1 month of sitting on couch - today MTN BIKING.
 

WOW.

Just wow. I am super tired. My pasty white skinned, muscle atrophy legs could barely move my mass. Gravity was extra today, or my brakes were dragging.

On my ride hone I was hungry like I’ve never been before. Starved. I pass 3 pizza places on my route home. Torture.

I need to restart my body. I made it to the top. Hot-mess. My HR watch almost dialed 911 for me. I hope tomorrow is better. :)

I need to get back into mountain hiking shape. The deer are not gonna volunteer to die.

Was it a up and down? How much elevation? Mileage? XC / trail / endure bike?

I'm a flabby 54 yr old but I have an 18 yr old son I need to keep honest.

We did a super quick ride yesterday and my tires were 30-40 psi as I had just put new sealant in. I was shocked at how much faster I was vs my typical 20-23 psi. Less grip, yes. Faster by a ton.

I get it. Good job on the first ride. It's the worst.

I hear ya. I had my guts (old hernia repair x 2) glitch at the end of July last year and I have been trying to get into some kind of riding shape ever since. Maybe tomorrow.....

Ha! Good for you for getting out, Vash.

I started riding two weeks before the shut down. My riding was like clock work twice a week until we went off on vacation in Asia this summer. Rode only 7 times since we came back then the shut down started. I piled on the miles too soon on my first few rides and it hurt like hell. Crawled into the house, lie down for a short rest with my eyes shut for a bit on the floor. I woke up two hours later. I kept it up. By the second week, I force myself to do a tad over 200 miles that week. In the past two weeks, we added a climb on our daily 50-55 mile ride. Its a gnarly 3000' climb twice a week. I lost some valuable baby fat and got back into training. What I am training for, who the fk knows? I am not racing anymore. We do 50 miles in just over 2.5 hours. I have been sore almost daily for the past 5 weeks. Greg LeMond once said, "you get stronger, but you hurt jsut as much because you just go harder and longer". Man, he was right. Keep it up, you will get there soon. You are still young, but I do notice I am fried by the third day if I don't rest after two to three days of riding. recovery isn't what it once was when I was 22.

LWJ. Up up and up one way. Downhill all the way back.

I normally play a team sport 2 times a week. I haven’t done that in over a month.... going to need to get some type of cardio machine to use at home.

This is killing me slowly.

Good work, Vash. Do whatever you need to do to stay limber while you get back into it.

I've been trying to road ride whenever I can but the weather has been crap.

Be careful taking long sedentary breaks at your advanced age! You'll start to atrophy and get rusty very quickly. It will take you 3 months to get back to any type of shape.

I miss my daily commute. Nothing beats having to ride for transportation, rain or shine, tired or motivated. Now home but still working, I have less miles for sure.
My local MTB spots are all accessing the trails through very popular park entrances that are too dense with people hiking for my taste, so I have been jumping on the commuter bike and cruising the neighborhood and local dirt roads, often into the night, enjoying the solitude and the cool air. I have a hub dyno and 80 lux headlamp, it is great.

Weren't you trying to buy a flood light for night action on your MTB?

G

night riding is like taboo around here, i think.

i think i will resume the commute now that we rousted all the homeless off the trails.

I need to get out on my 29" mountain bike just to get some flat miles (no real trails around me), but the weather has been 25 mph winds, and intermittent rain.

I have all these excuses, and the bike has a 500 watt electric motor on it to boot...i'm still going to be huffing from out of shape.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ebikeling-Waterproof-36V-500W-26-Geared-Front-Rear-e-Bike-Conversion-Kit/143099420509?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=442 057554146&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l264

All mtn biking access is closed around me so broke out the old dusty road bike. Used to do centuries and double centuries back in my 30s. But 30 years later was happy to crank out a 70 without turning into large cramp. Now am riding every other day trying to regain a bit of fitness. Goal is to ride 20-30 miles per outing and climb 1000+ feet. Need a recovery day off between rides, due to getting old. The great thing is that traffic is so light on the roads, it like the old days. The great thing is that I have dropped several pounds and am enjoying getting stronger.

Will start single track when the trails open since I miss the excitement but will continue road work too.

Your watch will call 911 for you? That is so cool

details please?

Good for you, Vash.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KMJTnB-50zE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Good job, Vash. I'm only 45 but even at my age I am beginning to get a sense that if I take time off from my usual exercise habits the effect is not going to be as light as it was when I was 35. Like angel, I've been a year-round transportation ride for a long time and it is a wonderful way to build it into your life. I grew up mountain biking but from college on, and especially once I moved to Chicago, road riding of various types took over because I can ride out my back door rather than having to put a bike in the car and drive for two hours. Im still commuting to the office since I have an "essential" job but car traffic is so drastically reduced that I can get to/from work by car in 15 minutes (rather than 35-45) whereas riding still takes 1:20 so I find myself driving most days and riding after work, but this seems like a first step on a slippery slope. Yesterday I did a 200k brevet and I can still do this kind of thing off the couch but I wasn't any faster this year than I was last spring, which I'd hoped to be.