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More on Use It Or Lose It: Aerobic Fitness Decline Vs Amount Of Training

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http://www.emikeflynn.com/index.php/blog/flynn-s-harp/huntsman-world-senior-games-35-years-on-a-vision-fulfilled It is usually stated that maximum aerobic capacity (VO2Max) declines with age at a rate of about 10% per decade in sedentary people, but that those who continue to do fitness training will only lose this capacity at about 5% per decade. A typical study upon which this rule of thumb is based is ref. 1 . This is one of the reasons for the maxim “use it or lose it”. It appears to be “really use it so you lose it more slowly”. But it’s important because the difference between 5% and 10% is huge for quality of life. Activities of daily living like being able to go up stairs become very difficult or impossible if VO2Max goes below about 20. This can happen by the time you are about 70 or 80 if sedentary, but can be delayed until more than 100 years of age if you keep training. Another important factor is that it has been shown that aerobic capacity can be regained significantl...
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The Back Way To Hellyer Park

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I did another long brisk cruise today, mostly to the north. I took the Coyote Creek Trail to the first flood, then worked around it on Monterey Highway. I knew there was another flood north of Blossom Hill Rd, so left the trail and worked my way over to Hellyer Ave, which got me to Hellyer Park. I wanted to check out the velodrome, but ran into yet another flood right before it. I’m signed up for an event “ HPV fun day ” there on May 21st. I hope either the floods go down by then or we can come up with an alternate solution, as the only other access to the velodrome is via an alternate pedestrian-only entrance with no parking. I had the sad duty of informing the organizers of the event about the situation. I retraced my steps on Hellyer Ave and the trail as far as Metcalf Ave, then took Monterey Highway home because I was running a bit late. Monterey Highway is a four-lane road with fast traffic, but it has a wide bike lane so is still pretty pleasant to ride next to. Some interesti...
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Long Cruise And Intervals

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I took my recumbent out for a three hour ride on a beautiful spring day. It was mostly brisk cruising, northeast of Morgan Hill on the Coyote Creek trail, then I crossed over to the northwest side in the Coyote valley and out an back next to the Santa Teresa foothills. On the way back I did some higher intensity intervals. I did a local warmup near home, then this was the main part of the ride Looking West On the Coyote Creek Trail. The picture quality is not the best because I accidentally had the camera in video mode so this is just a single frame of the video. At the top of the overpass on Bailey Ave crossing Monterey highway, looking towards the Santa Cruz Mountains from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/6HbEkGd via IFTTT
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Group Ride In The Country

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I rode with my normal Tuesday group yesterday, on a day that started out gray but turned nice and sunny. We went up into the hills West of Morgan Hill, first around Chesbro reservoir, then up Croy road to the County park at the end, around Uvas reservoir, then through the beautiful Sycamore valley back to the start. I had warmed up for an hour before the start, so this ended up being 3 1/2 hours of mostly easy riding for me. Heading up Croy Road, the country road Karen and I lived on for 24 years More Croy Scenery Swanson Creek (which flows into Uvas Creek) going under a bridge at the Park. There are gorgeous waterfalls this time of year, but you have to hike in to see them, I’ll have to do that soon. from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/sGWw87J via IFTTT
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Long Cruise

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I took my recumbent with my new and improved drivetrain for a 3-hour plus cruise today. What a difference a non-squeaky and non-rattling chain makes! After a warmup, I averaged 14.7 mph for 2 hr 27 minutes at an average heart rate of 115. This was a good pace. The only mistake I made was I had my Garmin GPS watch in “bike mode”, which I have set up to show current speed and heart rate on the main screen. Looking at the speed too often distracted me from “meditation in motion”. Next time I do a similar ride I’ll use time and heart rate as my main screen, not look as often, and just focus on being present and enjoying the ride. Heading Northwest on the Coyote Creek Trail Turnaround on the Coyote Creek Trail, the barrier ahead is for the flooded-out section beyond Turning Southeast towards Gilroy Heading Northwest again, back towards Morgan Hill from BionicOldGuy https://ift.tt/J2CGltK via IFTTT
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Fast Cruise With New Drivetrain

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My shifting was getting a little sloppy plus the chain was making a lot of rattling noises on my recumbent. I checked it with my wear gage tool: Mine was worn past the 0.75 line so was way overdue for changing. It is also recommended that you change out the rear cassette when you change the chain, so I finally got around to doing this. The downside is that on a recumbent you actually have to buy three chains and hook them together to get a long enough chain, so it’s a bit pricier. The upside is that the chain lasts longer because each link passes over the gear teeth less often. It was still pretty inexpensive (less than US $100) to order all this on Amazon. A local bike shop will also do this for you for a reasonable price. What a difference this made! I knew there is evidence that a worn-out chain can waste about 5% of your power, but it feels like more than that. Now I seem to fly along considerably faster, at least 1 mph, with the same effort. I enjoyed this feeling a great deal ...
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Journey of Discovery

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This is the title of an entertaining and inspiring book by Wayne Aho, who rode his bicycle across the United States on the TransAmerica trail at the age of 74, a distance of about 4200 miles. He was a successful businessman for several decades, then had a second career as a business professor at Western Carolina University. He finally retired completely in 2020 and did the ride with three other friends shortly thereafter. They also had the support of one of the friend’s wives, Mary Ann, who followed them with a pick-up truck. http://www.Amazon.com/books I’ve read various books about people cycling across the US, but this one caught my eye because of Wayne’s age, which is a few years older than I am. He and his friends also used an interesting approach. They carefully pre-planned the entire route with the aid of maps from the adventure cycling association (which grew from the group that planned the “ bikecentennial ” across the US in 1976). They then pre-booked hotel reservations ...
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