# During The Week



## RatBikeRod (Jun 27, 2019)

Hey, guys, where do you find the energy during the week to ride?

I can typically ride quite a bit on the weekend, but after a long day I am just too tired and hungry to ride during the week.

Anyone got a formula for this?

I was thinking about trying to leave an hour early on Wednesdays to get some saddle time in. 

Thoughts?

I put this here because I will turn 59 this month and figure part of my problem is age.


----------



## hsakkire (Mar 6, 2010)

The hunger part can be addressed by eating of course but it may also help with energy levels. 

I like, when possible, to eat small healthy snacks throughout the day to maintain energy and quell hunger.

I also find that no matter how tired I feel, I feel much better after forcing myself to ride. The first step is usually the hardest. 

I hope that helps. 

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk


----------



## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

It can be tough for sure, when I have a ride planned for after work it seems like a good idea around lunch time but after 5 o'clock chilling out with a beer and some food sounds a lot better and it's really tempting to skip the ride. Always another day eh?

It may sound dumb, and probably terrible to some but I have my rides scheduled on a calendar (training peaks) and if I skip one the square on that date won't turn green. My ocd tendencies can't handle that so even if I'm beat I climb on the bike anyway, and 10 minutes into the ride I'm always glad that I did.

I'm not sure age is to blame, I'm 59 too and my habits and weaknesses have always been similar.


----------



## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

I can't talk myself into after work rides, so some friends and I go before work several times a week. In bed by 10pm and on the trail by 5:30am year-round allows for 90-120 minutes of riding and still being at my desk by 8 or 8:30am. It also gives me additional energy for the rest of the day. I'm only 55, but this has been a pretty successful formula for the past several years for me.


----------



## orvil (Feb 19, 2016)

I'm 59 as well and don't think of age as a detriment to post-work rides. I have a group ride planned for Wednesday evenings so that makes it easier to be motivated. I do have the luxury of being in my office by 6:00 am every morning so I get home earlier and I'm not rushed to get a ride in. Biggest factor though is my home trails are right out of my back yard with my garage as the trailhead. Easy to get in a 5-6 mile afternoon ride. Also 20+ miles of gravel less than a mile from my neighborhood. If I didn't have such easy access I might be a little more reluctant.


----------



## ddoh (Jan 11, 2017)

To the OP: I've found that even on the days that I REALLY don't feel like riding after a hard day, after about 10 minutes or so on the bike everything changes and I'm so glad I forced myself to go. Also, a non-sugary Clif Bar (getting harder to find) helps for the hunger thing.


----------



## d365 (Jun 13, 2006)

Yeah, you mostly never regret it, once you're out on the trail. Very, very few times I'd wished I'd just stayed home.... usually involves a stupid crash from being too tired and being careless.

I go through ebbs and flows of being really into riding as many days as I can get away, and not feeling like riding much at all. It usually follows the seasons. Fall and Spring, I just can't get enough riding. Weather is perfect. Winter is ok, if I can get away in the middle of the work day, which I do pretty regularly. Summer is just pretty brutal to ride here. 

I just do what I feel like doing. Forcing myself to go ride often enough starts to feel like training, and once it feels like training, I get burned out pretty quick. Usually always down for a ride on the weekend though. Couple weeks off the bike, and I'm jonesing again to ride as much as possible.


----------



## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

for me it depends a lot on the work I'm doing.

I had a job a few years ago that put me in a decent spot to do evening rides in the summertime. Problem was, it was a pretty physically demanding job with 4x10hr shifts per week. So while I might feel good after a shift, after a 1-2hr after work ride, I'd be absolutely destroyed for the next few days. So for that job, I simply couldn't handle an energetic mtb ride during the week. Plus side was that every weekend was a 3 day weekend and I could get PLENTY of riding on those days.

I've never really been a morning person, so dragging myself out of bed for an early ride has always been hard. So it tends to be rare. So if work isn't too physically demanding, an evening ride will do well for me.


----------



## Scott O (Aug 5, 2004)

I'd just like to chime in that in the long term, cocaine is not the best solution.


----------



## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Leave early on Wed's. for sure if it gets you out more often. And as mentioned, bring in an afternoon healthy snack for work so you're not hungry for your ride. 

I generally find that even if not 100% energized, once I'm out I start to get into a groove. There's definitely a mental component to it granted that you're truly not physically exhausted.


----------



## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Scott O said:


> I'd just like to chime in that in the long term, cocaine is not the best solution.


It's a helluva drug...


----------



## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

One other motivator for me is peer pressure. If I have a ride scheduled with others I am more likely to get out than when I try to motivate myself. This is how I convince myself to get out for our Wednesday night club rides and for the pre-dawn rides when the temperatures are in the single digits Fahrenheit.

Having a good lunch and a decent non-sugary afternoon snack and making sure you are well hydrated for the afternoon ride a should help with the energy / hunger issues.


----------



## natas1321 (Nov 4, 2017)

I usually start my day off with a ride and work afterwards. 

Sent from my moto g(7) supra using Tapatalk


----------



## RatBikeRod (Jun 27, 2019)

orvil said:


> I'm 59 as well and don't think of age as a detriment to post-work rides. I have a group ride planned for Wednesday evenings so that makes it easier to be motivated. I do have the luxury of being in my office by 6:00 am every morning so I get home earlier and I'm not rushed to get a ride in. Biggest factor though is my home trails are right out of my back yard with my garage as the trailhead. Easy to get in a 5-6 mile afternoon ride. Also 20+ miles of gravel less than a mile from my neighborhood. If I didn't have such easy access I might be a little more reluctant.


This is one big part as I have to go somewhere out of the burbs to ride. So my afternoon riding will be local surface streets. Not that enthusiastic bout that either....


----------



## RatBikeRod (Jun 27, 2019)

sgltrak said:


> One other motivator for me is peer pressure. If I have a ride scheduled with others I am more likely to get out than when I try to motivate myself. This is how I convince myself to get out for our Wednesday night club rides and for the pre-dawn rides when the temperatures are in the single digits Fahrenheit.
> 
> Having a good lunch and a decent non-sugary afternoon snack and making sure you are well hydrated for the afternoon ride a should help with the energy / hunger issues.


This is probably another big factor, I ride alone right now 100% of the time. I have no buddies who ride bicycles. All of them are bikers, but the motor kind. I have plenty of chance to take my scoot out I need to find more bicycling friends, and preferably not roadies.

I would really like to find a group of gravel guys. That would be perfect.


----------



## fredcook (Apr 2, 2009)

RatBikeRod said:


> Hey, guys, where do you find the energy during the week to ride?
> 
> I can typically ride quite a bit on the weekend, but after a long day I am just too tired and hungry to ride during the week.
> 
> Anyone got a formula for this?


My formula... a desk job!  Nothing motivates me more to go for a ride every day after work than sitting around all day at my desk dealing with stress, even at the age of 60. My weekday routine for several years now... 45 minute 5 AM jog, sit at my desk all day starting at 6 AM (live central time, work eastern time), load the bike for a ride at 3:15 PM. Ride length depends on the time of year (when it gets dark), which can be anything from an 1 1/2 hours to four+ hours. The AM jog is consistently Mon-Fri, the rides are 4-5 times during the week. Weather here is mild enough to ride all year 'round, although I don't do rain (doesn't rain that much here). For fuel, I do nibble carbs throughout the day... some good, some bad. I don't eat carbs all day for fuel, I eat 'em 'cause I like 'em. Yeah, so that's my weekday "formula". Nothing special or ground breaking. Weekends... different routine. No jogging, try to get in 1-2 longer rides.

At 40, I wondered how much longer I could keep this up. Asked myself the same at 50. At 60, I didn't bother asking, just going to keep going. I do really believe my tag line...


----------



## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

I'm also in the _force yourself to do it - never sorry once I'm out there_ camp. I normally take a bike to work with me and stop on my drive home or drive to a nearby trail or greenway/road. And yes, after work I'll always ask myself, "do I really want to ride, I don't feel like it?" but I just push past that and ride. But, with covid I've been working from home and NOT riding after work, though at the beginning I was riding some little trails I built on my property. Now my issue is too much garden/yard work sucking up my afterwork time.


----------



## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

Not exactly answering the OP's question, but I MUCH prefer weekday MTBing to the overcrowded sh*tshow our trails have become on weekends. That alone would motivate me.


----------



## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

chazpat said:


> Now my issue is too much garden/yard work sucking up my afterwork time.


Yup! Does it take you long to get those things done? I can mow our yard (push mower) in under an hour, but the rest of our property is gardens. I do enjoy the work, but the mowing gets old over time.


----------



## Zguitar71 (Nov 8, 2020)

I work 10 hour days in the summer which makes riding hard. I commute on my bike so I still get a ride in every day. One thing I have found is when I leave work and I take my 6 mile commute home if I don’t stop and continue past my house to the mountain I ride I can keep going for a couple of hours. I’m lucky I live 2.8 miles from the trailheads to quite a few trails. If I stop into my house then I’m done and I won’t get back on. I cannot ride daily but I can manage one good ride during the 4 day week. When it gets super hot out then I won’t make a ride. I have thought about a pre work ride on the hot days. The daylight starts around 5:30 am so I could get an hour ride in. I’m also lucky that my weekends are 3 days so I can get some good ride time in then too. Commuting on my bike has really helped me feel like I ride a lot even if it really isn’t comparable to hitting the trails.


----------



## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

Crankout said:


> Yup! Does it take you long to get those things done? I can mow our yard (push mower) in under an hour, but the rest of our property is gardens. I do enjoy the work, but the mowing gets old over time.


It's still the part of the year when I think I can actually win the battle of the weeds.

After our great success with the vegetable garden last year, we have greatly expanded it. My wife started literally hundreds of veggies from seed so I'm still creating new places to stick them and building more trellises. And still lots of English Ivy and privet to pull. And of course, every time I'm working on something, my wife starts spouting out a half dozen more things I need to do and "ride your bike more" never makes that list.


----------



## rob214 (Apr 18, 2019)

my work day starts a 6am, I try to eat small but often through out the day, I think enthusiasm is more of a key than anything else. some days after spending a lot of energy I just don't want to do anything. I'm a welder and 58. I usually keep a gym bag in the truck and try to get at least a 30 minute workout a few times a week but when it's hot out I usually stop mtb riding and do more road biking and gym stuff, southern Louisiana is hot and humid most of the year and I hate the heat. can't wait to retire and move somewhere cooler and more mtb friendly.


----------



## nOOky (May 13, 2008)

Some of my best rides or runs after work have been when I'm feeling like crap, and I force myself to at least start and see how it goes. The worst part of it ends up being going by a house on the way back and smelling something someone is grilling, I want to stop in and steal a chicken leg off of thier grill.


----------



## ripn (Mar 31, 2004)

The key for me has always been to bring my bike and gear to work with me and head out straight from there. If I go home, good chance I won’t leave again. Almost never “feel” like riding after work, but that goes away a mile or two in. Always glad I went.


----------



## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

chazpat said:


> It's still the part of the year when I think I can actually win the battle of the weeds.
> 
> After our great success with the vegetable garden last year, we have greatly expanded it. My wife started literally hundreds of veggies from seed so I'm still creating new places to stick them and building more trellises. And still lots of English Ivy and privet to pull. And of course, every time I'm working on something, my wife starts spouting out a half dozen more things I need to do and "ride your bike more" never makes that list.


Good luck with the garden....that's a good sized one it sounds. We dug out a small one last year for veggies; probably 4x8 or so. The rest of our gardens are flowers, shrubs, herbs, etc. We're going to add in a relatively small water feature soon.


----------



## MrIcky (Oct 2, 2007)

Mornings is the secret for me. I always got frustrated trying to plan after work rides because something always seemed to come up. Now I just go in the morning. I take short rides but I try to absolutely go as fast as I think I can take it for about an hour loop. Then 1 long weekend ride. Seems to work out pretty well and my whole day just seems better on ride days.


----------

