Every birthday since 34 I've logged on-foot or on-bike some sort of numerically significantly distance, as I started running just after my 33rd bday. The runs were generally something like 1/10 - 1/5 my age, because I'm not so unhinged as to run my age (though I DO have friends of questionable sanity who run their age -- but most of them have warmer weather birthdays, live in places that don't have a legit Winter, or are actual ultra runners who think nothing of throwing-down a few runs > marathon distance/year). Cycling my age has never been an unreasonable # of miles...but riding indoors pre-Zwift just plain sucked, even for what would be modest outdoor mileage.
Last year was my first birthday with Zwift and I was recovered enough from 2017 Cancer treatments and surgeries and ileostomy reversal in Spring of 2018 to log my 46 miles on the nowhere bike.
Today's 47 miles played out similarly...my lungs are likely closing-in on as well-adapted as I can expect after losing my right upper lobe, early last May (the remaining lobes expand to fill much of the space and work of the missing lobe).
I logged 25 miles solo in "Watopia", changed into a clean, sweat-free kit, pee'd, grabbed a snack, then trundled back down to the basement to finish my distance with a group event on the cyber-rendition of Richmond, VA's UCI World Championships course. The last 6ish miles of that ride were solo, again, including the climb-y bits of the course.
I feel incredibly fortunate to still be alive, much less fitter than probably 3/4 of women my age. This morning I learned that another member of the colorectal cancer community is no longer with us. Another woman who was fit, otherwise healthy, and <50 when diagnosed. Yet another reminder that this is not solely a disease afflicting sedentary, elderly people.
I don't know how many more years I'll be able to "ride my age," but I'll continue to do so for as long as my health allows. Perhaps at 50 or 60 I'll need to set a goal of 1/2 the miles corresponding to my years on the planet. But to not do at least that much feels like it would be to squander the gift of continued existence, even if Cancer has slowed me down, a bit.
5 comments:
You might have to switch to a trike to ride low and slow. I have friends in their 70s who ride their birthday miles on recumbent trikes.
But it would still mean riding outdoors on my birthday. That will have to wait until we live in the desert Southwest! :p
Switch to the metric system Zoomy! :-)
Ha, that’s brilliant!! Another reason metric is smarter!
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