 5-8km fast pace walks good cross training for my riding.

[brumby33]

Today was my day for feeling it. Not sure why but my legs were shot, back was sore and numbness in my hands ( probably from too much pressure because of sore lower back ).
Not to worry, I will do a few evening walks during the week and hopefully feel good next weekend.
I find 5-8km fast pace walks good cross training for my riding.

Just a week before moving down South from Sydney 6 Months ago, trying to pack up boxes of all our stuff, I must've pinched a nerve in my lower back somewhere and it was excruciating. It felt like everytime I moved, someone was stabbing me in the back with live electric wires and the muscle spasms were out of this world.
So I went on a series of walks, first bent over like a 90 yr old but gradually straightened up and was able to walk a reasonable pace and then pack some more boxes when I came home. I remember at it's worse, I must've went on 4 walks in 1 days trying to relive the pain so yeah, walking certainly works for back pain, especially lower back pain. It comes on me ever couple of years and I just gotta ride it out...i mean walk it out.

[Maureen Waters]

I'm feeling young and fit. I cycle in hilly country for 30 to 60 mins every day. I use a recumbent trike which is wonderful' I'm a 80 year old woman. Get with it guys.MPW

[TrikeTragic]

I'm feeling young and fit. I cycle in hilly country for 30 to 60 mins every day. I use a recumbent trike which is wonderful' I'm a 80 year old woman. Get with it guys.MPW

^^^^
Awesome Maureen! As another "accumulated life experience" tricyclist who rides where there are hills, I am thoroughly on board with the fun and fitness factors of recumbent trikes. Sadly, I don't get to ride every day, but usually twice and occasionally three times in a week. And I aspire to continue while the body holds up, with no end date set just yet!

Cheers

[brumby33]

Still feeling a bit old and decrepit

Just on the eve of my 64th Birthday, the 6th of Jan was a free day to do whatever I wanted as it was a really nice day and I've been itching to get back on my Vivente and explore more of this town of Albury...so.....I did.

Since moving down here, I've been wanting to explore the Wonga Wetlands and the Aboriginal art carvings along the way.
From near the Swimming centre, the pathway was destroyed in the floods a couple of years ago so was inaccessible to the bikeway....now it's been opened for a couple of Months now and so I took advantage of it.

It's pretty much flat except for a couple of little almost upright pinches....thank heavens for my Granny gears.

Google Maps said my ride was 29kms round trip but it did not include the additional 12km loop i did....it was awesome.

I really should've taken a couple of sandwiches as I was ravishing to the point of bonking by the time I arrived back in the Albury township. So a couple of icy cold beers later and a bowl of chicken nibbles (yum) it was time to ride home in the 33C heat. I had enough water at all times but it was hot in the bottles and any water filling stations too were quite warm but better than nothing.

Ok the ride home was where i came unstuck ( i don't think it was the 2 beers but....) I mustn't have put the bike in gear properly when i stopped at a set of lights, when i powered off the bloody chain slipped on the rear cogs a bit and I took skin off my right leg as the big chainwheel decided to take a wee chunk of skin from me but that wasn't a major issue, it was the relationship between my backside and the saddle, its a specialized saddle that i had measured up for me a couple of years ago and even though i was wearing good bike shorts with a good sized chamois padding, it was agony sitting on that saddle on the way home and my legs didn't want to spin because of it so I ended up having to walk jelly leg style pushing the bike back home for the last 2 kms. It felt like the longest part of the whole day

Anyway, once the weather clears up a bit, I'll begin riding to work...only 6kms each way with a high climb bridge that goes over the rail and Hume Hwy in one hit at Fallon Street. So still old and decrepit but hanging in there

Cheers

brumby33

[warthog1]

Back into it Brumby, when your bum will let you
You'll feel improvement pretty quickly with some regularly rides I expect, physically and mentally.

[grt046]

Good to see you back out there Brumby ..... 40 odd km ride first off is pushing it a bit .... no wonder the bum was a bit sore. Your plan for riding to work is a good one.
I have been off the bike on Doc's orders since Nov 2 but hope to get a clearance to ride next week. Will take a few rides to harden up and some weeks to get back to some sort of fitness but will aim for my normal 4 rides a week, short initially and gradually increase to get back to normal asap.

BTW you need to change this mindset

Still feeling a bit old and decrepit

1. 64 years is not old
2. Now you plan to ride regularly the "decrepit" feeling will soon disappear.

[foo on patrol]

Short rides every day will give you the best benefit of getting ya arse sorted again.

Foo

[brumby33]

Yeah hehehe, I was expecting a bit much i guess, poor ol bum didn't know what hit it

I will say though in my surprise, my fitness considering I hadn't ridden for some time wasn't too bad only for the sore butt issue and my legs felt pretty good although there was a bit of tightness at the side and rear of my right knee which had me thinking when I tore my meniscus cartilage a few years back.
My breathing was pretty good, I spun up the steep pinches without risk of stopping while using my gears (love Shimano Dura-ace bar end shifters)

Yes I was happy with how i went overall and yes it was too far for my first ride and next time I will take a couple of sandwiches with me to prevent the bonking feeling as I think I was pretty close by the time i got back to town. I would have hated to have that happen halfway around the Wetlands Circuit.

Yes...I agree about the mindset but this thread was made when i really struggled to keep up to others at the time and forced me to pull out of the ride. I was really feeling it

[Peter A]

Get on the bike and do a few K's mate, the aches and pains level out and in a month or so you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Pick the routes, low traffic or bike trails, bright clothing, front & rear lights during day, enjoy !

Wise words - "BTW you need to change this mindset
brumby33 wrote: ↑
08 Jan 2024, 09:08
Still feeling a bit old and decrepit
1. 64 years is not old
2. Now you plan to ride regularly the "decrepit" feeling will soon disappear."

[brumby33]

Get on the bike and do a few K's mate, the aches and pains level out and in a month or so you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Pick the routes, low traffic or bike trails, bright clothing, front & rear lights during day, enjoy !

Wise words - "BTW you need to change this mindset
brumby33 wrote: ↑
08 Jan 2024, 09:08
Still feeling a bit old and decrepit
1. 64 years is not old
2. Now you plan to ride regularly the "decrepit" feeling will soon disappear."

Cheers Peter....that i will do

[Dodgy-Knee]

I'm feeling especially old and decrepit today...

I'm 58 later this year and some might argue that's not old... I went for a ride today and did 85km with about 1500m of climbing but got absolutely smoked on a couple of 10% climbs by some younger guys ... one was about half my age who breezed past me at a rate of knots and another was on an E-bike (maybe that one doesn't count?)... I once held the KOM (about 20 yrs ago) on the 10% hill I was dropped on.

I've got all of my Strava times from about 6 years ago and I'm way down on power... I can still do the climbs but I can't get the speed anymore and I'm consistently about 5 or 6 min down on my PB's ... I've gone from a sports car to a diesel truck... I just hope I don't turn into a clapped out school bus.

Old age just sucks... oh well ... another early Sunday morning coming up and more training :-/

[foo on patrol]

^^^^ You maybe down on speed but I would be surprised if power over the total distance is down much. I surprised someone half my age when I was 62. We were in the B-grade Keirin Final up at Bundy and I told him and another mate that was 4yrs younger than me that I would lead them out and wind them up from just before the bell. Well the young one came off and was shocked at just how hard I could go in getting them moving.

Foo

[brumby33]

I'm feeling especially old and decrepit today...

I'm 58 later this year and some might argue that's not old... I went for a ride today and did 85km with about 1500m of climbing but got absolutely smoked on a couple of 10% climbs by some younger guys ... one was about half my age who breezed past me at a rate of knots and another was on an E-bike (maybe that one doesn't count?)... I once held the KOM (about 20 yrs ago) on the 10% hill I was dropped on.

I've got all of my Strava times from about 6 years ago and I'm way down on power... I can still do the climbs but I can't get the speed anymore and I'm consistently about 5 or 6 min down on my PB's ... I've gone from a sports car to a diesel truck... I just hope I don't turn into a clapped out school bus.

Old age just sucks... oh well ... another early Sunday morning coming up and more training :-/

Lets see now Dodgy Knee, you did 85kms and 1500 mtrs of climbing at the age of still 57......crikey mate, compared to me you're an Olympic Athlete
I recently (2 weeks ago) went for a 42kms ride, very little climbing in fact quite flat terrain as it was circling the wetlands of the Murray River and at the end of the ride, my legs had turned to jelly, my arse was so sore i could barely sit on the saddle and you reckon you're Old & Decrepit ....but at least one thing....you've given me some hope

cheers

brumby33

[g-boaf]

I'm feeling especially old and decrepit today...

I'm 58 later this year and some might argue that's not old... I went for a ride today and did 85km with about 1500m of climbing but got absolutely smoked on a couple of 10% climbs by some younger guys ... one was about half my age who breezed past me at a rate of knots and another was on an E-bike (maybe that one doesn't count?)... I once held the KOM (about 20 yrs ago) on the 10% hill I was dropped on.

I've got all of my Strava times from about 6 years ago and I'm way down on power... I can still do the climbs but I can't get the speed anymore and I'm consistently about 5 or 6 min down on my PB's ... I've gone from a sports car to a diesel truck... I just hope I don't turn into a clapped out school bus.

Old age just sucks... oh well ... another early Sunday morning coming up and more training :-/

85km and 1500m is still a damn nice ride!

I still see older folk overseas riding up mountains okay (and rode with one such guy last year). It's probably a matter of time and effort and being smart about your riding, you don't recover as easily/quickly as you used to so pay attention to the stretching and all that stuff.

I'm sleeping rather poorly again so during the day I don't feel so great.

[warthog1]

85km and 1500m is still a damn nice ride!

I still see older folk overseas riding up mountains okay (and rode with one such guy last year). It's probably a matter of time and effort and being smart about your riding, you don't recover as easily/quickly as you used to so pay attention to the stretching and all that stuff.

I'm sleeping rather poorly again so during the day I don't feel so great.

That is potentially at least partially down to age.
The ability to fall asleep and stay asleep seems to decline as you get older.
I am a shift worker so it is worse anyway but myself and multiple colleages have experienced sh it sleep as we have gotten older..

[foo on patrol]

85km and 1500m is still a damn nice ride!

I still see older folk overseas riding up mountains okay (and rode with one such guy last year). It's probably a matter of time and effort and being smart about your riding, you don't recover as easily/quickly as you used to so pay attention to the stretching and all that stuff.

I'm sleeping rather poorly again so during the day I don't feel so great.

That is potentially at least partially down to age.
The ability to fall asleep and stay asleep seems to decline as you get older.
I am a shift worker so it is worse anyway but myself and multiple colleages have experienced sh it sleep as we have gotten older..

I had two days in a row where I only got a total of about 6hrs combined sleep and yesterday I crawled into bed at 3.30pm and I couldn't get out till 5,am this morning. There were blocks of 3/4, 1, 1.5 and 2hrs and I actually feel half human today.

Foo

[warthog1]

That sux Foo!

[warthog1]

A few tips in this article;

https://road.cc/content/feature/fit-ove ... ips-306263

[Dodgy-Knee]

To all of us feeling a bit old, decrepit and generally at a loss, here's a great and short cycling docco on an extraordinary cyclist.

Hopefully, we've all got a lot more miles to go before we finally park up our bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgUC0zyu4p0&t=1s

[redsonic]

A few tips in this article;

https://road.cc/content/feature/fit-ove ... ips-306263

That was a good article, thanks