Cycling stamina

[ourclarioncall]

Just thinking along the lines of stamina or if our body’s adapt to stretching ourselves beyond the norm

For example , if I had done a LEJOG bike tour a year ago , will my body in some way remember and be able to cope with the stresses better ?

I guess doing extreme things gives us confidence and experience, so that might come into play aswell, as if we have successfully done it before then we are pretty sure we can do it again and even go beyond previous limits

My dad who is a big guy with big muscles on his arms , especially well developed triceps had an aneurysm and was in hospital . He lost his strength and a large portion of his muscle mass. His previous large triceps were reduced to sagging skin. But just by eating and recovering it’s quite amazing to watch how his body has built back a large portion of this muscle . This would take bodybuilders years and years of hard work and dedication to this amount of muscle mass

[steve216c]

Knowing we could do something might give us the confidence to know we could do it again, but that is just will power. Stamina is earned by through regular fitness. You cannot earn it, then do nothing and assume it will all be there several years later without staying fit. Building up stamina requires some will power to push ourselves a bit further, but will power does not build muscle and fitness. And big muscles alone are not a sign of stamina.

Take Maradonna. He had amazing football skills and could not doubt still juggle a ball in his final days better than most of us. But 90 minutes of running back and forth on a pitch would have put a nail in his coffin in his final years. He just wasn't fit.

Doing a LEJOG would have increased your fitness over several days of activity. But stop exercising regularly and that fitness and stamina starts to recede. If you are generally healthy you will gain fitness and stamina quicker, but as you get older, it simply takes longer due to the aging process. Some are genetically blessed and can regain fitness quicker than others. But others just have to work harder.

Basically- regular sporting activity will help you build stamina and maintain it.  Will power will help you get there for sure. But remembering past performance is no signal that the next time will be easier if you stop activities inbetween. But the longer the gaps of regular activity the harder it will be to get back to a fitness level you once found easy to maintain. I am speaking from bitter experience of my own having neglected my own fitness despite being physically strong throughout. But you need to maintain heart and lungs through regular maintenance (let's call that sport) if you don't just want to win an arm wrestle or open a stubborn jar of marmite.

[martinf]

But stop exercising regularly and that fitness and stamina starts to recede. If you are generally healthy you will gain fitness and stamina quicker, but as you get older, it simply takes longer due to the aging process.

I have been lucky in that I had reasonably long cycle commutes for most of my working life. These helped me maintain basic fitness even when I was too busy to do any recreational cycling (when the children were small, and when I had to do lots of overtime at work).

So up to about age 50 I never bothered to train before a long cycle trip.

As I knew it gets harder to maintain fitness with increasing age I started doing "training" rides several months before a planned big trip in 2011. This made things much easier in the first few days of my tour.

Since then, when I reckon I am not doing enough utility/recreational riding I force myself to do some "training" rides, where I ride at a relatively fast pace for 1 to 4 hours. It is easier to find time to do this since my retirement in 2018.

I have had 3 exceptions recently, hernia surgery in 2018 (2 weeks with no cycling and 2 weeks limited cycling), prostate surgery in 2019 (4 weeks with no cycling) and the first lockdown here in France in 2020 (2 months limited to a maximum of 1 hour of exercise within 1 km max from home, which excluded any meaningful cycling). Lockdown was the worst of the three, it took me several weeks to recover my normal cycling fitness.

[steve216c]

Martin I'd had several years of neglecting my physical health till a major crisis 2 years ago. In my mid 20s to late 30s I had used bike as chosen method of getting around and clocked up over 50,000km most of which was just within Berlin city limits. 200-300km a week were normal as I was working freelance with multiple work locations at the time.
Then came the kids, the overtime and personal neglect of my own health. Although I hardly ever rode my bike (mostly using car instead) I still maintained my membership to the ADFC (German CTC equivalent) and felt more affinity to cyclists than to motorized road users. The odd times I did get on the bike (for shorter journeys) I always felt like I ought to be able to do more and quickly pick up. But it was too easy to put of till the weather was better, or when it was less windy, or when I had a bit more time etc. But the truth was, I was no longer fit. I was wheezy and took a long time to recover if I had to run 100 yards to catch the bus- even if I could bike at a reasonable speed for 5-10km trips without noticing the strain too much. And most physical exertion left me sweaty. Another reason I put myself off commuting by bike 'till I was a bit fitter'

I got back in the saddle in August 2019 aged 49, 6 months after suffering a stroke and around 10 years after any meaningful regular cycling (or other regular sport) had took place. That would have almost certainly been avoided had I built physical activity on my daily program. Climbing the stairs, going for a lunchtime walk instead of going for coffee and cake at lunch are just little things that might have helped.
Keeping fit doesn't need to be a marathon. But to get any kind of stamina you need to keep moving.

The initial lockdown saw me housebound just as I'd started getting into a daily routine. I cannot do sport for sports sake, and although I would try to cycle with my eldest son, I was not putting the daily distance in that forcing myself to commute was doing. I dropped from 160-200km a week commuting to 25-50km lockdown km a week. Needing the kick up the backside, I persuaded my employer to tolerate me working in the office even when they were strongly encouraging home office. So from mid summer last year till now I have been one of a handful of actual staff at the office every day- the only reason to force myself to ride rain or shine and maintain the fitness I have slowly won back since my stroke. I'm not a racer, but I am rarely overtaken by cyclists, and my general fitness improvements have allowed me to substantially reduce post stroke medication as an added bonus. The bike has been the most effective medicine in my recovery.

I've managed a few 50km rides taking scenic routes on workdays usually 32km long, so I think I'd be OK for longer tours without getting especially tired. So I believe I have won my stamina back in the 18 months/9000km of commuting in all weathers. But I have also experienced how easy it is to let my health slip, and it is an uphill struggle to get back after any longer break. The German word 'Schweinehund' is not, as many believe, and insult given to others. It is used mostly to  refer to one's own inner demons tempting you to give in to temptation- such as procrastination,  laziness or gluttony. Your inner 'pig-dog' will tell you that the diet and fitness regime can begin tomorrow and reinforce that you have not slipped so far back that you cannot jump back in the saddle tomorrow as if nothing has changed in the prior months of neglect. And when you do take that long ride without having the fitness relying on your 'muscle memory' and brute strength, you really feel it the next day(s) and the Schweinehund will have reminded you that you'd have felt fine if you'd have listened to his tempting reasons not to get active.

Stamina is important and if you cannot ride regularly then training rides are not to be sneezed at prior to a tour and will help you build stamina up rather than throwing yourself into something your end up hating because everything hurts at the end of the day. And as you point out, from 50 onwards it is harder to maintain the fitness. I'm 51 now and know exactly what you mean. Best is not to let the fitness levels drop to begin with, then the road to recovery after surgery or illness will be far easier as any health regression will be less than someone starting with lower levels of stamina and fitness. And the Schweinehund will be easier to banish the quicker you are able to get back into healthier more active routines.

[martinf]

Best is not to let the fitness levels drop to begin with, then the road to recovery after surgery or illness will be far easier as any health regression will be less than someone starting with lower levels of stamina and fitness. And the Schweinehund will be easier to banish the quicker you are able to get back into healthier more active routines.

Yes. For my two bouts of surgery I asked the surgeons if I could do any exercise. For the hernia I was allowed to walk straight away, so I started walking in the hospital corridors a few minutes after I came out of the operating theatre and only stopped when they let me go home. The following 2 days, I did 1 hour of walking for the first couple of days, then upped it to at least 2 hours a day. I was on the bike for local rides as soon as allowed.

Similar for the prostate op. Except they didn't let me out straight away, so I did a measured 1 km of walking in the corridors of the hospital for the 2 days they kept in, with the catheter still attached. I considered hiring a recumbent to get around the 4 week cycling ban (the reason for this ban is pressure from the conventional saddle), but finally I just did longer and longer walks till the time was up. And then went on a mixed cycling/walking holiday for a week with my wife. Her presence meant that I couldn't overdo the cycling, we only did about 200 kms on the bikes and maybe 80 kms walking.

In both surgery cases the exercise caused some pain, but I reckoned it was worth it as long as I wasn't jeopardising recovery. For the prostate op I still felt some pain several months afterwards, but not just when cycling.

The second lockdown here in November/December started out with the same 1km/1 hour limit as the first. But this time my wife and I decided to cheat on the time and distance and aimed at a minimum of 2 hours walking a day to keep our fitness levels up. I also obtained an exemption to allow me to continue with my voluntary work on a nature reserve, which gave me an excuse to cycle the 36 km round trip once a week. And I was allowed to do another 22 km round trip every two weeks for plasma donation. So I managed keep my fitness levels up till the government relaxed the restrictions to a maximum of 30 kms from home and 3 hours a day, enough for most of my regular riding.

In France we are now on our 3rd lockdown. This time the limit is 10 kms from home, with no time limit, but a curfew from 1900 till 0600. I still have the exemption for the nature reserve, so this only stops me from doing very long rides - it is quite easy to do a 40-50 km loop within a 10 km radius.

[JohnR]

It takes time to develop stamina. How long will depend on the base line (un)fitness. I've been lucky that even during the physically idle periods of my life I've been able to control my eating and avoid piling on too much excess weight. Retirement has provided more time for exercise and I've opted for cycling as being reasonably kind to the joints (I used to run but the joints were complaining). In England we've been lucky in being allowed out for an unspecified period of daily exercise and Boris demonstrated that being 7 miles from home was OK (conveniently, my 23 mile circuit never went more than 7 miles from home). During this past winter I aimed to do three minimum 15 mile rides per week with 23 mile rides when the weather was favourable. One way round the 23 mile circuit involves getting up 1/4 mile of 1 in 6 hill which provides the cardiovascular system a good workout. The 23 miles takes 2 hours plus /minus a few minutes depending largely on the weather. So far this year I've only once (during that brief bit of summer in late March) been around my 43 mile circuit but my legs didn't complain about the extra distance.

There's merit in having some shorter intensive exercise but I see stamina as being the ability to keep going hour after hour and the key to this is figure out what's a comfortable speed and avoid the temptation to go too fast. Once you've achieved the target distance then consider going a bit faster. If you are carrying a load of excess weight then, until it's disposed of, it will make getting up hills even harder work but, at the same time, that excess weight is a source of fuel when the stomach is empty but there's a limited rate at which it can be used.

I think it's useful to try to plan a cycling circuit which is roughly a segment of a circle which includes options for cutting short and heading for home if either bike or rider are suffering.

[steve216c]

...Boris demonstrated that being 7 miles from home was OK (conveniently, my 23 mile circuit never went more than 7 miles from home)....

...I think it's useful to try to plan a cycling circuit which is roughly a segment of a circle which includes options for cutting short and heading for home if either bike or rider are suffering.

I have to confess that the German interpretation of how far from home you can go is different across each federal state. There is a 15km rule which in some states is interpreted as from your actual place of abode but where Berlin (classified as its own federal state) says 15km from Berlin city limits is their interpretation. So I could travel approx 45km from my home close to the outermost westerly city limits to the outermost east city limits or 37km from north to south and then onwards 15km into the federal state of Brandenburg- effectively allowing me as a Berlin resident to effectively travel 60km max before my 15km limit kicks in for private travel.

As for circuit routes, these make good sense not just during Covid times but are reassuring if you ever suffer a breakdown and need to push your bike home. 7 miles max from home means worst case scenario a 2 hour walk home. But pushing bike 23 miles back home might be a bit much for most of us.

There is a 160km/100 mile circular bike route that takes you around where the Berlin wall once stood and which has been on my bucket list for a while. Much of the route is not open for cars making this quite an inviting tour to attempt- although some parts will take you through the busy inner city too.  Even under Berlin's current lockdown restrictions it would not break a single rule. The furthest I would ever get from home would be around 45km- so a bit of a trek if I did suffer any issues though. But public transport is far cheaper than UK, so I'd only need to get to a station and even purchasing an extra bike ticket I could be home for under EUR6- in the worst case scenario.
For anyone planning any bike tours in Germany- here are some details on route https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-wall-bike-tour

My dad did the route over 3 separate days using the local transport network to get him to/from start/finish points from previous rides while in his early 70s on one of my bikes. At the time I didn't have the strength nor the stamina to join him. But I have promised to attempt it with my 15 year old son this year some time this year- probably during the school holidays.

A well known and popular destination for cyclists near Berlin in the Flaeming Skater Ring- a network of several dedicated bike/skate paths through the countryside and through picturesque towns and villages. http://www.flaeming-skate.de/en/cycling/interregional-cycling-paths_.php
I've done one of the 100km routes on 3 occasions starting and finishing in Luckenwalde (red route)- but they've expanded and networked in new routes since then meaning you can tour up to 240km on the extended ring now. There are campsites and bike friendly hotels on many of the routes there for anyone who fancies touring and taking in the localities in the region. The magenta coloured route runs close to the new Berlin airport for those who'd want their tour to start immediately after the oversize baggage claim.

Of course- covid vaccination passport standards will need to be hammered out before any of that is possible- but that doesn't stop us dreaming 

[tyreon]

Knowing we could do something might give us the confidence to know we could do it again, but that is just will power. Stamina is earned by through regular fitness. You cannot earn it, then do nothing and assume it will all be there several years later without staying fit. Building up stamina requires some will power to push ourselves a bit further, but will power does not build muscle and fitness. And big muscles alone are not a sign of stamina.

Take Maradonna. He had amazing football skills and could not doubt still juggle a ball in his final days better than most of us. But 90 minutes of running back and forth on a pitch would have put a nail in his coffin in his final years. He just wasn't fit.

Wise words. Televised or put in book form(as like the doc who appears too often on BBC),your advice would have earnt you  a minimum of £8k. Apologies: I agree with you,just wonder if I have seen too much of that particular doc(you have to dislike some repeats,surely

I've tried to precis the advice within the stories told. I exert myself at times,but dont go OTT. I dont think I'm a slowcoach,but I'm left screwed by roadmen even older than myself.  I think I might be that tortoise that creeps up and passes you when you're having that break and that cheese sandwich. Still,I shelter if persistent rain. I dont believe in the maxim that there's no bad weather only bad clothing. I refuse to cycle if its gonna rain more than 40% of the time I calculate cycling.

Doing a LEJOG would have increased your fitness over several days of activity. But stop exercising regularly and that fitness and stamina starts to recede. If you are generally healthy you will gain fitness and stamina quicker, but as you get older, it simply takes longer due to the aging process. Some are genetically blessed and can regain fitness quicker than others. But others just have to work harder.

Basically- regular sporting activity will help you build stamina and maintain it.  Will power will help you get there for sure. But remembering past performance is no signal that the next time will be easier if you stop activities inbetween. But the longer the gaps of regular activity the harder it will be to get back to a fitness level you once found easy to maintain. I am speaking from bitter experience of my own having neglected my own fitness despite being physically strong throughout. But you need to maintain heart and lungs through regular maintenance (let's call that sport) if you don't just want to win an arm wrestle or open a stubborn jar of marmite.

[tyreon]

Whoops. Got something mixed up there. Old age and computer non compos mentus. Apologies. Hope you can work it out. Too lazy and inept to try.