How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice Practice Practice!

and the same applies to successful cycling. As the saying goes "It's just like riding a bike, it all comes back to you." 
Riding my bike in my Senior Years is as close to being a kid again as any experience I've ever had. All of these riding tips are common sense but even common sense is learned. 
Here are my goals:

1. Physical Fitness
2. Healthy Weight
3. Stamina and Endurance
4. Reasonable Speed - a goal in terms of being able to stay up with my peers on road bikes and to ride in longer events without becoming exhausted.
5. Sign Up for Riding Events - The Assault on the Carolinas, the Fletcher Flyer and other events.Signing up for an Event creates an incentive to prepare for benchmark mileage; 25 miles, Metric Century, Full Century. If you never test yourself you'll never know.

Setting goals may seem obvious or silly but I need to remind myself from time to time that the goal is to be healthy and have fun and Not to get myself killed with reckless behavior ie. speeding headlong down a hill and skidding off into oblivion or into a car. (just because I feel like a kid doesn't mean I am one)
To achieve these goals and maintain fitness I have employed this method of training.
Ride every day for 1 hour maximizing effort to build endurance. To maximize effort I ride hilly routes on a heavy bike.
The Davis Mountain - Hebron Loop is one of my daily routes that takes about One Hour each Morning.
My Specialized Crosstrail with additional weights is about 65 lbs. My theory is that when I ride the Metrix10 @ 20 lbs it will feel that much lighter and faster.
Practice riding skills:
Hydrate Before and During the Ride
DownHill Lean into Turns:
-Right Turn - Lean Right-Extend Left Leg
-Left Turn - Lean Left- Extend Right Leg
I also UnClip for Safety - there is nothing worse than having your foot clipped in when you need to stop.
-Pedal through each rotation in circular motion-scrape back at bottom of stroke
-Pedal through not just to the top of hill then up-gear
Maintain Cadence or Pedaling Speed-Anticipate Up and Down Gearing to avoid extra straining or air pedaling
Relax My Shoulders and Grip
Stand up to Stretch and to Add Power for short bursts