The silver cyclist
You’re not as young as you used to be, but you have more time on your hands now…
l You’re never too old to get into cycling. “Cycling is a wonderful, low-impact sport for all ages, even for people with joint problems,” says Walker. “Benefits range from aerobic fitness to strength, balance and a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes.” It also fights off sarcopenia (muscle wastage): “Cycling helps you to retain muscle and improves cardiovascular function,” explains Broadbent.
Strengths
If you are a rider who is retired or semi-retired, your biggest weapon is your free time. “Join local groups and social rides and make the most of the extra daylight hours available to you,” says Walker.
Making progress
“The challenge for older riders is pacing yourself, making sure you enjoy a very gradual increase in volume to promote adaptation and minimise injury risk,” cautions Walker. “Start off doing easy stuff, with long, slow rides at a RPE under 3 – what I call the ‘gossip’ threshold. Then just increase your training in small increments. Schedule in lots of recovery days. As you get fitter, use the environment to get some contrast into your training, like riding over undulating terrain or riding on windy days when there’s more resistance.”
Technique
“On bad-weather days, older riders can work on their technique on the indoor trainer,” says Walker. “For example, you can practise riding at lower or higher cadences, to boost your riding flexibility.”
Bike fit
Always sensibly adapt to any health problems. “If you have had knee problems, knee surgery or a knee replacement, using shorter cranks can help you to get your leg around the pedal stroke much easier,” advises Broadbent.
Step it up
“After gently building up your endurance, introduce tempo training,” suggests Walker. This will be at an RPE of 4, so you should still be able to talk, but in shorter sentences. Try intervals of 60secs at this tempo pace, with 20sec rest intervals. Start with 15 reps and nudge them up as you get fitter. Play with the progressions with reduced recovery intervals, longer efforts or more reps.”
Extra
“Do strength training to aid your bone density, whether that’s gym work or lowcadence efforts at 50-60rpm,” advises Walker. Cross-training is also beneficial for your body: “Senior athletes could do swimming and walking too,” suggests Broadbent.
“The challenge for older riders is pacing yourself, making sure you enjoy a very gradual increase in volume”
l “Cycling is so good for time-crunched parents,” says Broadbent. “You can exercise easily, whenever you want. Even 30 minutes is positive for health. It could be a social catch-up ride with friends, or a solo indoor ride on Zwift.”
Strengths
Your lack of time is a challenge, but it also focuses the mind: having to fit in exercise around childcare duties makes a flexible sport such as cycling your perfect exercise solution. “It’s hard for new parents to do large-volume training or stick to fixed class schedules,” says Walker. “But cycling is flexible for whenever you get a break.”
Making progress
“To get fit and lose weight, you can reduce your energy intake, or increase your exercise – or ideally do both,” says Walker. “When reducing energy intake, just make one small change a week, like eating more fibre-dense food, or switching to healthier snacks. When exercising, highintensity intervals are quick, convenient and boost your metabolic rate, so you burn more calories. They develop fitness and improve insulin sensitivity. But slower rides with friends also increase your overall energy burn as you are riding for longer. So just do what works for you.”
Technique
For all parents, safety is a priority. “Wear high-vis kit and flashing day lights and look far down the road,” says Walker. “Practise feathering your brakes so you don’t skid, and practise emergency stops – throwing your weight back and straightening your arms – so you know how long it takes to stop at different speeds.”
Bike fit
The success of cycling mums such as Lizzie Deignan proves that motherhood is no obstacle, but small tweaks will ensure comfort after giving birth. “If a mum has had an episiotomy or tear, it may require stitches and can leave scar tissue which can be irritated by a saddle,” says Broadbent. “So try using a saddle with a pressure-relief cut-out or visiting a pelvic health physio.”
Step it up
“Try some Tabata intermittent training, such as 7-8 x 20:10 efforts – 20sec hard efforts with 10sec recoveries – at RPE 7,” says Walker. “If you can complete more than eight efforts, increase the power output or effort. With a warmup and cool-down, you can do a Tabata session in 25mins.”
Extra
“If your goal is weight-loss, there is huge value to crosstraining with running, kayaking, MTB or swimming,” says Walker. “It will burn calories and boost fitness.”
“Having to fit in exercise around childcare duties makes a flexible sport such as cycling your perfect solution”