One of the most common excuses for not riding, is finding time to ride. With demands coming from all over including family, work and otherwise, it’s often difficult for us to make time to ride in our busy schedule. Maximizing time riding to keep you happy and fit can be difficult for the time starved, so we’ve compiled a list of top tips to help you fit some training in.
Lunch Time Rides:
Often the lunch break has to be wrapped up in 30 minutes, if you even get chance to stop at all. But if you can extend your lunch break out to an hour or slightly over, you can easily knock out a tempo session to get the heart pumping and knock out some of the stress from the mornings work.
Gym bikes are fantastic for this but you can always find a quiet section of road or cycle path, create a loop and hammer round as if it’s your own personal crit race. You could even mix it up and try different things to improve skills on the bike.
— HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CYCLING BASE ENDURANCE —
Extend Your Commute:
Commuting by bike has a lot of benefits, but one is the fitness aspect. If you can kill two birds with one stone then everyone’s a winner. Extending the commute by 15/20 minutes can offer a fitness benefit with time you didn’t think you had. If you can fit some intervals or a full gas effort into the extra time then it’ll certainly fast track your fitness.
Often it’s best to find a quiet stretch of road or a route without many traffic lights to make sure that you’re getting some quality riding and it’s less stop/start, but the extra time should allow you to do that.
— 10 REASONS COMMUTING BY BIKE IS BRILLIANT —
Have your gear ready to go:
Caked in mud from the weekend, not quite out of the washing machine, spares all over the garage. These are all things that will take precious time from your ride. You want to be out there enjoying yourself, not scrambling round the house in a hurry.
When you have a bit of time getting your gear ready to go can make the difference between riding & having to miss out. You don’t want to miss the ride because you forgot to fix a slow puncture. Have your spares in one place, even consider not taking the rucksack – you’ll thank yourself for it.
— BEST FITNESS IMPROVEMENTS YOU CAN BUY —
Indoor Training:
There are a few benefits to training without ever leaving the house. You can set up a pain cave, turn the music up loud and reap the benefits of the open road. One of the main benefits of indoor training is that if you set out to do an hour ride, it takes exactly an hour. You don’t have to throw on endless kit, and it’s quick to set up. You can be on the bike and away in minimal time.
With platforms like Zwift you can train and ride with friends, join in with races and get all your intervals out of the way. You won’t take a wrong turn, get caught out by a headwind or end up being back late. And you can still nip back into the house to help out where required, you won’t look back!
— WHY YOU NEED A NEW BIKE FIT —
Ride With Your Family:
If you can’t beat them, join them…. or something like that. If you’re struggling to get the kids looked after or plan a fun activity, taking the family out cycling is a great way to combine the two. As they grow you’ll be able to ride further and further and incorporate more fun. Though it’s not flat out intervals, you’ll soon clock up the miles, especially if the kids are on the back or front of your bike!
If you can all cycle a safe route to school, you’ll be able to get your training clocked off on the way back or to the office once they’re dropped off. Combining a few things to save time is definitely your ally here.
We hope some of these tricks let you find a bit of space to keep healthy in the busy periods life throws your way!
