My grandmother started running at the age of 52years old. She was an inspiration as she ran competitively until she was 75years old. She only stopped because she broke he her pelvis (unrelated to running). She ran a lot and quickly won 6 titles in the 50-55year age group in New Zealand. She also got a Silver medal in the Marathon at the 1982 World veteran games in Brisbane.
How does this relate to biking and why?
I don't like running, but I love biking. I was never competitive, but I started commuting to get my fitness up, so that I could do a few races. I used to swap my tyres over to slicks, but almost always commuted on a mountain bike of some sort. In my 40's I had the best off road commute and put in 30mile rides per day. 1 big climb and the rest was flattish.
As I get older, I am looking at ways to stay fit like my grandmother and keep riding. All of the articles that I have read are suggesting that I cross train. Running, free weights etc, something with resistance.
Use it or loose it...
Road riding is quite static, so while the lungs and legs get a workout the rest of the body does not. Your body will slowly weaken on the muscles that it does not use. Something similar is happening with e-Bikes. On the marketing "promise" to keeping up with your mates. E-bikes are excellent for going further than one normally would, however the flip side is that, again, the body will slowly weaken, and e-bikers become more reliant on e-bikes.
If you are in area with climbs - get out of the saddle to climb - this will build your core muscles up. If you are in the flat lands, go singlespeed, so that you are forced to get out of the saddle to kick some speed. I had 15min of climbing and my core has never been stronger.
Commute training:
Ditch the car a few days a week, this will start to pay off. It will be hard to start with but your body soon adapts as your fitness increases. Time in the saddle is better than driving to the gym for many reasons. Commuting fits into your day with a few adjustments.
Olsen E-Bike development.
While I have just been doing some e-Bike bashing Olsen Bikes still thinks there is a place for e-Bikes.
It is too early to show you any development pictures, but we have been working on the following and would be interested in hearing from you the riders.
E-Cargo bike:
I have been working with a small team to develop a cargo bike. This has the most potential for going electric.
Other countries are already moving towards e-cargo bikes as being an alternative to a car or van.
E-Commute Bike:
This will be for those who want to carry heavy loads but do not need a cargo bike.
This is the multi-use work horse that will fit low loads and will be easy to manoeuvre in traffic
E-Bikepacker:
This will be for those who want to cycle further afield and possibly off the grid.
At the moment there is no plans for suspension on this e-Bike, however it will take high volume tyres up to 29x3.0"
It is never too late, if you want to enjoy riding more then you need to find ways to ride more. My grandmother showed me that one can keep going.
