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Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

Mario said:
Continuing from last weekend Levi's, I experimented with maltodextrose and sugar. This is a climb that I always end up cramping. This time I went to the top shaving 20min from my fastest PR with no cramps and feeling really w good w my legs! This time the limiting factor was my breathing and heart rate, plus butt/arm/wrist pain. Pain I will deal w a bike fitting that I have never done. Fueling seems to make a big difference!

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Holy crap man - a 20min PR. Welcome to the new potential of sugary rides!
 
Ridley said:
On March 14 I did a 20.31 mile ride around my neighborhood. It’s two laps around the road along the lake and 3 laps of an outer road. That ride time was 1:36.12. Yesterday I did the same ride in 1:27.39. I looked at my heart rate for both rides and yesterday had a slight lower max 170 vs 166 and my average was basically the same 146 vs 145. Is this all due to my new tires?

Now I want to get a second set of wheels and mount up some fast road tires. Also I still need to get a power meter.
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Ya that time diff is totally reasonable for a tire upgrade. It would also be affected by wind and power optimization for the terrain.

The diff btw fast gravel tires and fast road tires is another ~15w, more due to the aero penalty of the knobby tires actually. So it absolutely will be noticeable on a 90min road effort. The GP5000 S TR comes in 35mm now. Or you can go crazy like Mike and I and get their TT tires for like 3 more watts lol.
 
stangmx13 said:
The 40s in our DM or those same tires in 44-45. There are no good options in exactly 42. The 2mm different isn’t noticeable anyway.
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Thank you! Also derp at asking the same question twice. Those conti Terra’s look good.

www.bicyclerollingresistance.com

CX/Gravel Tire Test: Continental Terra Competition Race Rapid 40

Tire lab test of a Continental Terra Competition Race Rapid 40 bike tire. Includes rolling resistance tests, puncture resistance tests, wet grip tests, and detailed weight and size measurements
www.bicyclerollingresistance.com www.bicyclerollingresistance.com
 
Cocodona 250 time. Rachel Entrekin is in 1st overall at 186 miles. I’m really rooting for Heather Jackson (2nd in women and 4th overall). Courtney Dauwalter is in 3rd, 5th overall. Lots of the top women are running but I don’t recognize any of the men. I’m totally addicted to watching the realtime tracking on trackleaders.com.
 
stangmx13 said:
250miles? Running!?! Ultra ultra runners are an insane breed of people. The amount of pain they enjoy (?!?) is ridiculous.
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Yes running. They are insane. However, the spirit of what they do, what the human body can do is beyond my comprehension. I’m surrounded by them, my wife and her friends and they are not from this world. It’s inspirational.

This morning when I woke at 4am to work out I wanted to stay in bed and sleep. I thought to myself, “don’t be a whiny little baby and get on your trainer and start pedaling!” Tomorrow morning it will be squats, deadlifts, lunges, and RDLs. I have no excuses. I workout everyday, riding or lifting weights, sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s enjoyable, but it’s necessary for my mental health and wellbeing.
 
@Ridley
Dang.. your wife must be pretty amazing!!!

Good to see you working your end of the deal too. 4am NFW :laughing
I went to PT this AM at 7:15 and felt a bit more rusty than normal although the testing of the range of motions did not say that.

Knee to chest (no help with arms just using the leg) = 120 degrees for good leg / 116 for broken leg. PTherapist said 110 was the goal so good.

Crossing the leg while dangling (no help - soul of the foot to the opposite leg just below the knee) is the major challenge and improvement still needs to happen. Cannot do the man crossed leg thing with the broken leg. A lot of pain as its range of motion at the hip needs work. Every morning = Pain for a couple minutes forcing it. Every night when I get home = Pain for a couple minutes forcing it. Then during the last stretch session of the day while laying in bed = Pain for a couple minutes forcing it.

I have added quite a bit of resistance exercises to my leg routine now and the PTherapist
says adding strength is the major push along with the range of motion for the man crossed leg position is huge. Good news there is the knee pain I was having while doing this is almost gone.

I need to retire because the gym is demanding more time!! Adding more exercises adds more time and between the 20 + minutes on the bike and all the PT stuff and resistance training I am hitting a bit more than solid hour and a half of gym time.

Upper body is progressing too. Did 235 on the machine bench press yesterday. Considering I started at 160 for that set of 3 - 5 being well above that feels good.
Need a training partner really to keep that progress and would like to do free weight bench like the old days of youth, but there is still a couple plates left of the machine to overcome.

Had a nice little ego stroke a week ago when seeing a friend I had not seen for months and he said "Where did you get those guns?" :laughing Now granted they are not, he is old and does jack shit for exercise as far as I know it still felt good. :teeth Like I said it is not true, but for sure I have managed to build some muscle.

I am adjusting the diet down too.
I had been allowing bread once a day during a meal and generally still doing mostly a carnivor diet. It has allow me to shift some weight around but some sagging flab is not exactly good to see so giving it a shot at cleaning that up by:
1. Eliminating most bread (I was allowing it once a day).
2. Eating dinner way early to increase the fast time.
3. Eliminate most alcohol. (which sucks but makes a Friday and Saturday night on a rally more special! :Port

Maybe that flab / extra skin can be minimized around the same time the leg gets to 100% (6 mos?) Honestly I don't know if it will at my age.
 
Apparently strength training is the most effective way to increase flexibility and range of motion. The logic goes like this. Pain at full extension is often a safeguard response from the nervous system, not the limit of the tissues. The pain exists to prevent you from losing control of the motion and hurting the joint. To gain control and prevent that pain, you need strength at that extension.

However, that’s mostly for healthy tissues. I suspect this isn’t the whole story with lack of range caused by injury. Scar tissue and other nervous system issues can contribute. Breaking up scar tissue hurts so much and it’s so hard to tell if it’s good pain or bad pain. And for nervous system problems - sometimes your body can forget how to use muscles which can lead to weird motion patterns.
 
@budman, the dedication you’ve shown in recovering from your broken leg is super awesome and inspiring. I’ve been down your road with recovery from injuries (both R and L ACLs reconstructed from soccer) and with every update you provide I give you a quiet fist bump with a hell yea. Many in this thread have noted the importance of consistency and you’re doing it. Good or bad days you keep showing up.
 
The Range of motion stuff is interesting..... For an old person rehab take..... My PTherapist says I have exceeded all the range of motion tests they use to determine if an OG is at a level to be healthy again. Speaking in other terms = good enough to stop therapy. She says as long as she see progress then she will advocate for therapy to continue which is sort of how the system works.

Justin.

Thanks.. feels good know those quiet fist pumps are being thrown. There have been days where I would like to NOT do what is needed, but being older I don't have all these life sideshows happening which make it easier to forge ahead.

Having trained like a Pro Athlete in my 20's / 30's certainly developed the feeling of knowing if you stick with it good stuff happens. For sure some rehab dedication was developed during that time as well.

I am hoping this is my new way of life period. I see some 80 somethings at the gym still doing some good work and hope to be one of those old sticks one day.
 
Cocodona 250 update. Rachel Entrekin finished in a time of 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds. She smashed the previous record, set last year by Dan Green, by over 3 hours. She is also the first woman to be the overall winner. Her average moving speed was 5.3 mph, and climbed a total of 31,422 ft.

Total bad ass.
 
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Ridley said:
Cocodona 250 update. Rachel Entrekin finished in a time of 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds. She smashed the previous record, set last year by Dan Green, by over 3 hours. She is also the first woman to be the overall winner.

Total bad ass.
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I suck at math, is that about 13:28 avg/mile? For 250 miles? W.T.F.!!! :laughing

Rachel Entrekin: “I slept five minutes, then seven minutes, then seven minutes,” Entrekin said in an interview, just moments after finishing. “My goal was to only have dirt naps”
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run.outsideonline.com

Rachel Entrekin Wins Cocodona 250 Outright, Outrunning Sleep Deprivation and Entire Men's Field

The two-time defending women's champion from Birmingham, Alabama, took the overall lead at mile 60 and never looked back.
run.outsideonline.com run.outsideonline.com
 
Went to the Gym at 1pm and did the real deal bike ride, PT leg protocols and resistance training. Almost feels like a double day, but the PT visit this morning is not a full workout by any means.

Saw two of my high school bud's there which is always a reminder of how f'ing old I am. :laughing
 
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