We shouldn’t feel excessive admiration for pro racers who log
600-mile weeks. They have plenty of time to ride and recover —
that’s their job. The real heroes are people like you, who find
time to ride while still having a life away from the bike.
Full-time work, family commitments and cycling can be
efficiently interwoven into your busy day. All it takes to schedule
everything into 24 hours is maximum use of time-budgeting
techniques.
Here’s where to look for time slots that can accommodate your
love for riding:
Commuting
Riding your bike to work or school and back may be the best
way to create cycling time.
When you commute by bike, time normally spent sitting in a car is
used productively as part of the training day. An eight-mile
ride to work or school takes about 30 minutes each way. Even if you
do no other riding, that’s still an hour of cycling each weekday.
The trip home can be lengthened as much as time, daylight and
energy allow.
Another benefit is arriving
at your job refreshed and alert. It may be tough to get up earlier
for the ride in, but the physical and mental lift of exercise will
carry you through that 10 a.m. letdown that your sedentary
colleagues experience. Then you ride home, clearing cobwebs and
blowing away job-related frustrations. You’re refreshed and ready
for evening responsibilities or family fun.
Commuting Logistics
Play on the way
home.
Scout out a longer route and ride for an hour or more as time and
commitments allow. Do intervals, time trials, or hit the hills hard
to get a great workout while you’re homeward bound.
If commuting simply
won't work for you, here are two popular options:
Early Bird Special
Consider an early-morning workout. By the middle of March
it’s usually light enough to get in a ride before work. At dawn
there are few cars on the road and the day is brightening every
minute.
Getting up in the pre-dawn hour may be the ultimate test of whether
you really want to ride. Roll out of bed the minute the alarm rings
and don’t think about anything. The longer you lie there moaning
about how early it is, the harder it is to extricate yourself from
the sheets.
Sleep loss is the biggest risk. Make up the deficit with an earlier
bedtime because it’s vital to get enough rest. Lack of sleep can
lead to deep fatigue and poor performance in everything you do.
Evening Rides
If your schedule prohibits riding most of the day,
try from 9 to 10 or 10:30 p.m. For most people, the kids are in
bed, the chores around the house complete, and you’re probably
wasting time watching TV.
To make this work, eat a moderate dinner at 6 or 7 p.m., allowing
the food to digest by riding time. As an additional benefit this
provides motivation not to overeat.
Riding in the dark used to be dangerous because lights were poor.
You couldn’t see road hazards clearly, and motorists couldn’t see
you. Modern lighting systems make night riding safer, but it’s
still smart to use lighted parks or suburban streets if they’re
available.
This article
is provided courtesy of RoadBikeRider.com and was written by its
co-founder Fred Matheny (left). Fred was the
Training and Fitness Editor of Bicycling Magazine for a
decade, has written many books on cycling including Fred
Matheny's Complete Book Of Road Bike Training; and is a
world-record-holding roadie.
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