Fun & Fitness over 50

I finally got a good Sunday morning ride in with Charles. We did 27 miles in a little over 2 hours riding time with 2 good hills thrown in, not including the continuous assortment of rollers that are the norm for this area.

I was having a problem with my lower back but I knew from experience that a good bike ride would probably fix it. It did. My chiropractor said that the x-rays showed some degeneration whatever that means. No specifics. But my theory is that if it's compressed discs then the riding position probably stretches the spine out and gives the pinched nerves some relief, no?

No problems with the shoulders either. I managed to avoid doing any pulling with the top part of my shoulders but instead, on the climbs and when standing out of the saddle, pulled from the triceps and core muscles.

We did a couple of good hills, Orchard and Biers Rd. I hit my max heart rate for the ride on Orchard, 163bpm, that's 93% of my maximum predicted heart rate.

It felt really good to get out again like that. Sunday morning is great because it's so quiet. Traffic is light. The sky was ominously threatening rain or a t-storm but as we rode it cleared up more and more. And it was perfectly still. No wind.

I'm hoping this will be the start of me getting back on track. Last year I had already put in 683 miles by this date. So far I only have 223 miles in this year. I have always felt my best when I rode every day. Last year, MapMyRide had a virtual event where you tried to ride every day that the Tour de France rode and they somehow ranked you against the real riders, I don't know exactly how they calculated it. They had a prize drawing every day and it really motivated me to get some kind of ride in. I felt great. I hope they do something like this again this year.

Here are the stats for todays ride:
distance: 27.53 mi
total riding time:2:11:44
av heart rate:135
max heart rate:163
total calories burned:1609
av cadence: 66rpm

Here's the route we took for any locals that are interested. (it's not a loop. we ended at an auto repair shop where Charles picked up his car and we drove home)