Improving prformance in elderly.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
I think you can still ride Audax on an assisted bike, just that you won't get Brevet points. At almost 73 I now ride an Orbea Gain assisted road bike due to health problems. I've taken part in club Audax rides, and the ebike has allowed me to carry on riding with the club leisure groups.
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Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
N Plus One!
I think one should keep an ordinary cycle besides the e-bike for short easy rides, or for when one is feeling strong
One might find oneself using it a lot
I think one should keep an ordinary cycle besides the e-bike for short easy rides, or for when one is feeling strong
One might find oneself using it a lot
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
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Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
I have never considered an e-bike. At 77yo I consider myself too young for such contraptions.
There is your way. There is my way. But there is no "the way".
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
You're doing really well, don't beat yourself up! We have a vets ride in our club with a few over 80's speed is not a part of it, its just being out in the fresh air and enjoying the company. You'd be welcome on any of my audax events 200 or 100 we'd have no problems waiting till you'd finished. Keep riding.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
delilah wrote:You're doing really well, don't beat yourself up! We have a vets ride in our club with a few over 80's speed is not a part of it, its just being out in the fresh air and enjoying the company. You'd be welcome on any of my audax events 200 or 100 we'd have no problems waiting till you'd finished. Keep riding.
Thanks for the offer.
I did a fair bit of waiting myself when I was organising - we had a regular who filled any spare time he had with taking photographs.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
Antonish
You may be aware of some recent posts of mine on this forum mostly centering on my purchase of an ebike.
The brief history being........ I am 72 now . In 2018 and 2019 I have put my 'normal' Ridgeback tourer on an plane and flown to Salzburg to spend a fortnight touring over the alps. Not camping but with full panniers and bar bag. Last year I did find things heavy going and seeing 90% of the population of Germany and Austria young and old , local about town and others touring as I was all riding Ebikes I decided that I would invest.
This I did this March and am I glad I did. My wife had already had hers a year and would lose me on the hills on my tourer but now.....a different story.
I think at 79 you are doing fantastically . There are those even on this forum that seem to think that there is shame on even thinking of an ebike. Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish. We have to cut the cloth according to our needs. I have a Claud Butler town bike which I use daily for shopping and out and about. I use my Ridgeback for local rides as it is a sheer pleasure to ride and I use my NEW Cannondale Synapse Neo 1 ebike a lot locally and further afield. Since March and during the lockdown I have done about 800 miles
I ride this ebike as a normal unassisted bike ( 22 gears) until I feel the need to engage the motor. This just takes the sting out of the hills. It purrs along without any drag or noise and is comfort personified. Yes it was quite expensive but so well worth it.
A fixed wheel?.....I don't think so even though I rode one as a youngster at times perhaps trying to emulate my late father who as a tough young cyclist in the 30s touring the alps on one.
I have asthma now which requires an inhaler morning and night and so my lungs find the hills quite hard. This acquisition has made my cycling even more enjoyable. This is why we do it isn't it????
I don't ride with a club and only with my wife normally. However this week I will be meeting up with a friend and going on a 'socially distanced' ride but with my ridgeback tourer. The route is relatively flat and as I say it is a lovely bike to ride.
I have the best of all worlds so why can't you?
Go for it
Anthony
You may be aware of some recent posts of mine on this forum mostly centering on my purchase of an ebike.
The brief history being........ I am 72 now . In 2018 and 2019 I have put my 'normal' Ridgeback tourer on an plane and flown to Salzburg to spend a fortnight touring over the alps. Not camping but with full panniers and bar bag. Last year I did find things heavy going and seeing 90% of the population of Germany and Austria young and old , local about town and others touring as I was all riding Ebikes I decided that I would invest.
This I did this March and am I glad I did. My wife had already had hers a year and would lose me on the hills on my tourer but now.....a different story.
I think at 79 you are doing fantastically . There are those even on this forum that seem to think that there is shame on even thinking of an ebike. Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish. We have to cut the cloth according to our needs. I have a Claud Butler town bike which I use daily for shopping and out and about. I use my Ridgeback for local rides as it is a sheer pleasure to ride and I use my NEW Cannondale Synapse Neo 1 ebike a lot locally and further afield. Since March and during the lockdown I have done about 800 miles
I ride this ebike as a normal unassisted bike ( 22 gears) until I feel the need to engage the motor. This just takes the sting out of the hills. It purrs along without any drag or noise and is comfort personified. Yes it was quite expensive but so well worth it.
A fixed wheel?.....I don't think so even though I rode one as a youngster at times perhaps trying to emulate my late father who as a tough young cyclist in the 30s touring the alps on one.
I have asthma now which requires an inhaler morning and night and so my lungs find the hills quite hard. This acquisition has made my cycling even more enjoyable. This is why we do it isn't it????
I don't ride with a club and only with my wife normally. However this week I will be meeting up with a friend and going on a 'socially distanced' ride but with my ridgeback tourer. The route is relatively flat and as I say it is a lovely bike to ride.
I have the best of all worlds so why can't you?
Go for it
Anthony
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
Antbrewer wrote:
I think at 79 you are doing fantastically
I am just wondering at what point in his life the OP would have had to have started riding an e-bike for us not to be able to say that about him today. Or would it have made no difference?
Just to add:
al-yrpal wrote (on another thread):
I now believe that riding an electric bike its all too easy to be lazy and select too much assistance and thus ruin your fitness.
Another little addition to say BTW that I'm not against e-bikes (and even if I were it would make no difference). I only contribute to these discussions in order to note that there may be a fitness cost (as al-yrpal has also helpfully pointed out). That doesn't diminish the other advantages and nor does it apply to those with health challenges. But I do think it applies to younger people and older people who are otherwise OK and that would include myself. So that would be my reply to the OP and I hope I will follow my own advice in later years.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
Thanks for all the inputs.
There is a lot to think of.
I raised the question of a multi day e-bike tour on the touring forum.
As I put on there I have in mind a multi day (unassisted) ride from Brest to Dieppe.
Depending on how that goes I may invest in an e-bike.
Meantime I'll keep ploughing on.
There is a lot to think of.
I raised the question of a multi day e-bike tour on the touring forum.
As I put on there I have in mind a multi day (unassisted) ride from Brest to Dieppe.
Depending on how that goes I may invest in an e-bike.
Meantime I'll keep ploughing on.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
Quite interested in how you intend to get to Breste? You can get a train from St Malo. Train to Rennes and change for Breste. St Malo station is quite close to the port.
Al
Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
Much food for thought above. At nearly 72, but with a COPD lung age in mid-90s, I continue to defer the electric assistance because I fear that my ability will drop dramatically (as will my life expectancy). I build my bikes with low gearing and choose my routes quite carefully (walking uphill more exhausting than riding!).
Having been "prompted" by a ctc mate much fitter than I not to stop after 50 days of riding every day, tomorrow will be 100 (all being well!). Only averaging just over 20 miles per day, but perseverance is all!
Electric next year if I live that long (catch covid I die, simple as that).
Having been "prompted" by a ctc mate much fitter than I not to stop after 50 days of riding every day, tomorrow will be 100 (all being well!). Only averaging just over 20 miles per day, but perseverance is all!
Electric next year if I live that long (catch covid I die, simple as that).
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
al_yrpal wrote:Quite interested in how you intend to get to Breste? You can get a train from St Malo. Train to Rennes and change for Breste. St Malo station is quite close to the port.
Al
As it happens my elder son wants to go to Britanny and we can have a couple of days looking around then he'll drop me off in Brest - from where I will ride to Dieppe.
Usually I would go by train in which case I would partly dismantle my bike and put it in a bike bag so that I can use the tgv ( I have looked at the train routes from Calais and Dieppe).
St Malo would be ok but there appears to be no ter to Brest so the bike bag is necessary. I only live fifty miles from Dover and it's a simple journey.
I ride my bike onto the ferry and dismantle it in Calais.
Then I usually go to Lille for onward travel - Paris means getting across the city so I'd need a taxi - there is of course a specialist firm that will transport you and bike across the city - never tried it.
Alternatively I can access Newhaven fairly easily and then it's Dieppe to Rouen and eventually to Brest.
There was also the possibility of flying Southend to Brest with Ryanair before the lockdown
I always have a bike bag in case I need to bale out ( weighs 1kg)
The extra weight of an e-bike may create a problem ?
Apologies for pushing the thread into the touring area.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
djnotts wrote:Much food for thought above. At nearly 72, but with a COPD lung age in mid-90s, I continue to defer the electric assistance because I fear that my ability will drop dramatically (as will my life expectancy). I build my bikes with low gearing and choose my routes quite carefully (walking uphill more exhausting than riding!).
Having been "prompted" by a ctc mate much fitter than I not to stop after 50 days of riding every day, tomorrow will be 100 (all being well!). Only averaging just over 20 miles per day, but perseverance is all!
Electric next year if I live that long (catch covid I die, simple as that).
At the moment I can still get up the climbs ( slowly) - I've got low enough gears to do it.
If I couldn't manage the climbs I'd definitely go for the e-bike - hence my question in the touring section as I have a hankering for riding the "Raid Pyrenees" route again - and I doubt my ability to climb the Tourmalet etc.
I don't think the e-bike will shorten your life expectancy - it may even extend it in that you have to put something in and keep pedalling - whereas you may give up the conventional bike because it's become too difficult.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
As a counter to those fearing losing fitness I believe that is common to find that those who transition to an e-bike actually end up doing more miles, albeit a lower peak intensities.
I would cite Mrs F as an example. Mrs F is a 60 year old Type I ( always dependent on insulin) diabetic who also sufferes from exercise induced asthma. Mrs F has gone from someone who had a bike, but rarely used it, to someone who is happy to go for a 20-40km ride 4 or 5 days a week.
I also wonder why, if we accept glasses, hearing aids, replacement hips and knees, blood pressure and cholesterol medication as we get older almost as a right, why there is such angst over getting an electric bike.
I would cite Mrs F as an example. Mrs F is a 60 year old Type I ( always dependent on insulin) diabetic who also sufferes from exercise induced asthma. Mrs F has gone from someone who had a bike, but rarely used it, to someone who is happy to go for a 20-40km ride 4 or 5 days a week.
I also wonder why, if we accept glasses, hearing aids, replacement hips and knees, blood pressure and cholesterol medication as we get older almost as a right, why there is such angst over getting an electric bike.
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
freeflow wrote:I also wonder why, if we accept glasses, hearing aids, replacement hips and knees, blood pressure and cholesterol medication as we get older almost as a right, why there is such angst over getting an electric bike.
Here's the logic:
1. Good cardio-vascular health is considered desirable and important.
2. This is achieved generally through reasonable levels of exercise and exertion.
3. We are told that improvements in cardio-vascular fitness occur during short bursts of high intensity physical exertion.
4. An electric bike by its very intention "creams off" the likely instances of increased exertion such as hills, speed and distance.
5. Exertion generally (and paradoxically) is disliked by the human body making e-bikes very attractive.
6. Therefore e-bikes while attractive aren't necessarily good for health.
Given that e-bikes exist within a vast array of different conditions and circumstances, fitness levels, age, disability, health conditions, other cycling, personal discretion over use of the motor, pollution, car use, long commutes and so on, it would be foolish to contend that e-bikes were overall a bad thing - they are not (there are other downsides IMV such as the sourcing and disposal of lithium but that is another matter).
But the OP did ask specifically in regard to his circumstances and I think there is something to be said in that respect. That doesn't mean to say that an e-bike would not be a good choice. However you did mention blood pressure and cholesterol medication in the same sentence as e-bikes . . .
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Re: Improving prformance in elderly.
freeflow wrote:As a counter to those fearing losing fitness I believe that is common to find that those who transition to an e-bike actually end up doing more miles, albeit a lower peak intensities.
I would cite Mrs F as an example. Mrs F is a 60 year old Type I ( always dependent on insulin) diabetic who also sufferes from exercise induced asthma. Mrs F has gone from someone who had a bike, but rarely used it, to someone who is happy to go for a 20-40km ride 4 or 5 days a week.
I also wonder why, if we accept glasses, hearing aids, replacement hips and knees, blood pressure and cholesterol medication as we get older almost as a right, why there is such angst over getting an electric bike.
It's because there's been a rumour put round among certain elements of the cycling community,even by some on this forum,that e-bikes are somehow a cop out,cheating,not real bikes,some even claiming they're motorcycles,some even compliningnthey're wrecking the,planet!
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden