Eating a higher proportion of complex grains such as brown rice or quinoa, and fibre-rich veggies can prevent weight gain. Sixty-something riders will benefit from an extra resistance session. “Drop out another cycling session and add in resistance training to preserve muscle mass, bone density and range of motion,” says Cavell. It’s time to adjust your diet too. If you’ve read this far, let me tell you, before I get into the weeds, this is a brilliant book. I am a skeptical person, a cynic, but I can tell you honestly that The MidLife Cyclist changed my behavior on the bike (and off), and even improved my relationship with cycling (read: less burn out efforts, more fun). What I want after all is fun. I want health too, and I want longevity. I want to be able to do the things I enjoy doing as long as I possibly can. That’s not to say I’m anti-data – my job as a thoroughly modern bikefitter requires fluency in its language and application – but technology is something that we at Cyclefit have adapted and bent to our will, rather than something that we inherently venerate or rely upon. For me, technology is a case of ‘wouldn’t this be nice?’ rather than one of ‘I just can’t cope without it’. A camera that fires at 60 frames per second (fps) versus the human eye, which routinely works at 10-12fps, can be mighty handy when looking at a client’s complicated and confused ankling patterns. But arguably more important is a deep knowledge of their personal injury history, rehab and plausible motor-patterning compensations. Actually, to tell the truth I am a little bit anti-data. Or at least I’m anti data for data’s sake. Numbers are meaningless unless we pipe in I think The Midlife Cyclist is an important book. One of the curses of our age is that people live for a long time but endure poor health for a large chunk of those years. Phil Cavell is trying to do something about that by showing that you can remain fit and healthy through exercise for far longer than most people think possible. The cover pitches it at racing cyclists, but I found it equally relevant to me as someone who rides a lot but doesn’t race. Much of what it contains is relevant to anyone getting older who wants to maintain good health, regardless of their sport, or even if they do no exercise at all (because this might persuade them that they should!).

I came for a story about cycling, and this was mostly a story about fighting body dysmorphia. Which was all good and interesting but I found it all a bit disjointed. These changes begin aged 30, but subtly make their mark in your 40s. As Cavell explains in The Midlife Cyclist, men face a decline in testosterone – vital for muscle strength, red blood cell production and fat regulation – of 1 per cent, per year; so by your 40s you may have a slight loss of muscle mass and bone-mineral density, and an increase in fat storage. A true renaissance man of modern cycling, Mr. Cavell utilizes a holistic approach to bike fit, harnessing the entropic variability of athlete vs. machine and making the analytic an art.Interesting, although with perhaps too much of the medico-technical for my slender intellect to absorb. Angus, a fellow cyclist with strong interest in sport and training mentioned it. The book has lots of discussion and exploration of performance athletes, which is interesting, as much as anything because I have never, ever considered myself to be one and I take no interest in spectator sports. But such humans are undoubtedly extraordinary in their combination of mental attitudes and physiological adaptation. But he does also deal with non-athletes. With a longstanding partner, he runs Cycle Fit, a consultancy in Covent Garden. They have helped many people recover from injuries and have improved the bike setup and performance of many more. HGH levels are glucose-sensitive, so eating less sugar will help with this as well as weight control. Eating more protein will help protect your muscle mass, and omega-3-rich fish helps heart health. Just because we can - does it mean we should? What are the health risks of intense training into middle-age and beyond?

There is nothing like competing with your support system within inches. In addition, with technological advances in the virtual cycling game, I communicate with my teammates via Discord. Much the same applies. Get lots of rest too. “Sleep is when you produce HGH, which will keep you performing well in your 40s,” says Cavell. The first assumption for us to test is on the subject of ageing, and more specifically: are we young people who occasioned to get old or are we fundamentally altered on a cellular level by the maturing process? A recent study by BioMed Central found that just over a third of UK adults in their forties had two or more underlying and chronic health issues, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and so on. In their forties! These people are so young they barely make it into the ‘midlife’ group. Lifestyle obviously plays a big role in such statistics but we also cannot escape the destiny contained in our genes and their unbroken links to our ancestors.

I didn’t fall victim to coming to the defense of virtual cycling when thoroughly enjoying Mr. Cavell’s book, either. As I enter my 6th decade of ‘Midlife’ I have evolved, finding greater merit in the virtues of education over instigation. Age-related muscle loss affects Type 2 ‘fast-twitch’ muscles more than Type 1 ‘slow-twitch’ muscles, which means you are now better suited to endurance rides than harder sessions. But aim for a blend of the two. It appears that female midlife athletes have some very real advantages over male athletes. Not only with heart health but other areas of general health resilience. How important is stress/inflammation as we age and train? Is this burden different for men and women? A Midlife Cyclist is a tale of two wheels across the Yorkshire Dales, Vietnam, Costa Rica and beyond, and a rider in search of peace.

As an example, the revelation that serious amateurs (like me) typically do more high-intensity workouts than the pros is a brain breaker. And that whole ethos around working hard, all the time, no matter what, just sort of crumbles under the simple evidence that it doesn’t work, that what it produces is deeply embedded fatigue, injury, and demotivation. The way we metabolise food also changes due to reduced insulin sensitivity over time, causing weight gain. “We are gaining fat but losing muscle, so we need to change that proposition consciously,” says Cavell. Not just cycling? Yes. A balanced training programme for the cyclist might also include a couple of weekly weights sessions, or “resistance training”, which will combat sarcopenia (that’s muscle-loss to you and me) and maybe the occasional run if your joints can stand it (good for sarcopenia but also bone density). I have had more crashes and injuries than I would have liked in my life. One of them very seriously. I really don’t want anymore either. So I totally understand the sentiments and motivations behind the statement. I ride more defensively and take less risks now. I have a young daughter, wife, and dog that need me. You talk to Nigel Stephens, a leading cardiologist and an extremely good masters racer in the book. And to paraphrase him, he broadly says that cycling, even at a high level, will give you improved heart and lung capacity at the risk of broken bones. But that's something that you have to weigh up yourself. Which, I guess, is a pretty good summary of it, isn't it?

The 40s: how is my body changing?

Is it hard to work out whether exercising past 40 is good for you? Everyone assumes that within certain parameters, it is, but we don't actually know, do we? If there was one piece of advice you would give someone who wants to advance their cycling past the age of 40 or 50, what would it be? Cyclefit provide a great personalised service that focuses on giving you exactly what you need. They are extremely knowledgable and friendly and no request/requirement is too difficult for them." PM But when an injury stopped her running activities, and her constant battle with her inner self progressed, Rachel realized what she is really going through. As body dysmorphia began to grip her fast, she knew she had to find a solution to fight her mental health demons for the sake of her own sanity. oxidative (sorry, aerobic) training to build endurance where the heart beats below 80% of its capacity - as hunter gatherers we evolved for many thousands of years as an endurance species, and

As you’d expect, the committed cyclist will find lots of info here on the bike itself and biomechanics. For example, do yourselves a favour and don’t be worrying about the technicalities of the “upstroke”. cleats are only for keeping a firm connection to the pedal in a pre-adjusted stance to suit the user’s feet;But really, the author clearly accomplishes an epic cycle, I couldn't even contemplate putting myself through this, and certainly not without making myself fully aware and prepared in advance of what it actually entails, as she purports to have done. And there's the rub. Both men and women may feel weaker on the bike, with strength declining by 30 per cent from age 50 to 70. For me, there was a lot of good news in the book. I’m not just a cyclist. I do resistance training. I run regularly. And I couldn’t help but feel this didn’t need to be a book just for cyclists. Yes, there was a lot of bike-related content, but there is a running book here too, and a book for anyone who is trying to maximize their remaining time above ground. Are you middle-aged? Are you slower than you used to be, more tired? Read this book. It will help you. physician or nutritionist, for example. We will meet all of these people in future columns. Exercise may well be the finest drug the pharmaceutical industry never invented, but can we also have too much of a good thing? Should the ideal prescription dose change as we age? And is the advice different for new and returning exercisers compared to lifelong athletes? These questions will be examined next issue. As a last word on data, I’ll leave you with this thought: we may well demand ever more accurate ways to record, slice and dice our training metrics, but every data set is just an abstract house of cards without the solid foundations provided by a deep understanding of biology and psychology, how it is changing over time and how that relates to you and your life.