Can you stay in shape by only going out on weekends?

When we ride a bike, to a greater or lesser extent, we all want to improve because in cycling there is a maxim: you truly enjoy it when you decide the pace and not the road. Depending on what our goals are on the bike, we will need more or less training to achieve them.

Is it possible to improve on the bike without having to live on top of it?

Cycling is both a grateful and slave sport. The first because with very little we can face routes of several tens of kilometers, at our own pace and enjoy that incomparable pleasure that the bike provides when we are discovering new corners only with the strength of our legs.

But it becomes a tyrant sport when we want to go further and maintain a progression. Then, it requires a dedication that demands hours and hours to reach a point where advances are increasingly slower and, if we also stop training, everything achieved is lost very easily.

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Between these two extremes there is a almost infinite number of types of cyclists, each with their goals and ambitions on the bike. Although some may say they don't want to improve, that they just ride a bike, the truth is that anyone who likes cycling knows that the better the physical shape, the more enjoyable the pedaling.

How much do I have to ride?

Often, one of the aspects that most discourages those who approach cycling is the time required to have a certain level of fitness. However, as we said before, there are many approaches to cycling and not everything has to be planned training, with watts, intervals, and the like. When the level is more or less low, just riding a bike already means an improvement.

In this first step we would have to include what the Anglo-Saxons know as "weekend warriors", the weekend cyclists who surely make up the bulk of those who ride a bike. Many of them aspire only to enjoy those hours of disconnection after a hard work week, in the company of family or friends. Often the lack of time during the week is the limiting factor to keep improving and to be much more comfortable on their weekend outings.

The first recommendation for these cyclists would be to introduce at least one day during the week, not necessarily for cycling, but for physical activity. Doing nothing from week to week means that whatever little we have gained on those Saturday and Sunday rides, we lose it in so many days of inactivity, not to mention if for some reason we don't go out on a weekend. The ideal would be at least an extra day of cycling during the week, even if it was only an hour. Something for which modern interactive rollers have become a tremendous ally and have managed to make many take that small leap in quality.

If cycling is impossible, engaging in some other complementary sport like running or going to the gym will make the difference between starting from scratch every week or having a minimum level of fitness that allows us to overcome the routes we set ourselves with some solvency.

Beyond that

In the next step are those who already manage to introduce one or two extra days of activity during the week. We are talking about people who pedal between 2 and 4 days a week. However, for many, this extra effort means making real calculations with their schedules and it is impossible for them to go further. It is time, since we cannot increase the training volume, to think about the other factor that determines the load we apply: intensity.

Seeking to make our outings not just riding a bike but turning them into training sessions is a tremendous qualitative leap that will allow us to take that step of starting to consider longer, harder routes, or even signing up for one of the many organized rides that take place.

If we already start training at least three days during the week plus the two on the weekend, we begin to enter a volume that starts to be interesting and with which we can achieve a level well above average to face tough routes and even participate in the major events on the calendar with the certainty that we will finish them without too many problems.

We are talking about a volume around 10-12 hours per week that may even be sufficient to have a very decent level if certain conditions are met. As always, the first is genetic predisposition. There are people who really need very little training volume to achieve a very high level of fitness, age is also a factor to consider here since as we get older we generally need more training to reach a certain level, but at the same time the recovery between efforts is worse so we would also need more rest, becoming a vicious circle.

In any case, experience is also a factor and those who have had a good physical level in the past are able to achieve a good level of fitness again without increasing the training volume too much. Of course, to make the most of these weekly hours, which are actually few compared to competition training, it is necessary to take care of oneself conscientiously, making the best possible use of the so-called invisible training, that is, taking care of nutrition, hydration, getting as much sleep as possible, etc.

With competition in mind

The definitive leap is to think about putting on a race number, a real one, not just to complete the route of an organized ride. Races are a world apart, only those who have competed know it. Here there are no half measures, it's time to train every day, if anything, there will be a rest day or an active rest day, but the bike becomes a priority in our lives.

Even if we don't intend to compete in the highest category but, like most, we aim to measure ourselves in the master categories, the truth is that in the last decade the level has risen so much, thanks to greater access to power meters, coaches, etc., that competing at a decent level is tremendously demanding so in addition to a strong will, taking care of ourselves and training meticulously with the guidance of a coach, we must have a focused enough mind to not only endure this discipline but also maintain a tremendous level of intensity during competition.

Of course, we cannot go from riding only on weekends to putting on a race number easily, it involves a process, often of years, in which the body gains resistance, we get to know ourselves better and interpret our sensations, learn to regulate effort, in short, we become cyclists. A long process in which there are no shortcuts but only the journey is worth it to know how far we want or can go.