Do you take a long time to get ready to go for a ride? Routine to do it as soon as possible
Surely we all have a group mate who is always late. And how many times have we felt that we are taking too long to get ready to go out on the bike. Good planning can help us reduce this time. We explain how.
Routine to reduce pre-ride time
When you ask cyclists about their training, the same topic always comes up. Many bitterly complain about the lack of time to ride a bike. A time that not only refers to the time we are pedaling, which in this sport is usually no less than 2 hours.
To that time we spend on the bike we have to add the time it takes to get ready to go out and the time afterwards between arriving home, showering, stretching...
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In the end, we realize that the bike demands a good amount of that commodity that for the vast majority, with the obligations imposed by the current pace of life, is a very scarce commodity.
Today we are going to talk about what you can do to be ready to ride in the shortest time possible.
Checklist
To reduce the time needed to be ready to pedal, the first thing we have to do is to be clear about what we need, what we have to take, or what we have to check. Many times we waste more time just thinking that we forgot something or going back and forth until we have everything ready.
To optimize this process, we are going to use a method taken from the world of aviation where making sure everything is correct is a necessity: checklists.
It's as simple as printing a list of steps that we have to take before going out with the bike on a sheet (well, there are also mobile applications that do the same function) and we will check them off as we complete them, for example: put GPS on the bike, fill bottles, inflate tires, house keys...
In this way, we always perform the same routine, which we can gradually improve by adding or removing steps, and based on repetition, we do it more and more agilely. In addition, we make sure that everything is correct and we don't forget anything.
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today
The preparation for the next ride begins when we finish the previous one. When we get home, we should anticipate what we might need. For example, if we have had a puncture, we will have to repair it and check that the spare parts bag is ready again. Nothing as frustrating as puncturing on the road and finding that the inner tube we carry in the little bag under the saddle is also punctured.
Since we are not going to do these tasks as soon as we get home, it is important that we keep it in mind so that it does not slip our minds. A small blackboard in the room where we keep the bike or a reminder on the phone will help us not to forget.
In addition to possible repairs, we should include post-ride routines among these tasks, for which we can also create a checklist, such as charging the cycle computer and lights, cleaning the bike, or anything else we can anticipate.
The night before
If we plan to go out the next day, it doesn't hurt to try to anticipate and not leave everything for the last minute. Beyond making the necessary checks on the bike or checking the charge of the different batteries, it doesn't hurt to sit in front of the computer for a while.
It's time to take a look at the weather forecast and decide what clothes we will need. We will leave everything ready: clothes, helmet, shoes, glasses, etc. We can also take the opportunity to plan the route we are going to take, load the track into the GPS cycle computer if we are going to need it. In general, anything we can advance and avoid that feeling of stress when we are about to get on the bike.
Everything in its place
Although in most cases, we all know in advance when we are going to go out for a bike ride, there are times when we improvise and go out on the spur of the moment to take advantage of a free time slot that we have left or those rainy days that suddenly clear up and we take advantage of the small window to save the day. The checklist we mentioned at the beginning will help us be more efficient to be ready as soon as possible. However, there is another important factor: locating the different items we need.
A simple trick is to have a box always ready next to the bike with what we may need. At least the basics, clothing, glasses, helmet, etc. so, for example, we don't have to be rummaging in the closet, looking for where we left the shoes, etc.
Right before leaving
We get home and it's time to apply everything we've prepared. If we have been able to anticipate, there will be a lot of things we don't have to worry about. We will go directly to our checklist and start following the different steps, marking them as we complete them.
We will dress in the clothes we have already prepared, put on the helmet, glasses, and shoes that we have perfectly located; fill the bottles and take, if we need, bars or gels; check the tire pressure, take the keys, the phone, and ride.