When I was younger and had spent a little while off the bike my friends and I used to comfort ourselves by saying “you’re only ever two weeks away from peak fitness” – meaning that two weeks of solid consistent riding would get you back into shape. Maybe not ‘peak fitness’, but in good enough shape to circulate through the bunch without too much suffering. For a long time that was true.
When I was younger my life was also a little busier. I had many more commitments – family, work, holidays or just ‘life’ that sometimes got in the way of cycling. I never worried because I knew that after two weeks of solid riding, I’d be back fitness-wise to where I was when I stopped (or close enough).
Then a funny thing happened, I got older and somewhere the two weeks turned into three. I can’t be sure when it happened but it was sometime in my 40s. Two weeks of riding just wasn’t enough to feel super comfortable in the bunch. I needed a little more time to get back into shape – around three weeks. That three-week requirement stayed pretty consistent until one comeback – it just wasn’t enough.
Now as I near my 60s (when did that happen!) the best approach appears to be – never stop riding. I’ve learnt that fitness is a little like a campfire. You need to constantly tend it – feeding it and nurturing it so that it doesn’t die out. You can choose to build a roaring flame that consumes all that comes near it, or something a little more cozy and comfortable. Sure, you can let it die down to embers, but if those embers fade it can be a lot of work to restart that campfire.
Now the idea of two or three weeks off the bike is a little daunting. I know that the comeback is not going to be that much fun and might last a while. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter (thanks Linkin Park) – for me, it’s always about getting back to the gifts that cycling brings me. The simple pleasures of fun, fitness, mental well-being and good times with good people. That’s why I ride.
