Thanks, Ray! I joined, and also @DavidWms Strava group, which was super easy. There is even an over-60 group on David Tinker’s intervals.icu .
At 79 I’m obviously more in the camp of how to get slower slower vs how to get faster faster. Comparing my testosterone – I mean stats – with a 60-year-old guy who’s been racing for 30-40 years isn’t too much of an attraction for me, though my hat is off to lifelong competitive athletes. What does attract me is exchanging whatever we’re learning about using cycling to nourish the most fitness / health we can. Even though I’m not TR’s target demographic, I love the ecosystem it has created and have learned more here than anywhere else, so prefer staying here.
What I’ve been doing since the pandemic is my own makeshift polarized experiment – doubling volume with very easy long outdoor solo rides, lately spiced up with short VO2max workouts – either TR or short Zwift crits. Also some experiments with alternatives to the ramp test for FTP calibration. Right now there is a lively discussion in My Polarized Training Experience (Chad McNeese & others) that for me has lots of relevance for older cyclists, although that isn’t the main focus.
One technical question. I assumed that joining a TR Team would open my workout files – otherwise private – to other people on this team. But I see it marked as private in the Team roster. So is the public/private distinction anybody or nobody? I’ve used the notes as notes to myself for myself for 4 years, and don’t mind some other geezers seeing the notes on the fridge or the long-expired pickled ginger inside when it serves a good purpose, but otherwise I’m a pretty private person – no FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc. I have what I thought was a private Strava account and get spooked when it tells me I might want to follow the ex of a nephew I haven’t seen in 25 years and barely know.