Work less and getting fitter.

A common question is about the how the older rider can get on with cycling. Well this lot are between the ages of 48 and about 55. Le blagger is the one with the cap on and does ride a bike lots, the rest are not what you'd call racing whippets.  They have however, when this photo was taken just ridden 170 miles in three days with a head wind all the way.

Cycling is defiantly an activity that is accessible to all and can greatly help with overall fitness. The top tip for getting into cycling is to start gently. You could just go out and ride your bike and gradually increase how far you go. That will for most people contribute to gains in fitness. 

If your the sort of person that wants/enjoys more structure a great way to control your training is to use a heart rate monitor, but there is more to it than strapping it on and trying to get the highest numbers you can!

Base fitness is what your after, the best way to do this is to ride your bike at 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate. This will feel quite slow but it will stress your body enough that it will respond when you resting and get stronger, fitter and faster. Make a note of the times rides are taking, or your average speed and over time, for the same effort you will start going faster.

You may need to use this tactic for a few weeks, a couple of times a week to start to see improvements. Once you stop getting improvements, if you want to you might want to introduce something else? (beyond the scope of this post)

Warning
Unless your confident your heart is healthy, getting an accurate individual max heart rate is tough, or even dangerous.  A rough alternative is to use 220 minus your age. This will for many people be inaccurate but accurate enough!

example:

Rider age 49
220 - 49 = 171
70 percent of 171 = 120 ish

Therefore, this rider should go for some rides keeping heart rate below 120bpm. In reality if there are a few hills in the route this may not be possible, when this is the case slow down.

Many people new to cycling want to lose weight, one great benefit of this type of training is that it will encourage your body to burn fat much more effectively than riding harder.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.