Health and Fitness
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Training for Balance
Balance depends on three sensory systems: vision, the vestibular system of the inner ear, and proprioceptors throughout the body (especially in the feet and legs) that sense position and movement. Your brain takes in these signals and chooses a strategy to keep you upright.
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Attitude and Age
Featured photo: Fall riding in Baker Park It is a beautiful October day for a bike ride in Minnesota. The afternoon sun sets off brilliant autumn colors lining the bike path. Cool, dry air, and light wind make for easy riding. My right knee, which has bothered me since my ski accident last winter, feels…
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Progress Not Perfection: Recovering from Injury
Each pedal stroke brings a shot of pain¬—behind the kneecap, medial side and back of my knee. It is March 2026 in Minnesota, a cruel month for cycling made worse by a February skiing injury.
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Best Practices for Healthy Nutrition
Steve Markusen Featured Photo: First ride of the season and four months until the 2026 state championships. March 25, 2026. Credit: Charlie Markusen Foreword The starting judge lines us up for the first event of the 2017 Minnesota State Senior Cycling Championships: the 10K time trial. It is a miserable spring day: the air temp…
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Burning Fat for Fuel
Photo: The early bird gets the worm: first tracks on the XX Face of Mt. XXXX, Teton Pass, WY 2025 The buried ski track winds through Lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, branches laden with snow. It is 7:30 am, January, 2025. The sun peaks over the Gros Ventre Mountains bathing Teton Pass Ridge in dawn…
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It’s War: 7 Strategies for Winning the Weight Battle
Photo: Losing the war: three months ago and six pounds lighter. U.S. Senior National Cycling Championships, August 2025. I know the bad news even before stepping on the scale. Over the last several weeks, my pants fit tighter, I feel heavier and my stomach is prone to bouts of indigestion; familiar signs of weight gain.…
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Walking Meditation: Hiking the North Shore Highlands
Photo: Superior Hiking Trail, Minnesota October 2025 The trail underfoot is carpeted with fallen leaves: amber, gold, copper and cinnamon. I stroll between stands of red pine, jack pine, balsam fir, white spruce, aspen, maple, oak and the occasional magnificent white pine. Above me, branches arch like the ceiling of a cathedral illustrated with gold…
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Stretching Muscles: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Photo: The author all stretched out between a rock and a hard place 3000 feet above the floor of Yosemite valley. Lost Arrow Spire, Yosemite, CA. May 2001. Credit Paul Gardner. The pain between my left shoulder blade and spine comes and goes. The last several weeks it is back with vengeance. I press on…
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This is Not Normal: The 2025 National Senior Games
Featured Photo: cyclist waiting to start the 10K time trial in the women’s 90+ age group. Waiting my turn, I size up my competitors: the 70 to 74 year olds. This is July 30 and the first day of the 2025 National Senior Games Cycling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. We are competing in the…
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Tapering for Nationals: a Metaphor for Life
Photo: An easy recovery hike during my ten day taper for the 2025 National Senior Games cycling championships. Hyland Park, Minnesota, July 2025 It is Sunday morning 7:30 am. The sun is partially obscured by mist, the morning air cool—thick with the smell of lush growth and humidity—Minnesota late July. No one is on the…