Polarbearboy
Tokin' Away Since 1968
Another 76 year old ex-hippie aerobic exerciser here. Mainly an ebiker these days as a childhood foot injury has finally caught up with me and I've got a moderately painful knee. People see the big mother battery on the ebike and presume I'm just loafing. But my aim on nearly every ride is to get a serious workout. I keep the setting on the lowest assist level 95% of the time and ride in hilly terrain and into strong winds. I want to elevate my breathing and heart rate every time I go out. If the wind is at my back, I ride up steep hills and peddle furiously. Because I'm very very outdoorsy, love being out in the natural world and live in stunningly beautiful places, and get bored with indoor exercise, I ride in temps from the upper 20s on up, as long as the road isn't icy or actually raining. And yes, I take a few vape hits of a strong sativa before riding most of the time.
I also ride to mitigate the damage to my lungs from fifty plus years of smoking cigarettes--Lucky Strikes(quit 11 years ago), daily smoking of weed for a similar amount of time(turned to vaping 10 years ago), and continued daily vaping up to and including today. I'm not sure I could continue daily vaping if I didn't do aerobic exercise 4-6 days every week year round. I've also got fairly severe arthritis and there is no question but that vigorous exercise is the best way of lowering or eliminating the attendant pain.
At my last physical my long-time doctor commented on my resting heart rate being consistently in a range from 48-56. He said that such a heart rate is usually a sign of an athlete in peak form and that I may be the heart healthiest of all his older patients. Given that I'm somewhat overweight from too much good beer(IPAs!) and good food and that I vape daily, I was a bit surprised. I suspect that if I wasn't a near daily vigorous exerciser and fairly healthy eater, I'd probably be having real trouble staying healthy and continuing to enjoye my several "bad habits"!
I also ride to mitigate the damage to my lungs from fifty plus years of smoking cigarettes--Lucky Strikes(quit 11 years ago), daily smoking of weed for a similar amount of time(turned to vaping 10 years ago), and continued daily vaping up to and including today. I'm not sure I could continue daily vaping if I didn't do aerobic exercise 4-6 days every week year round. I've also got fairly severe arthritis and there is no question but that vigorous exercise is the best way of lowering or eliminating the attendant pain.
At my last physical my long-time doctor commented on my resting heart rate being consistently in a range from 48-56. He said that such a heart rate is usually a sign of an athlete in peak form and that I may be the heart healthiest of all his older patients. Given that I'm somewhat overweight from too much good beer(IPAs!) and good food and that I vape daily, I was a bit surprised. I suspect that if I wasn't a near daily vigorous exerciser and fairly healthy eater, I'd probably be having real trouble staying healthy and continuing to enjoye my several "bad habits"!
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. I'm still getting out on the MTB 
while dodging rainy weather & wet conditions 
. I've done ~40 miles in the last week.
. After my second day, I was high & heading home on a well known easier trail when I came up to a semi-blind very steep short section, a do-or-crash type of choice. I went for it & near the top & at the steepest section, I came upon some clothing on the dirt single track trail 
. I tried to avoid it because I didn't think the rear tire would hold traction going over the clothing. I lost momentum & power, got my feet down & tried to hold my position but ended up falling to my side & down a very steep hill. As it happened, I tried to keep the bike from rolling with me. After hitting the deep downward slope, I avoided rolling downhill & only slid a foot or two. Luckily, it was just grasses & weeds here so the landing was soft. Thankfully, the hill was not any steeper. I got up, looked around to see if anyone saw this (was alone), gathered myself up & continued the trip home. I ended up with only a small bruise on the inside of one knee. I think the clothing came from some meth-head 
. If that clothing hadn't been there, I would have been fine. And if I wasn't high, I probably would have had more power & been less susceptible to losing momentum. Some stacked bad luck. I almost never ride the MTB high 
. I was on the same trail heading home 
(not high) & decided to take a quick 20 ft side trail up & down. I've done these trails probably 300 times in the last 6 years. But with all the growth & lush foliage, I couldn't see the exact entrance point & it turned out I chose wrong. As I moved onto what I thought was the entrance, the front end immediately washed out & I went down, falling on my uphill side. Thankfully, I missed a rock & the washed front end uphill fall brought a slower soft drop with me landing on minor foliage (providing further cushioning). I was shocked at how quick it all happened. Again, I gathered myself up, looked around to find myself alone, counted my blessings & got on my MTB to continue the trip home. No ill f/x from this small spill, not even a bruise. I consider this get-off a wake-up call to be more careful. Things happen fast on a MTB & I shouldn't be wingin' it so much when trail visibility is so poor.
