Hey superwomen...

[roguedog]

how do you find the time?? I read that many of you log in some good miles every week like between 60-100 miles. How do you do it?? What's your routine?

I have a new job that is allowing me to have way more of a life and I can't find the time to do the other stuff in my life and bike. Especially now that it's getting dark earlier

Like I'm feeling I have to balance my weekend social life with my biking life. I pretty much defer alll the "let's get together" requests to one of the weekend days so the other one I can bike :). I'm a little backlogged cuz I also want to have just down days.

HOw do folks find time during the week to log miles? I bike to work occasionally but only when I think I'll not stay too late or there's nothing critical due. I have no idea how you women with kids do this..

Anyway.. looking for some insight.

[SadieKate]

You make choices. As many of my friends can attest, housecleaning is unknown. Procrastination is huge.

Example: I need to set up a home office. The back bedroom/workroom contents have been migrating to the living room for sorting for 6 weeks now. Solution? You can't see it if you're riding.

Example2: The carpeting is 16 years old and needs replacement, badly. Solution? Keeps the lights low and go riding.

Truthfully, it really is about choices. I also don't have kids so at least I don't have to factor them into the equation.

[mimitabby]

Well, it's what you said, a balancing act. Some of us do have more free time.
My husband tends to want to ride every single weekend both days. Sometimes I just have to say NO!! and occasionally he stays home too. But you have to make sacrifices. I also try to combine bicycling with other activities.
Let's go to the opera on our bikes. Let's go to my mother's on our bikes...

During the winter you will notice a lot of mileage drops off. I will set up a bike in my basement for the long dark weeks of wet and cold.. otherwise, I lose my training.
Hope that helps.

[jobob]

We still haven't fully unpacked after returning home from our vacation trip a week and a half ago, if that tells you anything :rolleyes:

[Bad JuJu]

Well, I'm not one of the women with kids, but I do have a job. Fortunately, I teach at a university, so I have time to ride on Wednesday mornings as well as one or more weekend days. Is it possible for you to do a ride one morning a week before work? Now that DST is over, for a little while, it'll be light a lot earlier in the mornings, so you could take advantage of that to get in a ride or two on weekday mornings.

Regarding weekend rides, if you get out there early enough, like 8-ish, you can get in some decent mileage by noon (40 miles or so) and then still have most of the day for other activities, including down time, if that's what you want--we all need some of that! That's what I do on weekends.

Most of this is obvious, so you may have thought of all these things before. This is how I get my mileage in. I'd still like to do more sometimes, but this gets me 50-70 miles in an average week.

[jobob]

Oh, and my weekend social life *is* my biking life. :D

[Bluetree]

Changes to my lifestyle: I eliminated having a typical social life. No going out for movies or dinner. No television or much time for reading. I quit a job where I spent (wasted) time commuting in a car. I gave up season tickets for sporting/cultural events. I go to bed most nights at 7pm and am up at 2am to start work. That gives me a good twelve hours a day to work, and up to three hours a day to train/do other stuff. I make lists of everything that needs to get done (daily/weekly/monthly) and plan my time accordingly. I know, sounds really boring, but I haven't felt better in my life. Oh, and I don't have kids and don't plan on having any.

Fortunately, my BF and most of my friends are triathletes and I can spend quality time with him/them on the bike or at the gym, instead of movies or at dinner. Weekdays I can get a 25-mile ride in easily. Often, that means training alone because it can get difficult making schedules with everyone else. Sunday mornings I plan for extended rides with my friends.

P.S. I'm not "super" I'm just organized.

[limewave]

Fortunately, I don't have a social life to contend with--but I do have a 1-year old, work full-time, and a husband who runs his own business working 12 hour days, 6 days a week.

Early morning riding is my answer. The pooper, until recently, has been too little to tag-a-long with me and I didn't have the heart to leave her with a babysitter every night after day-care so I could ride. So I get up early while the family is sleeping, strap on lights, and head out for a 20 mile ride. One night a week my parents would watch her so I could go on a group ride with some friends.

Saturday I spend all day with the pooper. And Sunday, once again, I get up at 5 AM to ride before church. If DH can spare the time on Sunday, we'll get a babysitter so we can ride together in the afternoons :-)

The house is neat, but not spotless. The yard is, you know, mowed once in a while. The laundry gets done when it gets done. And there's nothing like stouffer's lasagna, chicken quesadillas, and soup for dinner because who has time to cook? Especially when I never know when DH will be home . . .

[GLC1968]

I have no social life. :p

I bike to work when I can (around my crazy work schedule) which is almost 30 miles round trip.

My husband and I prefer to ride on the weekends over any other activity.

We don't have kids.

Otherwise, I don't think I'd be getting in the miles...certainly not during the winter months anyway.

[Fredwina]

I'll argee with everyone else here: it's abouit choices and finding time
I work 9 hours days , and it's an hour one way to work(30 miles). where i'm at is very rough area, so bike commutting is out of the question. to do a weekday ride, I get up at 4:30 am :eek:
weekend, most of friends are bicyclists, I can usually get a metric century in before noon on saturday. I have been to show up at church in lyrca. I do get every other friday off, and I'm single w/o kids. it also helps that family is about 2,000 miles away for now.

[bikerchick68]

I'm single with no kids as well... but I DO have family nearby. Last year I rode. And rode... and rode. I logged a bunch of miles and rode 7 centuries. This year I had the goal of doing a century a month... completed Jan and Feb and then my mom had a very serious fall down a flight of stairs at her house. That ended riding for a while as it resulted in hospital time and an extensive recovery at my home... got back on the bike and had some medical stuff of my own... including 2 surgeries to fix the problem. That resulted in more time off the bike. I am about 13 miles away as of this weekend of breaking 1000 miles for the year. :rolleyes: Last year I had done 1000 by March.

For me, I totally had to evaluate my priorities this year. I love to ride, but I can't pressure myself to do it when I am not able to, or I end up resenting it.

So, during the down time this year, I spent more time working on my home, and gardens (another huge hobby is gardening) and went dancing a bit more... (my third time consuming hobby! LOL)

who knows what next year will bring... my mom is having another surgery in 2 weeks and it's pretty major but will hopefully resolve the prob that's making her fall. So for now, I ride when I can and have no "goals" regarding it... I'm just riding for the sheer, unadulterated joy of riding. :) Maybe next year will hold a century a month... and maybe not. I've had to realize that I can't compare last year with this year or the next. I'll ride as much as I can and if I'm lucky... it'll be lots. :)

[mimitabby]

My husband is being nominated for "social director" of his bike club.
They have "events" almost EVERY weekend. That means any other aspect of our life will take second place if it is his responsibility to setup these events.
I am really nervous about it and he called it "my resentment"

Balance? balance? yes, i hope we can find it.

[maillotpois]

Priorities! It is tough to balance everything. I work 40 hours a week (at least) and have a kid and husband that I enjoy spending time with. When I am riding, I generally log at least 100 miles a week, and I follow these handy tips:

We only fold laundry when the piles are so high OSHA would require them to be shored for worker safety.

During the week, I will get up at 5 to do a spin class/stationary trainer workout before the kid gets up at 6:30 to get ready for school. It's rare that I have time to ride outdoors. If I can sneak it in (a court appearance ended early or whatever), then I will. I also volunteer at school, so that may take time that I would be riding, but it's worth it.

On weekends, I ride between 7 am - 1 or 2 pm, leaving the afternoon open for friends, kid soccer, whatever. DH rides also, so we have to alternate our rides, generally. It's not uncommon for me to only be able to ride 1 day of the weekend.

We eat a lot of non-creative dinners (pasta every way imaginable) and I am trying to put the crock pot to better use.

I pretty much only have friends who ride.

I'm usually asleep by 10 pm.

[BeeLady]

Mimi - best place to find balance is on a bike!:D

[RoadRaven]

Balance, yes... but very very difficult.

I have five children... four teenagers (as of Sunday - number four turned 13) and an 11 year old...
I have a 40 hour job half and hours drive from home...
I also do extramural study...

So... to "fit it in" I;
- hop on the spin bike first thing in the morning for 30-60 minutes before i wake the kids up
- try and bring some work home during the week occasionally so I get home early and can ride on the road after work
- when the teenagers have a day off school, I commute (as I don't have to get them and their gear to school in town)
- when my partner has a day in town, I bike to work and he takes the kids to school, does his town stuff then gets his bike outta the boot and bikes home to meet the younger kids and i pop my bike in the boot to bring myself and teens home
- I ride both days every weekend, either on spin bike or on road, depending on weather and "baby-sitting" for the youngest 1 -2 (sometimes the now-13 year old will go for a ride with us too and my 18 year old who no longer rides will watch over 11 year old)

Its def a juggling act, but I rarely get in the distances per week that some of the women here do and I just wish I could.
I am looking forward to riding more often in a fortnight when the oldest two have exams and no longer need to be taken to school in the car - I will commute 5 days if I can, and on nice afternoons will take "the long way" home.

Just persevere and be patient - as your children get older its gets easier and easier to have more "me" time on the bike. That was one of the biggest learning curves for me... going for a ride for an hour by myself, or with others even, is not selfish and does not mean I am a "bad" mother (I still suffer from "the guilts" occasionally for working full-time!)

[SadieKate]

Our social life with non-riding friends and family is organized around optimum ride hours. In hot weather the riding is early but not so in the winter so it may mean an early breakfast together. I usually have one big ride on the weekend, most usually Saturday, so that allows more flexibility on Sunday. We'll limit the number of activities done during the optimum ride hours to maybe one a month. Friends and family have to tolerate this because if they don't I am more than willing to give them a response of "wasn't it just last week that you didn't want to do X because you wanted to watch the [insert pro sports team name here] game?" and then we have the silent internal (nor not so silent) discussions of couch-spudness.

I think one of the biggest challenges for all of us is learning to say to others that riding (i.e., exercise) is not a frivolity or an option. It is critical to our health and happiness, now and for the future. Learning to say no to others or find a more mutually agreeable time without feeling guilt about placing your ride time high on your priorities list is so very difficult but absolutely necessary.

[Cassandra_Cain]

It is all a matter of choices, as several folks have commented.

In my case, it is even simpler...

No kids, no bf, gf, or whatever - I come and go at my whim.

There's plenty of time to ride :D

[limewave]

I have been to show up at church in lyrca.

We have too! It's a 20 mile ride to our church. We get in a nice ride, have church, go out for a nice breakfast and ride home. But, I'm always careful to wear my best lycra and smelliest-free jersey.

[CycleChic06]

Holy crap, I thought I was busy. But after reading about everyone else's crazy schedules makes me feel like I have been slacking. I work 40 hours a week, am getting my masters part time and play in a wind ensemble once a week on top of other gigs I play on weekends here and there. I find that if I don't find time to exercise and release all my tension then I go crazy. Now that its dark so early I'm not riding afterwork anymore. I usually end up at the gym in spinning classes right after work on the two free days I have during the week and I've been trying to motivate myself to go for a ride on the weekends but it's just sooo cold, and I need to have some sort of social life, so it doesn't always happen.

It's about sacrificing and prioritizing. If you make exercising a priority then you'll make time do it.

[liberty]

limewave and fredwina- I can totally relate! I spied a commuter bike at my church (it is a large church) and have been watching to see who the future biking buddy is...

As far as schedules: I am not nearly as busy as most of you wonderful ladies, and I still have trouble finding the time to ride as much as I want. But I think that only serves to make me appreciate the time I do get on my bike. Hats off to all of you who have kids and jobs and husbands. You deserve medals! Or at least more chocolate. ;)

[Fredwina]

I get inside parking at church.... can't do that with the car.

[Triskeliongirl]

Yes its a balancing act, but its also about setting priorities. I am a university professor with a 17 and 19 year old. How do I do it?
1) My husband and I both bike to work. Now that daylight savings time is over, we plan to just leave at the crack of dawn so we can also leave early and get home before dark. We also bring home work to do at night.
2) Biking IS our social life. Our friends are fellow bike club members, and our social activity is to ride together every sat. and sun. am. Our rides start at 8 or 9am and are usually over by noon, so we have the rest of the day free to do other things (like food shop, household maintenance, etc).
3) Vacations center around cycling.
Basically, all our acitivites center around our work, our family, and cycling. It also helps that our kids are older and need less constant attention.

[Crankin]

My kids are grown ups now and out of the house, but I do work full time and I still want to go out to dinner with friends who don't ride. I am lucky because I am a teacher, and in the spring and early fall, I can get home early enough for a short (15-17 mile) ride twice a week. Once in awhile I ride early in the morning, but since i often arrive at school by 6:40, that doesn't happen too often. I HAVE to be there at 7:30, so I have a little leeway, but most of the school year there is not enough light for me to ride at 5 or 5:30 AM. I commuted for 2 years a couple of days a week until I moved, a year ago. It was a major hassle, no showers, etc. but i enjoyed it. So, now, I go to the gym twice a week for weight lifting and running. I try to make it one day after work and one day before. The past 3-4 years I have gone to spin class 2-3 times a week in the winter, but I also just got a trainer, so I may be switching gyms and just using the gym for weights because I care more about being outside! I find that during the last 2 years, I have been planning more and more of my work around my work out (riding) schedule. i don't do committee work anymore or other "extra" stuff. People know where I'm going when I leave school at 2:30 two days a week and I don't feel bad. But all of this has played into my decision to quit working after this year. I NEVER would have seen myself retired at age 53 even 2-3 years ago. I have always worked, even when my kids were infants and I never felt guilty. But now I just want to play! So, I guess, I have added up a lot of miles doing little rides of 15 miles a few days a week, combined with one longer weekend ride and maybe a shorter one. The last 2 years we took vacations that added 180-200 miles on to my total and doing a century doesn't hurt either. Right now I'm at 2700, which while is not crazy high, but I feel pretty proud of it. All of our major vacations revolve around cycling and both my husband and I will find ourselves coming home a bit early to get in a walk, a short ride, or snow shoe many times. What i have given up is volunteering at my synagogue and even showing up there on a regular basis. I don't go out at night during the week much, unless it's with my husband, and I rarely go out with my girlfriends. We mostly go out with the couple with cycle with, along with 2 or 3 other couples that we will see on a weekend night.
OK, gotta go put air in my tires; tomorrow is going to be 65 degrees and I am bringing my bike to school and riding right from there for an hour or so after my students go home.

[pyxichick]

30 mile ride on Saturday
30 mile ride on Sunday
20 mile ride on Tuesday
20 mile ride on Thursday

or

40 mile ride on Saturday
20 mile ride on Tuesday
20 mile ride on Thursday
20 mile ride on Friday

In other words, whenever you have a big chunk of time, ride your long rides. Then just fit in the other ones when you don't have other activities planned.

I have a theory that people can only handle three work/school/hobby things at a time. If one thing starts to take up a lot of time, something else has to go.

[caligurl]

yep.... it's all about choices..... last year i did over 8000 miles.... that was a LOT of time on the bike for me.... i basically rode 6 days a week..... work days i'd go to work.... ride.... eat.... go to bed!

this year i decided i didn't want to ride as much..... i started out with the 6 days a week... just less miles... because i was conditioned for that... but i've cut back to only 4 or 5 days.... but i still tend to feel guilty when i don't ride.... part of the newbie-itis hasn't worn off yet....

lately i've been in a slump where i don't want to ride... that tell me i've been putting in too many miles/hours on the bike..... now that the time has changed and i don't ride in the dark.... i'll be cutting back even more!

[Geonz]

I ride to work. Having a base of 75 miles a week is a bit of a head start, both in plain ol' numbers and fitness.

Yes, it's reasonably easy to do that here - but it it ieasier than most people *think* in many places.

[bikerHen]

Yep! For me, It's all about the commuting miles. I kill two birds with on stone. I have to get to work, I need to ride my bike! Three quarters of my 3500 miles to date are commuting miles. I live only 3 miles from work but I have routes that give me up to 20 miles a day. Although I do feel like the village idoit as I wander around the northside of town. :rolleyes:

I also have a very understanding husband who has picked up some of the slack at home and understands the concept of "the lived in look" of home decor. My daughter, who is 21, is old enough to look after herself and now that she has a steady boyfriend (who likes to MTB) she is rarely home.

With winters approach I will spend more quality time with my MP3 player and indoor trainer. Cold, yes. Rain, yes. Ice and snow, no!

It has taken me two and a half year to make excerise a priorty in my life. Thankfully, my family understand that. Even if they do, on occasion, question my sanity. :rolleyes: bikerHen

[MomOnBike]

I've kind of slacked off right now because Life has thrown me a curve or two, but generally:

1) Sometimes it's a choice of get out of the house or go 'round the bend. So I "ride around the block." (Block is defined very generously.)

2) DH & I go on dates on our bikes - mostly because we feel we can "afford" the dessert calories when we do.

3) Small errands are done on the bike. "Small" being defined in this case as under 10 miles and/or 10 pounds total, more or less.

4) Commuting is an easy way to watch miles add up.

5) Take the scenic route home from all the above.

Hey, it works for me. :)