[SingleSpeedSteven]

I envy you guys who work from home.

This has been a huge game changer for me. I can work 9-10 hours, go for a ride that's under 2 hours and still be home in time to start cooking dinner. I basically traded my old 1-1/2 hour commute for ride time. My wife and daughter both have evenings where they do their outside activities (tennis and gymnastics) but they are scheduled and super easy to work around. My riding has increased significantly since I went to working at home.

 

[Crankout]

I have a gym membership. I work out at the gym every night after work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday nights I bike. Friday I take a day off of activity. Saturday and Sunday I'll bike, hike, snowshoe, or fish.

Nice balance.

 

[Crankout]

This early in the year (in terms of planning out a season of racing events), I'm looking at a balance of biking, the gym, and other activities (ex. xc skiing). And, I need some recovery time in there at my age depending on the workload of my activities.

 

[Sparticus]

Be careful what you wish for.

I retired in Sept. ’15. Seeking “something to motivate myself” I set a goal for 2016 — this was to gain 1000’ per day (average). By end of year I’d made it, but barely, and not because I was enjoying it. Rather because I’d set a goal so by golly I was going to achieve it. Bad reason. By October when the rains arrived, the days got short and temps got chilly, I was hating life, hating the bike.

I won‘t do that again.
=sParty

 

[Klurejr]

some more good ideas, thanks guys.

I have tossed around the Idea of a Tandem MTB, that would be fun. I have a little bit of experience with the trail-a-bike and the mac-ride together:

Was joking with the wife at the bike shop a few days about about putting the Mac-Ride on a Tandem Cruiser.

 

[SingleSpeedSteven]

Be careful what you wish for.

I retired in Sept. ’15. Seeking “something to motivate myself” I set a goal for 2016 — this was to gain 1000’ per day (average). By end of year I’d made it, but barely, and not because I was enjoying it. Rather because I’d set a goal so by golly I was going to achieve it. Bad reason. By October when the rains arrived, the days got short and temps got chilly, I was hating life, hating the bike.

I won‘t do that again.
=sParty

This is why I took a hiatus from racing a couple years ago. I had a horrible job that was killing me and throwing me into a depression spiral, and at the same time I basically convinced myself that I had a second job in training for long races. I was having zero fun on the bike, and it actually felt like a chore and just one other thing that I HAD to do. Had to drop the racing and go back to riding for fun for a while.

 

[3blackbikes]

I had a similar goal for 2020, to get 365 "activities". Definitely not all biking, I like to mix it up especially in the winter months with other stuff (hiking, running, skiing, Crossfit). Covid life made it easier than I thought and pretty much a necessity to keep my sanity, so I ended up with the best stats ever.

Between just biking and hiking, I logged over 600K of vert for the year. A lot of that was from peak bagging but also some hefty bike days (an Everest weekend for one). I still had some rest days, but also doubled up on other days with a bike ride and a gym/strength session to end up with about 350 activities. My real motivator was to keep exploring new places in my wide backyard, and to find escape from life, which turned out to be pretty good motivation, and I stuck with it even without having the goal of training for a race or event to keep me going. I was pretty proud of that, to just go out and do stuff because I could/wanted to and not driven to perform well in competition.

I'm thinking my goal for 2021 should be 1 million in vert but it's pretty dang lofty. I've gotten into backcountry skiing though, so I'm off to a good start. I can get in 5-6K vert pretty easily in a day with that!

 

[prj71]

This early in the year (in terms of planning out a season of racing events), I'm looking at a balance of biking, the gym, and other activities (ex. xc skiing). And, I need some recovery time in there at my age depending on the workload of my activities.

I'll turn 50 this year. I've noticed the past few years that a little more recovery time is necessary if I push myself on my activities. This getting old thing sucks!!!!

 

[Sparticus]

This getting old thing sucks!!!!

The only thing worse than getting old is not getting old.
=sParty

 

[Crankout]

I'll turn 50 this year. I've noticed the past few years that a little more recovery time is necessary if I push myself on my activities. This getting old thing sucks!!!!

54 here...yup, recovery becomes super important now for you. Two high intensity efforts per week, tops, or you'll see yourself go in reverse in terms of overall well-being.

 

[Klurejr]

dang.... I worked a long day yesterday. Left for work at 6am, got home after 7pm.... I walked around a bit at work, at least 1 mile... so I was sorta active. But that was depressing. Hoping to have a shorter day today so I am not exhausted when I get home.

With the little ones I walked in the door and we immediately began night-time routines for the kids. My dinner was interrupted 5 or 6 times to go back up stairs and put my daughter back in bed.... So maybe i count a little bit of stair climbing in as my activity as well... lol

 

[Sparticus]

dang.... I worked a long day yesterday. Left for work at 6am, got home after 7pm....

Wait, what?!? You have a job, Klurejr? Does MTBR know about this?
=sParty

 

[Klurejr]

Wait, what?!? You have a job, Klurejr? Does MTBR know about this?
=sParty

I moonlight for mtbr, but I do it for free.... something is wrong with me.

 

[uditnaik]

I'll turn 50 this year. I've noticed the past few years that a little more recovery time is necessary if I push myself on my activities. This getting old thing sucks!!!!

I couldn’t agree more about aging. I do feel that on routes that involve climbs, flats and downhill in that order make my body less sore than on routes where the pushing part is the last activity before I conclude the ride. Seems like the extended cool down period helps accelerate the recovery. I guess as I get older, electric bikes and lift assisted riding is going to be more tempting than ever....

 

[prj71]

Lift assist and bombing downhill bore me.

e-bike will never ever be in the cards for me until the day comes where my legs no longer work.

 

[azimiut]

Im in Phoenix, so we get a couple months of triple digits. I am happy to ride before the sun comes up, or in the evening after it goes down. The triple digits aren't the worst part here, it's the sun that gets you. There's no escaping it.

I wish I could get morning rides in but since I start work at 530am only to go work outside in Phoenix my rides are mainly weekends or when I have some days off in the summer. It's nice to get off work at 2pm so the afternoons are open for rides for a few months but last year I did not get the rides in I wanted. The heat just never ended.

 

[FJSnoozer]

Having your bike visible makes you want to ride it. Track standing in the living room is even better. Het a nice indoor hanger like Dahanger so the bike is visible.

I hope both of your children have striders by now. Daily strider rides would be a part of my routine.

You shouldn’t be riding every day. A day off is good for you even if its only every 2 weeks.

I would choose yoga over static stretching or body weight work like pull-ups and pushups. Having a goal on these will help you mix into the off riding days. I am a fan of the 100 pushup program you can google that.

Small children also make great weights... they are like squirmy kettlebells.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Klurejr]

I wish I could get morning rides in but since I start work at 530am only to go work outside in Phoenix my rides are mainly weekends or when I have some days off in the summer. It's nice to get off work at 2pm so the afternoons are open for rides for a few months but last year I did not get the rides in I wanted. The heat just never ended.

Even with good weather, mid-week riding is hard. I leave the house at 6am every day and get home after 4, so during the winter I have limited day light and of late don't enjoy the night riding like I used to.

 

[cyclelicious]

This is a great positive goal! I do a cardio activity and strength activity daily. Last year I got my husband to start running. He doesn't run the distances I do, but he does a 4km run with me (rain, shine and snow) before we do our our home gym daily workout (my former crossfit coach developed our program).

It's not an easy commitment when working full time or the weather is bad, or just feeling tired so everyday is a gift but an activity becomes a habit when it's repeated. The outcome is feeling good physically and mentally (and hopefully looking good ) I found that the pandemic and lockdowns helped us become more focused and less distracted with the workout routines. I also stopped caffeine ☕in June ... went through several days of withdrawal but I found it has made a positive impact to my training (better sleep, better mind body connection etc)

My goal this year is to do more trail running and to run another marathon. My riding endurance has improved and I hope I can spend a little more saddle time. It's a very good feeling accomplishing things I never thought I could

 

[BansheeRune]

Klurejr, basically, you just need to put the X-Box controller down and do something besides sofa surfing...