"I'M TOO OLD!" Excuses, excuses, excuses....

Lance and Dave, the two winners and oldest guys of Leadville 100

While today's kids have strong thumbs from working their Playstation3, their parents(and grandparents) are out pounding the pedals. Just showing up keeps you young, and these tips can help you do more. Here's what I got from an article:

1. Don't read about aging- Nothing will make you feel older than reading all the medical studies about aging. Do you really need somebody telling you that you're experiencing a decrease in your maximum heart rate, a decrease in your overall lung capacity and a decline in muscle mass? Man, that stuff is downright depressing. Instead, focus on the positive steps you can take to make every day count. It doesn't matter if you are 16 or 60. These tricks are for everyone.

2. Don't kill yourself-Use common sense before following any of our workout ideas. If you blew your knee out motocrossing in 1974, don't do a hillclimb workout. If it is 90 degrees outside and the humidity is pushing on your helment visor, you need to turn the workout volume down. If you just had open heart surgery, intervals will probably kill you. That would bum us out dude. So before doing anything, consult a doctor(preferably one who mountain bikes).

3. That warm feeling- Remember when you met the gang at the trailhead and started the ride by hammering down the trail? Resist that temptation, you gray stallion. You need more warm-up time to get that old heart pumping and those decrepit lungs opened up. So start your ride 15 minutes early to warm up.

4. Stretch out- Do some stretching to improve your flexibility.

5. Add intervals- An interval is a short, intense burst of speed followed by a period of recovery. If you don't have a base level of fitness, go do some long rides before attempting intervals. The best results will come from two interval sessions a week(a few days apart). The first interval session could consist of five short intervals of one minute each and three minutes of rest(easy spinning) between each effort. These short intervals should be ridden at hard intensity. If you can't do five, cut back the number and work up to five. The second time you add some intervals to your ride, try doing five lasting three minutes at a lower intensity than your one minute intervals.

6. Organic intervals- If the timed intervals sound too confusing or you don't believe you won't stick to doing them, try the organic intervals. You don't need to follow a schedule or a stopwatch. Make conscious effort to throw down a few hard efforts every so often. Pick a tree or rock to the side of the trail and sprint to it. When climbing an extended hill, pick a place near the top and drop the hammer from there until you crest the hill.

7. Pumping carbon fiber- One of the main reasons we got into mountain biking is so we didn't have to spend time inside a gym. That doesn't mean you can't use the bike to do a little weight training(something that has proven beneficial for aging athletes). Do the hillclimb pump. Warm up by riding around before proceeding. Pick a hill that takes you a minute to climb easily. Now attack in the next higher gear than you just used. Don't worry about your form. You will have to get out of the saddle, pull up the handlebar and struggle up the climb. Push the pedal until you can't push it another rotation. You just did a bench press and a leg curl without a Nautilus machine in sight. Pedal around easily for three minutes and try to climb the hill again in the big gear. Take another three minute reprieve and hit again. The hillclimb pump takes place of one of your interval workouts.

8. Pump iron- Get yourself a set of dumbbells and have them next to your favorite chair in front of the tv. Get in the habit of curling a weight while watching tv or dvd.

9. Go to sleep- Recovery is the well-deserved benefit of working out. Take it seriously. Make sure your bedroom is dark and well ventilated. Invest in a comfortable bed.