Making Time for your Cycling Hobby

Bike News, Blog  | By Asgard

Making Time for your Cycling Hobby

Here at Asgard we make cycle sheds and we’re very proud of that. What the general public might not know is that many of us are also keen cyclists.

One of the main questions that comes up from the non-cyclists is “how do you find the time to cycle when our lives seem so busy”? This is a good question because once someone gets into cycling they can end up covering some impressive distances, which of course takes up some time. There’s also the fact that before you can cover great distances on a road bike, you need to build up your fitness, which takes some time and dedication.

Making time to get fit for cycling

To find out how to achieve a decent level of fitness we spoke to one of our cycle shed owners, who funnily enough is also a keen cyclist.

Randy is 44 years old and is an IT Helpdesk Manager, for a medium sized organisation. His working week is busy and his day usually starts at 6am or earlier depending on his workload and family responsibilities.

Randy tells us that he used to cycle to work, but recently his fitness has dropped, so he more or less uses the car to commute to work at the moment. However, the determined man that he is, Randy intends to get back to the level of fitness that saw him cycle 500 miles into the French Alps only a couple of years ago.

To regain this fitness Randy has a few pieces of ideas on how to use his free time efficiently, which makes his quest for fitness much easier.

Firstly having a cycle rack attached to his car means that he can cycle during his lunch break and even cycle home after work. He can then back to work the following morning and attach his bike back to the cycle rack on his car, to drive home. He can’t do this every day, but his objective is to be fit enough to cycle to and from work at least three out of his five working days. Randy lives for cycling he knows having his bike with him as much as possible, is going to help him get back to peak performance.

Another great piece of kit that is helping to improve Randy’s cycling performance is cycle rollers. He uses these in the evening in the comfort of his own home. This saves the effort of going out on the roads each night and means he can stay close to his family.

When Randy does have an evening free he goes does go out on the roads with his local cycling group, which is as much a social occasion as it is a challenge.

It is difficult sometimes finding the balance between work, family and cycling but with the right knowhow, equipment and life balance Randy’s cycling fitness doesn’t have to suffer. Even if it occasionally dips from time to time, due to other commitments.

The kit

You could say Randy is a cycling fanatic, so we asked Randy what have been some of his favourite cycling related purchases over the year. Here’s the list.

  • Helmet – for safety.
  • Reflective clothing – being seen on the road is imperative.
  • Garmin GPS - to track the training
  • Bag full of inner-tubes (Randy is always getting a roadside puncture)
  • Crank brothers mini pump – mini tool.
  • Water bottle – essential for rehydration.
  • Bag of jelly babies and a bag of nuts to keep up energy levels.

 

“Having the right gear before you go begin cycling is important. If you’re ready to go but have forgotten something, it could scupper your chances of going out for a ride. As many of us cyclists will identify, being unprepared means wasting precious time unnecessary, especially on our busy schedules”.


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