Kelly Butler: 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 podcast, season three, episode 12, making the most of 2025. And I'm your host, Kelly Butler.

Tom Butler: 0:23

Well done.

Kelly Butler: 0:25

Well, thank you.

Tom Butler: 0:26

Okay, you're the host of this episode and I'm the guest of the episode.

Kelly Butler: 0:32

Uh-huh.

Tom Butler: 0:33

The next thing that the host does.

Kelly Butler: 0:35

Is call the shots.

Tom Butler: 0:37

The host calls the shots. Okay, All right, I'm willing. So what do you want? What is your instruction at this?

Kelly Butler: 0:46

point. Actually, I think I'm going to have to ask my guest what we do next.

Tom Butler: 0:49

The host needs to give an update on their cycling journey this past week.

Kelly Butler: 0:55

This past week.

Tom Butler: 0:56

Yeah.

Kelly Butler: 0:57

Oh well, my cycling journey is on cruise right now, or coasting maybe is a better word, is on cruise right now, or coasting maybe is a better word. I am wanting to pursue gravel riding because I would love to spend less time sharing my ride with cars on the road. So I'm gathering information, looking at options, and will be relying on my guests to help me with that a lot.

Tom Butler: 1:22

There's something that we need to investigate, and that's can we find a recumbent set up for gravel? So need to check that out, which would be kind of the way that we would go, except that's going to be an expensive way to go.

Kelly Butler: 1:39

Yeah, so let's not do that.

Tom Butler: 1:41

The other thing is we actually don't know if we got a bike that absolutely fit you geometry was right and adjusted to you. Got a bike fit that maybe you could build up with tolerating some longer rides on that bike, right? So that would be still an investment, but not the big investment of buying another recumbent and having a motor put on it, right? Yep, so that's where you are, I guess, with your cycling journey. Right now is looking for options. Yeah, another thing that's kind of an important thing and delayed the podcast a bit is that your father went into the hospital.

Kelly Butler: 2:21

Yeah, he did. He's been in the ICU for last week and so it has put pretty much everything else on hold. So I apologize for the late podcast, but he is doing better, hoping we'll have him home before too long.

Tom Butler: 2:34

So your dad is almost 90. The fact that he's having some health issues is not surprising. Never easy.

Kelly Butler: 2:46

Right.

Tom Butler: 2:47

I'm wondering if, like thinking about that does it motivate you or does it give you some thoughts about staying active later in life?

Kelly Butler: 2:57

One of my brothers said, makes you want to get out there and move even more. So all three of us are, have had a, you know, a high opinion of exercise and have pursued it through our lives, but seeing this makes us even more motivated. It's just like, yep, it's. It's that important to be consistent and find a way to just totally be consistent with it.

Tom Butler: 3:18

Would you characterize your dad as not being really consistent with with activity?

Kelly Butler: 3:24

as not being really consistent with activity. Yes, he never really pursued. I mean, he has at times been swimming and even in the past, well before his stroke which was about a year and a half ago, he did do swimming but it was inconsistent and most of his life he was not consistently active and most of his life he was not consistently active.

Tom Butler: 3:44

So for you and me and your brothers, we want to be more consistent than that.

Kelly Butler: 3:52

Right.

Tom Butler: 3:53

That's obviously what this podcast is about is that I believe it makes a difference to be active, and I think everyone that we've heard from believes that it is a reminder. It looks like your dad is getting better, which is awesome, and as I look to the future, you know a big part is to stay healthy as long as possible and to stay out of the hospital as much as possible too.

Kelly Butler: 4:20

Right, and it takes more than one thing. It takes takes, you know, my, my father's actually had a, compared probably to the average american. He's had a very good diet for most of his life and that's hugely important. But so is exercise, so is movement, um, so is good mental health, and there's there's many components to that, but movement is such a key piece of it that it's, it just has to be something, I think, that's on automatic almost. I mean it can be changed and upgraded and moved around, but it kind of needs to be an automatic part of life.

Tom Butler: 4:55

Well said Okay, host Kelly.

Kelly Butler: 5:08

Ha ha.

Tom Butler: 5:09

Now what.

Kelly Butler: 5:10

So that's the update wrap-up for me, and now it's time to introduce my guest for today. So my guest really doesn't need much introduction. I think most of you are aware of him, but for those of you who don't know, he's first of all my husband and secondly, he is a man on a mission to make cycling a cornerstone of his journey to improved health, to excellent health actually. So here's our discussion. Welcome, tom. Thank you for being on the Cycling Over 60 podcast.

Tom Butler: 5:41

It's my honor.

Kelly Butler: 5:42

So this episode is dedicated to your plans and goals and making the most of 2025. But let's first start with reviewing this past year seeing how did you feel about that. So give us a rundown on how you feel about 2024.

Tom Butler: 6:00

So people can go back to December 28th of last year if they want to hear my goals, but I'll just talk about my goals. At that point, when I was looking at 2024, I was thinking about three kinds of goals. I was thinking about cycling goals, I was thinking about my overall health goals and I was thinking about podcast goals. Since then, I've kind of changed things up so I'm not going to be looking at podcast goals. Since then, I've kind of changed things up, so I'm not going to be looking at podcast goals. There's season goals that I have now and they can go back to September 20th If you want to know about season three goals and my podcast goals. I'm kind of I'm dividing things up between yearly goals and season goals and the season is probably going to always start about September, kind of get through the cycling summer and then wrap up a season and start a new season.

Tom Butler: 6:59

Before I go any further, I'd like to be a way of easily moving all the podcast content to YouTube. I never saw that. I kept waiting for that and I never saw that easy thing of just moving that over, so I uploaded everything to a YouTube channel. If people could go to YouTube and search at cycling over 60, all spelled out, and just subscribe to that. Right now it doesn't seem like it's very if people were going to search Psychon, number 60,. Youtube doesn't prioritize my content yet because it's brand new and there's no subscribers and everything. So if everybody could just take a few moments to go and subscribe to that channel, I think it will help trigger YouTube. If somebody searches YouTube, then the podcast will come up, so I'd appreciate if people do that. So that's it on that.

Kelly Butler: 8:10

Okay, surface announcement done.

Tom Butler: 8:13

So I'm going to be looking back at my cycling goals. So do I set a target of 10 miles a day, so 3,650 miles for the year. I felt pretty good about that goal. I felt like 10 miles a day was achievable. Unfortunately, I fell short of that goal achievable. Unfortunately, I fell short of that goal.

Kelly Butler: 8:52

So my total distance for 2024 was 3,225 miles.

Tom Butler: 8:54

So you must say by how much. 424 miles, which is a significant thing. But there's also a component of that where I did part of that which was something I didn't perceive. I didn't think about this at all when I set my goals for 2024. And that was doing miles on a trainer, doing virtual miles. So I have had a lot of those miles done on the trainer. So I need to kind of think about if those count or not.

Kelly Butler: 9:30

Okay, well, that's an interesting question.

Tom Butler: 9:33

Seems to me like they would, but Give me your feedback on why you think that the miles should count. The miles on the trainer should count should count.

Kelly Butler: 9:44

The miles on the trainer should count. Well, to me it looks like when you're on the trainer, you are working hard and you're competing with another little figure on the tv. And you're, you know you're training with people and I perceive you as as putting a lot of effort into it. It may not be as healthy for you because you're not outside getting fresh air. You're, you know. There's other things that come into being on the road, but it seems like a huge percentage of that is is replicated on the trainer, maybe not as fun, but still worthwhile.

Tom Butler: 10:14

Well, I think that's good insight. I think the way that you know I use Swift and the way that I'm getting feedback from the route that I'm doing, you know the way that it gets more difficult, that I can choose routes to have more climbing, things like that I feel comfortable counting the miles that I do on the trainer. You know there are some things like I'm not learning to handle corners. You know the bike stability aspect is not there, but I still feel like the main reason that I'm putting in the miles is because I'm trying to increase my physical fitness and I think that the trainer allows me to do that.

Kelly Butler: 11:05

Yeah, I think you can build up cardiac function. You can build up muscle. You're not getting as much balance and other things that are involved in being outside on the road, but you have a lot of that already, so it's not the cornerstone of your increased physical fitness. The other things that you get on the trainer are the more foundational things, it seems to me.

Tom Butler: 11:27

Yeah, I think so. So I think I'm going to count it, but I might have to think about my goals for 2025 a little bit differently, taking into account that I'll be doing trainer miles.

Kelly Butler: 11:40

Okay, so it is cheater miles because you're not outside, no matter what the weather is.

Tom Butler: 11:45

That's right.

Kelly Butler: 11:46

You can't get too soft and avoid all inclement weather.

Tom Butler: 11:50

Yeah, that's very true, but I like to be outside. There's three elements that why I put a lot of miles on the trainer this time. One is that I was trying to learn how to use the trainer, get the trainer set up, learn how to do Zwift, because I really want to do Zwift group rides cycling or 60 Zwift group rides and haven't pulled one of those off yet. But that's a major goal that I have in 2025 is to do more Zwift rides together. So spend a lot of time doing that. And then you know there's just an element of it's easy to jump on it, uh, in the morning to get the day going. You know, to just jump on there real quick and do it.

Tom Butler: 12:38

So I was logging miles. I would have done that time on the exercise bike in the past. I've done that time on the exercise bike In the past. I've done that time on the exercise bike, but it hasn't counted, because I don't count the miles on the exercise bike, but with Zwift it captures those miles. So I think it actually better represents the physical activity that I'm doing.

Tom Butler: 13:03

Yes, and then the third thing is that at night, watching something a football game or whatever instead of being out in the dark and cycling, which I'm not a hundred percent crazy about. Then you know, cold and windy, dark winter night, being on the exercise bike is really nice, or being on the trainer is really nice being on the exercise bike is really nice or being on the trainer is really nice. Yes, and so that's also been accounted for some of the miles. Okay, so you know, to just kind of wrap that up, I fell short 400, some miles, and I also, if I was going to just strictly calculate road miles, there's probably another 400 miles in there, calculate road miles, there's probably another 400 miles in there, you know. So I kind of fell. I fell way short of what I thought I was going to be doing when I set that 10 mile a day goal in for 2024.

Kelly Butler: 13:58

How much of that was because you didn't complete the ride across Washington.

Tom Butler: 14:01

Well, that's a good question, but I felt when I set that mileage that I should be able to do 10 miles a day, and the ride across Washington was going to be gravy on top of that.

Kelly Butler: 14:15

Oh, I see Okay.

Tom Butler: 14:16

As I got closer to the ride Washington and I had not done 10 miles a day up to that point I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to make up, you know, hundreds of miles on this ride across Washington. And then you know that was kind of a spectacular face plant, you know, and I I've talked about that in a previous episode, but you know that was, that was a goal that I had for 2024. That did not happen. So you know, there were miles there that if I would have completed that I would have been over the top with my mileage goal. But and that was not actually I wasn't thinking about that when I was thinking about 10 miles a day.

Kelly Butler: 15:02

Yeah, as a bystander, it appeared to me like life got in the way of you getting on a bike, as much as you want it to be. Somehow, life was just allowed to interfere.

Tom Butler: 15:13

I think that's right and I'm going to talk about that in a bit.

Kelly Butler: 15:16

Oh, okay. Well, okay, as your host. I'll let you talk about it later. Okay, Well, okay, as your host. I'll let you talk about it later, okay.

Tom Butler: 15:25

Now there's the elevation goal that I set. I set an elevation goal of 100,000 feet of elevation, gain 100,000. Okay, and that I did achieve.

Kelly Butler: 15:39

Oh, good job.

Tom Butler: 15:41

Thank you, and you know the 7,000 feet or whatever I did on the two days that I rode across Washington that contributed to that.

Kelly Butler: 15:51

Yes, 10,000. That was a lot of uphill. I'm just going to say as a bystander once again, that was brutal.

Tom Butler: 15:58

As my support vehicle driver.

Kelly Butler: 16:00

It looked brutal, I'll have to say brutal as my support vehicle driver.

Tom Butler: 16:05

It looked brutal, I have to say. Well, I would like it to be not as brutal in the future, because one thing that made it brutal for me was the pain in my knees. You know I, I don't know what it would have been like without my knees just screaming in pain the whole time. I'm sure I still it would not. You know I, I would have felt it for sure. But yeah, yeah. Yeah, and.

Kelly Butler: 16:27

I'm hopefully going to work that out. Well, I was seriously proud of you for getting over the pass and making it to Winthrop that day. That was impressive to me as your wife.

Tom Butler: 16:37

Well, thank you, yeah, that feels good. Well, thank you, yeah, that feels good. There was another goal that I had, and this goal I filled spectacularly.

Kelly Butler: 16:50

Okay, let's hear it.

Tom Butler: 16:53

I had a goal of hitting the gym two times a week.

Kelly Butler: 16:57

Ooh yeah, this has been my secret goal Not secret, even a little secret goal for you, from the very first episode.

Tom Butler: 17:05

You have been very consistent for years really before this that I need to build total body muscle strength.

Kelly Butler: 17:15

Yep.

Tom Butler: 17:16

And I sat two times a week thinking no problem, mm-hmm, and I failed in a spectacular way.

Kelly Butler: 17:26

Okay, so how are you going to fix that?

Tom Butler: 17:28

That's a really good question.

Kelly Butler: 17:29

Thank you.

Tom Butler: 17:30

The first question is how many miles do I want to set as a goal for 2025? I feel like keeping the same goal. I feel like the 10 miles a day for now is a good goal to keep.

Kelly Butler: 17:47

How about 10 miles a day, six days a week? Is that too easy?

Tom Butler: 17:52

I'm not looking to ride seven days a week. When I say 10 miles a day, I'm not looking to ride seven days a week, I'm looking to get in, you know, basically 70 miles a week. I feel like that's a little bit of a cop-out because I've got the trainer, so I'm going to be adding trainer miles, so it should be really easy for me to get 10 miles in. You know, 70 miles a week in.

Kelly Butler: 18:21

I think it's a good goal because you really have to ramp up your gym time. I mean not that you have to do long, lengthy workouts, but it needs to be. It's going to take time and it needs to be consistent, and time is a factor in this whole journey.

Tom Butler: 18:39

Time has become a factor for sure, and I've got to figure that out. So, yeah, I think I'm going to keep it at the 2025, the goal of doing 3650 miles.

Tom Butler: 18:53

Again, I'm going to keep that okay now, if people want to, you know people can leave a comment. They can send a comment a comment to instagram also on the strava club. You know I love the strava comment. They can send a comment to Instagram, also on the Strava Club. You know I love the Strava Club. If you're not a member of the Strava Club, you know, consider joining. It's so fun. People are so supportive. I just really appreciate that and want to do more with the Strava Club in 2025. That's more about what I'm wanting to accomplish before the end of season three, but you know I want to in 2025, I do want to see more things happening with the Strava Club. Now I have to consider what to do about the 100,000 feet of elevation goal. I made that, so it doesn't seem like it's right to keep that goal, even though it's not easy for me to get that climbing in.

Kelly Butler: 19:53

Well, especially if you're not planning to ride across the state and get massive amounts of elevation in a few days, it might not be a reasonable goal, given where you typically train.

Tom Butler: 20:05

The truth of the matter is that that was only 7,000 feet of the 100,000 feet, so not having that doesn't make a gigantic difference.

Kelly Butler: 20:18

Why would you want to increase that?

Tom Butler: 20:20

To challenge myself. You know climbing is the most challenging thing I do, going out and riding a long ways. It has become more challenging because of the time To spend three hours on the bike these days. That's difficult from a time perspective.

Kelly Butler: 20:38

It certainly is. There are other things in life that need to happen. Increasing the amount of time on the bike, I don't think is a reasonable goal. I think you spend a lot of time on the bike.

Tom Butler: 20:49

You know, that time thing I'm going to have to figure out Because there's also going to be some things that I'm adding to life here, hopefully next month. That's going to take time. So you know, I've got to figure out that time thing. I just don't have as much flexibility as I used to have. You know, that's a big deal. I know that I want to challenge myself, to go over more, and I believe I have it in me that I can go more than 100,000 feet. The question is, how much more?

Kelly Butler: 21:19

I know you have it in you. I know you could do more is how much more? I know you have it in you. I know you could do more. If you had all the time in the world, you could do a lot more. So the question is, is it a holistically sound goal?

Tom Butler: 21:31

And I'm going to say yes to that. The reason for that is, I believe, the physiological changes that I'm trying to make, where I get my muscles to do a better job of burning glucose, to do a better job of utilizing energy. I think that climbing has more to do with that than maybe anything. You know, I think the physiological challenge of climbing is an important thing for me to have to improve my energy utilization. There's conversations that I need to have about that with people that know a lot more and maybe that could shift it, but I think climbing is important.

Kelly Butler: 22:14

So do you have specific health goals and if so, how do these goals that you're making to me kind of randomly fit into the overall health goals, goals that you're making to me kind of randomly fit into the overall health goals.

Tom Butler: 22:48

For 2024, my health goal was focused on weight and, like I said at the time, I felt that my weight was an indicator of visceral fat. I felt like that was the biggest thing I could do for my health is to eliminate visceral fat. There is an interesting aspect of this. When I set my goals for 2024, so December 28th 2023, I weighed 207 pounds. At that time, I set as a goal for 2024 to get down to 195 pounds and again my thought there was being more lean meant less visceral fat. Along the way, in 2024, I changed that perspective and I felt like maintaining around 200, which I am still around 200 was a more important thing than getting down to 195. My health goals for 2025 are more complex and it kind of goes along with the focus of the season of season three on looking at individualized medicine. I've done testing, I'm working with Dr Wes Youngberg, kind of looking at my health status at a more cellular level or more individualized approach, and so my health goals are more complex.

Kelly Butler: 24:15

Okay, so what does that mean for 2025?

Tom Butler: 24:19

Right now. I believe it comes down to two things for 2025. I would say the number one priority is figuring out how to get my body producing more insulin. That's the number one thing that I'm focused on right now. So there's things to do for that. I don't think cycling gets in the way of any of that. I think only cycling, you know, improves my overall health, you know. So I don't think it interferes with trying to improve the function of my pancreas.

Kelly Butler: 24:54

Okay. So my amateur opinion here is that if you're going to be ramping up gym work and ramping up miles and elevation, well, you're not ramping up miles, you said, but elevation you're going to need to be intentional about recovery, because that's where your gains come.

Tom Butler: 25:15

You know, I agree 100%, and I need to have more conversations about recovery. There's something that goes along with figuring out how to get my pancreas to function better, and that is until I can do that. I've got to figure out how to burn glucose up. You know so what to do after meals, everything. So I definitely think that doing a lot of cycling is very beneficial as a way of burning up glucose.

Kelly Butler: 25:47

Okay.

Tom Butler: 25:48

Now, as far as my weight is concerned, I am planning on switching my diet up. Are you okay with that? Yes, why are you okay with that?

Kelly Butler: 26:01

Well, I've been wanting to try that switch up for a while.

Tom Butler: 26:04

Yeah at that. Well, I've been wanting to try that switch up for a while. Yeah, I'm nervous about it, you know. But I'm looking to switch to a very low fat diet and I'm going to tell you my concerns about this. I don't want to learn lose muscle mass, so I am nervous that it will reduce my calories by going low fat, and I'll be. I'll start burning muscle for for energy.

Kelly Butler: 26:30

I understand. I think we're going to be able to do a transition where that will not be an issue.

Tom Butler: 26:35

Part of your thought there is that athletes are on this low fat program and they are not losing muscle.

Kelly Butler: 26:44

Diabetic athletes.

Tom Butler: 26:45

Diabetic athletes are on this program and they're not losing muscle, correct? I do believe that I want to get down to 195 at one point and I do believe that has been very beneficial for me to maintain around 200 for a long time and let my body get used to being at 200 pounds. Having the fat whatever the body reacts to of being at 200 pounds for a long time, I do, in 2025, want to get down to 195. So as soon as we get done with this transition and see what the deal is, then I'm going to be looking at slowly reducing calories or something to get down to 195. And that might take six months, I don't know, but that is a goal that I have, right Sweet, and I'm going to keep people posted, like this transition, and you know it might be a disaster. It's potentially a disaster because I've had success doing what I'm doing. So stay tuned on this transition that host Kelly Butler is really pushing.

Kelly Butler: 27:56

Hey, I quit pushing it a long time ago.

Tom Butler: 27:58

Okay. So anybody that's married out there, I think, understands the silent pushing that happens in marriages. So you have not openly been pushing it but anyhow. So with that, that transition is going to happen. I'm going to be talking about that transition on the podcast, yeah, Now it comes to the problem solving time of this, because I've got to figure out the the weight lifting, specifically the upper body weight lifting part. You know I'm going to set two days a week again as a goal.

Kelly Butler: 28:41

Yeah, I think that's reasonable.

Tom Butler: 28:43

It should be reasonable, so I should have been able to it last time. Here's a couple things that I think need to be factored in on this. People can go to March 21st. There is an episode called Behavior Change for Good, and I feel like that is a really awesome episode. In that episode, I interviewed Sean Ellis, and he is a PhD researcher with the Behavior Change for Good Research Initiative, and there's just a lot of good information about how to make changes.

Tom Butler: 29:19

There are things that I'm going to be going back over with Behavior Change for Good and and kind of rolling those out to try to make sure that I can make my goal of two times a week. I think that's an important thing. Important strategy in order to make this is to re-evaluate those things, review those things. But there's also, not too long ago, I started reading a book called Atomic Habits, and that book has this really interesting aspect of it.

Tom Butler: 29:50

One of the most important things that you can do is to have an identity that aligns with your goals. So, like with cycling, I consider myself a cyclist now, and so that identity as a cyclist is very important for me to continue to keep cycling, and not long ago, we had an episode looking at are we a cycling family? And I think saying yes to that that's very powerful. As far as me making my cycling goals, however, I don't have an identity like I'm a weightlifter, and so I need to come up with some kind of thing there, and I don't need to do that right now. But I think, in addition to looking at behavior change for good strategies, I need to be thinking about what is the identity piece and is weightlifting part of my cycling identity? If you're going to be a cyclist, do you need to be a weightlifter, which I think is a very interesting concept that I need to have more conversations about?

Kelly Butler: 30:56

So are you primarily a cyclist or are you primarily a health enthusiast who's using cycling as an important piece of that goal? But it's not the entire piece of that goal. It can't be the entire piece of that goal.

Tom Butler: 31:09

I have a desire to be fit. I love cycling, so cycling is an important part of that overall fitness program. I don't think that statement is enough. I think saying I'm a cyclist is a stronger statement and I think that has led me to be able to keep up my cycling. I don't think it's enough for me to say I want to be fit. I think it has been beneficial for me to say I'm a cyclist and I do cycling things like STP and all kinds of different rides. I go on cycling vacations because I'm a cyclist. I think that has been very important for me to maintain my cycling.

Kelly Butler: 31:51

Well then there's potential for your weightlifting to interfere with your identity, because, as a cyclist, a lot of upper body bulk is not necessarily a good thing.

Tom Butler: 32:00

I'm not a professional cyclist, and even that statement right there. I think there's a lot of conversations about that, about professional cyclists having upper body strength and why that's important now I certainly am not an expert in that.

Kelly Butler: 32:18

I just see them as professionals, as being very, very skinny up they seem skinny everywhere they seem skinny everywhere for sure, but I don't know that that's. I don't think, I don't know that that is a good longevity strategy at all to be that way. So that's why I'm asking you are you primarily a cyclist, or are you primarily someone who is dedicated to optimizing your health as long as you can?

Tom Butler: 32:40

I think that you're missing a distinction. Me saying I'm a cyclist does not mean I'm a professional cyclist, so that means that I'm not doing what needs to be done to win cycling races. So it's not. I don't think that mass element, you know, upper body mass or even overall body mass, that's not as big of a thing for me. However, here is one thing that I think has to be taken into account. I believe my inability to get glucose into my muscles. That interferes with my cycling.

Kelly Butler: 33:16

Yes.

Tom Butler: 33:17

And I also believe that by building muscle mass all over, I believe that I'm seeing that that can create better energy utilization all over your body, not just in the specific muscle that you're using.

Kelly Butler: 33:37

Right.

Tom Butler: 33:37

So if I want to be a better cyclist, if I'm a cyclist and I want to be a better cyclist, then I think it's really justifiable to say that upper body muscle building will lead to me to be a better cyclist.

Kelly Butler: 33:52

Okay, so you can include it in your cycling identity. Is what you're saying?

Tom Butler: 33:56

I think so Okay, I've got to do some work around that. You know, right now, if I don't get out on the bike and go for a ride, I feel like I'm not doing like my life, like getting out and being on a bike to me is living life. Staying away from the gym, I don't feel like I'm not living life. I feel like I'm just avoiding pain.

Kelly Butler: 34:23

Okay, well, go back to atomic habits to find a way to make it a habit so that it just happens.

Tom Butler: 34:28

Well, I think, go back to behavior change for Good. Okay, review that and then learn more about atomic habits and what the author Atomic Habits has to say. So that's going to be a big part of 2025. Is that element of habit change, and I'll be talking about that on the podcast.

Kelly Butler: 34:48

And I'm assuming you would prefer that I not use the wife nagging you approach to getting you to do that.

Tom Butler: 34:56

I don't know, I can't say, I don't want to be nagged, because maybe that's the secret.

Kelly Butler: 35:03

No, I don't. It's not fun, that's not part of it, sorry. Okay, do you feel like you're at the point now where you can succinctly summarize your goals for 2025 to make it the most it can?

Tom Butler: 35:18

be? I think so. So first of all, I'm going to maintain 70 miles a week, 10 miles a day, basically average goal so 3,650 miles. I'm going to focus on that.

Kelly Butler: 35:33

Okay.

Tom Butler: 35:33

I'm also going to only bump up my climbing goal by 10%, so I'm going to focus on 110,000 miles of elevation gain.

Kelly Butler: 35:47

Okay.

Tom Butler: 35:48

And I'm setting a goal of twice a week in the gym building upper body strength and also some lower body strength in the gym. I need to figure that out, but primarily focused on upper body strength. Okay, as far as a health goal in 2025, it's all about figuring out how do I feed myself the best way. So that's what 2025 is all about is really dialing in how I'm feeding myself.

Kelly Butler: 36:14

Very cool.

Tom Butler: 36:15

So those are my goals.

Kelly Butler: 36:16

Sounds good. Well, tom, it has been such a pleasure having you on the Cycling Over 60 podcast. Thank you for taking the time to join me, and I look forward to experience this part of your journey with you this year. And we'll talk more later.

Tom Butler: 36:30

You have been a wonderful host, you know, and I will come on. Anytime you're hosting Cycle Leverage 60 podcast, I will come on.

Kelly Butler: 36:40

Well, thank you. I probably am not going to do it a lot, but it's been fun. So thank you once again. You've been a delightful guest.

Tom Butler: 36:48

Well, thank you so much, Bye now.

Kelly Butler: 36:50

Bye. Well, there you have it. That was fun for me to review Tom's last year with him. Of course, I've been living it every day with him, so I have been able to see the effort he puts in, day with him. So I have been able to see the effort he puts in, the consistency he puts in and constantly hearing the stats and the personal records that are pretty consistent, and watching him on the rides. He's done and he's just been getting stronger and stronger and that is a really cool thing to see your husband getting healthier and stronger all the time. And, of course, I did live the disappointment of the ride across Washington with him, which was tough to watch and tough to see because it was such a disappointment for him and I was hoping he wouldn't just focus on the failure. I was proud of how he moved through that, embraced what he did accomplish and what he learned, and I'm very proud of him for what he did on that attempt.

Kelly Butler: 37:54

And as he talked about making the most of 2025, I'm very excited to hear him to recommitting to increasing upper body strength and working out in the gym or at home, however that works out. I'm also excited to see what the diet change does. I can't obviously guarantee it's going to make a big difference for him, but I'm very excited to see him trying something new. That whole process of switching up his diet is going to be interesting for me as he talks about his goals for the upcoming year in 2025, the areas that I feel may be challenging for him are going to be, obviously, as we discussed, going to the gym, finding out what's going to work for him. He doesn't have the same joy of lifting weights as he does getting on the bike, so it will be an interesting journey to find what's going to work best. Is it going to be working out at home, at the gym? How to get that in the routine, how to make that happen automatically? That's going to be a challenge, but I think he's up to it.

Kelly Butler: 38:53

Also, initially, switching the diet, I think, is going to be a challenge, but I do believe that as time goes on, it will become easier and he'll enjoy it. One thing for sure is I will be with him by his side as he works on these changes, because I really appreciate the effort he puts into his health, because it has a huge impact on my health and my daughter's health, and our family, friends and community. It has a huge impact and I appreciate him placing value and putting effort into that in a serious way. I hope all of you were able to reach your goals in 2024. And as you cycle through the next year, you will see improved health, increased strength and many fun adventures. And remember age is just a gear change. Bye.