Do I even like this anymore?

T

tommyj

New Member
So I broke my ankle a few seasons ago and that led to a pretty long hiatus from biking (not due to the injury - I just didn’t get back in the saddle).

So anyway, now I’m 54, 20 pounds heavier (a considerable amount given my target weight is about 145) and in terrible shape.

I got back into riding both road and MTB this season and am wondering if I even enjoy it anymore. I’m discouraged by how slowly the fitness gains are coming and how the damn scale never seems to go down. Rides seem like chores, hills seem like suckfests instead of challenges and I’m generally just grumpy af.

Perfect example is I was pissed I couldn’t get a ride in today but I also didn’t want to ride anyway so I’m just in this grumpy “nothing is going to make me happy” vibe.

The point of this post? No idea other than I just felt like throwing my thoughts out there. And this is certainly cheaper than therapy.
 
Same age as you. Been riding bikes for about 15 years (mostly Road and gravel but some MTB too ). Used to be fat and unhealthy. Bikes changed my life.

Start paying attention to this forum and find beginner group rides. Or 1-2 people to plan a ride with. Stop comparing to what you “used to be like” and just start riding whenever you can fit it in. If time and logistics is an issue consider training indoors. Theres a whole forum thread on this too in here.


Ride on !
 
Been there… too many damn times to count. At this age we loose fitness.. and I mean enough to actually notice it in a week off the bike. But, that week off losses are generally gained back a week and a half later if you ride regularly. You’ve been off the bike for a big chunk of time, ignoring the twenty plus extra pounds, you know exactly how long it’ll take to get back to anything remotely like you were before. So, how do we deal with this new normal? Well, start with giving yourself some friggen grace. Ride for the sake of riding, not for results. They’ll come, but on they’re own terms and not when or how you expect them. Stop comparing where you were to where are. It’s not fair, warranted or necessary. Maybe try riding places you never or seldom rode in the past. No ghosts of past PR’s to f#ck with your head. Consistency is really the only way.
 
Matt_ said:
Get ebike from @jdog

Add 30+ years to life

/Thread
Click to expand...
He is not wrong. Hours are hours.. especially when regaining baseline fitness.

I know the haters will shit on #ebikes, but I have personally seen many customers revive their fitness and some have switch back to analog bikes after reclaiming their prior fitness.


Personally, I grabbed an #ebike after a knee replacement and now its about 30% off my rides. Unfortunately I have a 13 year old in my home who is blazing fast and soon enough, my only hope to keep her in sight is the ebike.

We have toms of bikes on sale right now too!!


#halterssummersale is on!
 
To pull on the therapy thread a bit, are you grumpy about other parts of your life? Biking might be an easy whipping boy but it could be a symptom rather than the problem. Just a thought worth considering.

I'm about a fair bit heavier than I used to be, and no matter how hard I hit the bike, my midsection never gets any smaller. It's a pure suckfest to pull this extra 30lbs up a hill. But for me, I acknowledge that I just need to tidy up my diet before the weight will come off. I like food (with a particularly weakness for sweets), and drink one or two too many beers every week. There's plenty of research showing that it's nearly impossible to exercise the weight off without also improving your diet. And keep in mind that (sustainable) weight loss should be slow - a 20lb loss may take 5-6 months. There's a Biggest Loser thread here that might be helpful to browse if that's a goal - lots of folks working on improving themselves together.

All that being said, it's entirely possible you just don't enjoy it any more. People grow, change, gain and lose interests, all the old cliches. But really think about whether the bike is actually what's making you grumpy, or if there's something else causing the frustration. I'd hate to see someone drop their bikes, only to start being grumpy about something else. If you really are only grumpy when you're in the saddle (or thinking about being in the saddle), then it might be time to try a different type of exercise. I'll echo the comments above that (if you're able to make the investment) an eMTB might completely change how you feel about riding.

Tidy up the diet. Keep moving your body (whether biking, walking, lifting, whatever). Consider what's really causing the grumpiness. Check in with us in another 3 months with a progress report.
 
Sell the road bike. Sell the mountain bike. Buy an eBike.

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I'm not kidding. 😑
 
As I sit here older and heavier than you, with ice on my shoulder and a leg in a full brace I already miss my e-bike. This weather isn't helping. If you don't believe all the suggestions to get an e-bike at least go demo one. Be prepared to enjoy riding again. Been there, done that.
 
Similar age (55 last month) and I definitely know what you mean by finding it really hard to regain fitness as you get older. At 180 lbs. I'm a good 20 lbs. heavier than I'd like to be and I'm not sure how much I'll need to ride in order to get down to that weight.

Could an e-bike help? Perhaps... I do have one and I ride it fairly often, although partly because I often ride with a friend who is a lot stronger than I am and the e-bike can be a good equalizer for that (at least on climbs - he still drops me like a stone on descents). I set the assist level so that I can keep up with him on climbs, but I'm still working fairly hard to do so. However, if you primarily ride alone, then that may not mean anything to you. It's fun when I do solo rides and if I want to I can easily put my HR into the red zone. The difference being if I want to recover the e-bike makes that easier.

If your main goal is fitness, the hard truth is there is no substitute for simply putting in the work. As we get older, that work gets harder and more diverse and will likely need to include a fair amount of gym sessions (or similar) as well.
 
We’ve all been there. A lot of good suggestions above. I’ll add…that something I found extremely helpful in trying to figure things out was journaling. Just write your thoughts down. Write everything. If you want to go for a ride but don’t want to write down why. If you do ride then write down how you feel afterwards. Write about all the thoughts you have. Then go back and read them. Your original post here is your first journal entry. You’ll find a recurring theme and it will help you figure out what the real issue is. You’ll go down a rabbit hole with your thoughts.
 
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I know this road, struggled in the space for the last ten years. It took a while to realize I am not going to ride at the level I did when I was 32, or at least life has taken twists and turns that are not going to allow me to get there unless I wanted to make sacrifices, which I don’t.

Plus, I have old injuries and wear that are starting to come up.

My goal is more to get out and work out, leave the screen/job, clear my mind, even if not as intense, sun and movement make me feel better, and that’s my goal.

It has taken about six months of steady riding to notice progress. When it is really cold, I don’t ride. While I used to love winter riding, I find it torturous now, therefore I hike or walk instead.

Diet is also huge, I have cut a lot of stuff out lately that makes me feel like crap, the scale does not move as fast as it did, but it is still moving in the right direction.

Good luck on your journey.
 
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54 is a spring chicken, just not as springy as you used be.

Just need to decide if hitting the easy button and getting an ebike will be as satisfying as putting in the work. Since you mention weight, i would venture to say that an ebike wont be as satisfying for the scale in the long run. But like @Robin dont compare to your former self.

There is a reality where you pass on buying an ebike and aren’t an ebike hater.
 
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