How much would you cycle ~ if U were me.

Dubliner said:

I'm 45, 5' 11",220lbs, been riding about a year, still consider myself a total novice. I do my best to ride between 60 & 80 miles a week, every other day. Do I need to break it up like that or what? I really like cycling and guess the distance will increase, but should the interval change? I probably could do 3 X 20 and then a 40 on the w/e. My goal is just to get fit, lose a little weight. ANd the final question ~ if you shave your legs for accident purposes, why dont you shave your arms too :-) Thanks, Neville, Austin, Texas

Do you use a heart rate monitor at all? Even a cheaper one can make any workout more effective when you are going for overall fitness. The distance you ride is not as important as the time and quality of the workouts, and it really depends on your goals. To lose weight, you should definitely not be trying to ride too fast. When and if you go anaerobic (start breathing real hard), you aren't burning as much fat anymore, but more glycogen. You want to keep the pace down where you can comfortable talk without breathing hard--this is the best pace to ride to lose weight. Obviously the more you ride at that pace, the better off you will be in terms of weight loss. I'd suggest that if you are going to turn it up a bit to your 3 x 20 and a 40 on the weekend, that you start by doing one of the 20's a little harder than usual--push yourself a little bit. Do the other 20's and the 40 the same easy pace for a few weeks. Then, switch it up and do the 40 as the harder ride and all the 20's easily. This will allow you to conitnue the base fitness work (riding slower), but will also allow for you to build cycling specific muscles and develop yourself as a cyclist--get into a weekend group ride, and have some more fun with it. As you experience more and more, you'll be able to decide where you want to go with cycling--do you want to do tours, do you want to race, are triathlons in your future? Its a great sport, and it sounds like you've got a great start.

As far as shaving goes, many people do shave their arms too, it just depends. It also is more of an ego boost to look down at your big, shiny legs when you are sweating like a dog going 5mph up a hill that you've been on for the last 20 minutes too!!
:eek: 😄