# Fitness after a while off the bike..



## Chargercruz (Nov 24, 2020)

Hi fellas, I have been off mtb’s for a few years but have kept myself in good shape at the gym lifting weights and on the bike - latterly the Peloton. I thought I was in prime condition for returning to Mtb..

Cue my 50th and my present of a beautiful new bike. I hit the trails thinking I would thrash the pants out of the rock gardens and drops, charge the descents and time the ascents.

My first ride was 45 mins the second 55 - 5.5 miles with 550ft of ascent/ descent - and the most knackered I have been in years! What happened in the intervening years..? There is fitness at the gym - and a whole other type of Mtb fitness. It is a full body workout and all my composite parts hurt like hell right now..

So the question is .. how long does it take to get back into Mtb shape? Will the fearlessness ever return? Right now I am riding the hills on a beautiful bike with my tongue hanging to the ground, puce in colour and with major trepidation -NOT the image I had of myself when I considered getting back into the sport..


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

Give it a month or so of regular riding, most likely you'll be fine!


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## kmac2 (Sep 18, 2015)

Don’t stress about the time, unless you plan to do competitive racing. Just go out and have fun. While you can have a high level of fitness in your 50s, you won’t be as fast as when you were in your 40s. But, the more riding you get in, your fitness and time will improve.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

I can't count the number of times I've had to say these words to myself throughout my brief 67 year lifespan: "Start over."

Just keep at it. It'll come.
=sParty


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Nothing translates to mountain biking fitness. I can get a good base fitness on my road bike, but that's it. 

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk


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## Fairbanks007 (Sep 5, 2009)

kmac2 said:


> Don't stress about the time, unless you plan to do competitive racing. Just go out and have fun. While you can have a high level of fitness in your 50s, you won't be as fast as when you were in your 40s.


Good advice that reminds me of one of my less stellar moments on the bike.

7 or 8 years ago (in my late 40's and 20+ years into my mountain bike career) I spotted some other riders about a mile or so ahead of me on a power line and decided it would be a good idea to see if i could catch up to them. I eventually caught them after totally dropping the hammer for a solid 20 minutes only to realize that the youngest member of their group was at least 20 years older than me. I was totally gassed and they were just out for a mellow cruise. I sheepishly finished the ride with the realization it took a near maximal effort on my part to catch some old dudes on mountain bikes. Yay. Go me.

Can't help but wonder how fast those guys were in their 40's...


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

kmac2 said:


> While you can have a high level of fitness in your 50s, you won't be as fast as when you were in your 40s.


Depends what you were doing when you were in your 40's. My fitness [email protected] near 60 is much higher than when I was working 12 hour days in my 40's.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Yep. 48 here and still feel like I progress a bit each year. I'm sure new bikes don't hurt either, I'm definitely riding faster than I ever have. 

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## Chargercruz (Nov 24, 2020)

WHALENARD said:


> Nothing translates to mountain biking fitness. I can get a good base fitness on my road bike, but that's it.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk


That is spot on. I thought I was fit but an hour ploughing through rock gardens and ascents and I felt like I had been beaten up.. Thanks for all your comments. It inspired me to go out again yesterday- I added 2 miles in that same hour bike ride and was pushing harder. I don't ache is much today either.. getting stronger (and loving my new bike now) !


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## fredcook (Apr 2, 2009)

WHALENARD said:


> Nothing translates to mountain biking fitness...


This!


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

month of easy road miles first. 2 hour rides....just dubbing around

then you'll have a base to blast off from...but get those easy miles in. 

you'll be dying to hammer after that


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

Training is specific. 4 decades ago i was on roller skates 8 times a week, that was before the inline.
1 hour of ice skating made me hurt. Just not the same muscles.


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## Champion_Monster (Nov 30, 2014)

I wouldn't rush it. After nearly a year of riding with a couple of months off in Winter I'm still feeling slow but my times are improving. I do think squats and rows at the gym translate to faster times eventually but have little to do with ride conditioning


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## Chargercruz (Nov 24, 2020)

Champion_Monster said:


> I wouldn't rush it. After nearly a year of riding with a couple of months off in Winter I'm still feeling slow but my times are improving. I do think squats and rows at the gym translate to faster times eventually but have little to do with ride conditioning


Squats are a great idea.. I am also slowly improving with regular rides. It is crazy how quickly you lose fitness let alone MTB fitness..


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## North woods gal (Apr 26, 2021)

I've had bad spills and had to endure a forced recovery period with no biking, as per doctor's orders. It usually takes me a couple weeks of trail riding after a short recovery, but up to a month after a long recovery period. I do get back into road riding shape faster than trial riding shape, given the strength demands of trail riding. 

What I'm saying is that you might want to mix a little pavement work in with your trail riding to get back into shape. I do both types of riding on a regular basis, because the two different types of riding give me a slightly different kind of workout. The trail riding builds strength and the road riding builds endurance. 

Just keep riding, you'll get there.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

It is not all about muscles. The brain connections need to re-established. 
Everyday we get new cells and those are like babies they need to be trained/connected.


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## Chargercruz (Nov 24, 2020)

33red said:


> It is not all about muscles. The brain connections need to re-established.
> Everyday we get new cells and those are like babies they need to be trained/connected.


You could be onto something there namely the motivation to get out and not just use the Peloton inside. I had to push myself to go yesterday and the first twenty minutes was wondering why I'm doing it. One epic technical steep and a few fast flowing single tracks with jumps and pops and I was back into it again.. it is taking time also to remember why I'm mountain biking as I left this (including the danger element of the sport) behind 3-4 years ago.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

33red said:


> It is not all about muscles. The brain connections need to re-established.
> Everyday we get new cells and those are like babies they need to be trained/connected.


I regularly weed out old brain cells.
=sParty


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## Hollis (Dec 19, 2003)

I'm basically starting over at 53.
Last year my body was a train wreck, multiple times.

1st : Celiac Disease.
3 years of searching & it was good to finally know why my body hates me (Gluten).

2nd hit: Diabetes (a bolt out of the blue).
If tossing all of the flour based food wasn't enough, now I get to toss sugar out as well.

3rd Strike: Covid-19.
In the middle of a pandemic, I got sick quickly. Luckily, I had a fairly mild case but it left me dizzy & fatigued. The dizziness & fatigue lasted 2-3 months.

I've lost 25 lbs since Jan. 2020 & now I'm trying to get back into the saddle. My legs are supper skinny but they seem to be fairly strong. I did a 2hr ride yesterday, mostly climbing (which is my weakness). I don't want to do anything technical for now, judging the timing of a jump just isn't there (what @33red said). If I can keep grinding up & down gravel for a few weeks, my fitness levels should be fairly normal soon. My lungs are clearer than ever, Celiac must have been the root cause of my Asthma, which has been a pain since forever.

So just get out there & don't worry about Fast/Slow, just get out & ride.
Celebrate the small victories, like "Hey, I'm Riding My Bike!!!"


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## Dunnigan (9 mo ago)

Riding trails is just hard, but rewarding. I’m a couple years in to my comeback from some years that were more or less “off,” and my experience is the endurance for longer rides is the slowest aspect of fitness to come around. The bike handling seems to polish up much quicker.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

In december my knee got better after months of very little riding on relax mode.
At 64 i am retired so i started to ride 3 hrs daily. i got back in shape.
In march our snow season was close to the end so i did 4 hrs days even a few 5hrs
if we enjoy riding well we ride and we stop when we have to to avoid crashing.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

I just run a 26t chainring to a 50t cassette now. Last year it was a 28t to 50t. The year before was a 30t to 42t. You get the picture, plenty of room to adjust for the years to come 🍺


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## Red Leg 2 (May 4, 2014)

Chargercruz said:


> Hi fellas, I have been off mtb’s for a few years but have kept myself in good shape at the gym lifting weights and on the bike - latterly the Peloton. I thought I was in prime condition for returning to Mtb..
> 
> Cue my 50th and my present of a beautiful new bike. I hit the trails thinking I would thrash the pants out of the rock gardens and drops, charge the descents and time the ascents.
> 
> ...


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## nomadsurfer (12 mo ago)

As I posted in my thread about gearing…. I’m going to be 50 this year and haven’t seriously ridden for ages until this past year. But now that I think about it, it’s really only since January that I’ve been going regularly.

i have good and bad days. I thought it was because I was switching bikes often, but today proved me wrong and it’s just age and time doing other things that don’t translate to trail fitness.

I met a guy today who was in his 60s, still charging - even compared notes on recent crashes.

In a way, it’s frustrating because some days I just can’t go as hard as I want. But, like others have said, it will come, just have to get out there!


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## Red Leg 2 (May 4, 2014)

nomadsurfer said:


> As I posted in my thread about gearing…. I’m going to be 50 this year and haven’t seriously ridden for ages until this past year. But now that I think about it, it’s really only since January that I’ve been going regularly.
> 
> i have good and bad days. I thought it was because I was switching bikes often, but today proved me wrong and it’s just age and time doing other things that don’t translate to trail fitness.
> 
> ...


After having been called out for several other unintentionally biting replies I have posted, I decided my initial reply to you was also inappropriate, so I removed it. I have crashed a zillion times, and still do. I wish you health and happiness.


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## nomadsurfer (12 mo ago)

@Red Leg 2 i didn’t see anything rough directed at me. All good as far as I am concerned. But good on you for being a stand up guy! Happy riding


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## Sunkaku (8 mo ago)

Chargercruz said:


> Hi fellas, I have been off mtb’s for a few years but have kept myself in good shape at the gym lifting weights and on the bike - latterly the Peloton. I thought I was in prime condition for returning to Mtb..
> 
> Cue my 50th and my present of a beautiful new bike. I hit the trails thinking I would thrash the pants out of the rock gardens and drops, charge the descents and time the ascents.
> 
> ...


--------------------------
Hey Chargercruz,
I second another reply to not worry about your time so much...unless you're planning to compete. At our age we should just enjoy being able to ride and ride as hard as you can if that crumbles your cookie. Also take that w/ a grain of salt because avoiding injury is paramount at this stage of life. So ride hard but ride smart above all; know the area you're in, follow maps/don't get lost, maintain your bike well, etc.. I'm a proponent of the "Life is Good" philosophy if you couldn't tell.

Best,
Moz


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## BkeKay (1 mo ago)

My father is 53 years old and looks like my YOUNGER brother. I'm serious. A lot of stress makes me look like a forty-year-old man. But my dad has been working out his whole life, so he doesn't know of any health problems and looks great. I asked him to give me some tips for a beginner, and I'm slowly incorporating sports into my life. I plan to start taking the SARMS medication my dad advised me in a few months. You can see this here. Sports make me happier. And by the way, I'm glad my wife didn't leave me. lmao


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

BkeKay said:


> My father is 53 years old and looks like my YOUNGER brother. I'm serious. A lot of stress makes me look like a forty-year-old man.


Are you a 40 year old man?
You didn't mention your age.
I mean, your father _could_ have assisted in your conception when he was 12... just sayin'. 
=sParty


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