Cycling has become one of the most popular sports amongst people who are looking to improve their fitness levels, and with good reason. It is a low impact activity that still allows the rider to burn fat and massively improve their cardio, with fewer risks of injury or fatigue when done properly.

Furthermore, the sport is accessible to anybody from the weekend warrior through to event cyclists, making it ideal for those who want to get fit. Here we take a look at a few important tips for people who want to use cycling for fitness.

Mix It Up

It may seem like riding at high intensity at all times is the best option if you want to improve your fitness quickly, but it is also a fast track to injuries and fatigue that could leave you off the bike for days, or even weeks.

The key to using cycling for fitness is to recognize that your body needs time to recover, especially soon after you have pushed it to its limits. Mix intense cycling with more relaxing recovery rides to ensure your body has the chance to get back to top condition while still remaining active.

Once your muscles are back in tip-top shape, you can push them again and you will soon find that everything from your power to your overall cardio starts to benefit. Couple those rides with some endurance rides, hill climbs and other workouts and the variance will keep your muscles guessing and allow you to stay strong regardless of the course you’re on.

Getting The Right Bike

If you don’t have the right bike for your body type then you are going to find that you tire much more easily and that you leave yourself at risk of experiencing muscle pains. This is because your body has to compensate for poor positioning by adding extra pressure onto whatever area is struggling.

As such, it is recommended that you have the right bike for your body type and workouts. A road bike is going to be useless on dirt trails, whereas mountain bikes are less efficient on smooth surfaces.

The right fit is vital too, so speak to a professional if you are unsure about where your saddle and handlebars need to be. Better positioning allows for superior technique, which also allows you to ride faster for longer.

Get The Gears Right

It can be surprising just how inefficient riding in the wrong gear can make you. Set it too low and you will find there is little resistance to your pedaling, so you end up riding at a far higher cadence than you should to achieve the same results you would in a higher gear.

Set it too high and you end up doing so much work that you put undue pressure on your knees, which can lead to the end of the workout before it ever really got going.

The key is to figure out what gear allows you to maintain a regular cadence at all points of the ride and stick to that one. You’ll need to lower it for hills and up it for flats, but as long as you remain consistent with your cadence you will find you’re more able to use cycling for fitness.

Enjoy Yourself

Even a little bit of cycling is better than no cycling at all, so if you aren’t able to get out for as long as you would like to that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything. After all, practically any physical activity is going to help your fitness, but with cycling you get a choice of intensities to work at so that there is always a cycling workout for your fitness level.

5 Tips To Increase Cycling Motivation

As much as we may love cycling, there may come a time when we lose motivation. We may struggle to reacquaint ourselves with that burning desire to ride at the crack of dawn. When we’ve hit this plateau in our training, there are a few ways to change the monotony of our routine. Here are five tips that will reignite the passion for cycling again!

Time of Day

Perhaps we’re losing motivation to ride because we’re too tired to wake up early in the morning due to overtraining or life’s general responsibilities. Although riding early in the morning does have its benefits, it doesn’t mean we are bound to riding as the sun rises. At times our bodies demand more sleep than usual and we need to listen. It’s helpful to change your ride times to late afternoons instead. By riding in the afternoon we have time to sleep in and get all our work done, rather than rushing to arrive to work on time post ride in the mornings. There’s also the added bonus of finishing your ride and watching the beautiful sunsets. The other advantage of a late afternoon ride is being able to de-stress after a long day’s work. Having something to look forward to at the end of the day, functions as a motivation to finish your responsibilities, and see cycling as your oasis rather than, “something you HAVE to do.”

Riding Partner/Group

If you’re someone who’s accustomed to riding alone and are beginning to find your sessions rather repetitive or lonely, it’s helpful to find a new riding partner. Riding with a partner who is highly motivated can be contagious as well as fun. Also, having someone who you can compete with when riding can not only push you to improve, but make you motivated to ride more. The same can happen when riding with a cycling group. In riding with a group you can take turns being the leader or drafting, both of which have benefits in increasing self-confidence when riding. Riding with a group is also a way to build camaraderie with others who are just as passionate about the sport as you are. Another advantage of group rides, is they usually have set times and days when they ride, forcing you to be held accountable!

New Route

Depending on where you live cycling routes may be limited, forcing you to use the same path constantly. However, in cities where cycling is highly supported there are several bike paths for cyclists throughout the city. Regardless of the circumstances, if you’ve been using the same route continuously it may kill your drive to go out and ride. At times it’s beneficial to stimulate the senses and choose an alternate route. It’s highly motivational when you’re seeing new sights, smelling different air (ocean side vs farm land), and feeling diverse wind patterns.

Fresh Gear

There’s nothing that can increase motivation more than buying a new bike! You count the days, hours even, until you can give your new baby a test ride. Immediately you want to investigate how responsive the bike is, its comfort level, or how smooth the gear shifting can be. Even if you’ve only bought new clothing gear, there’s always an itch to go and show it off. This can also relate to buying new cycling shoes, where you can assess the difference between triathlon shoes versus road shoes. Having new cycling equipment by any means is exciting, it’s a cyclist’s version of Christmas; hence, an effective motivator to go out and train as soon as possible.

New Workout

As a rookie cyclist, every workout seems new, exciting, and challenging, but if you’ve been riding for quite some time now, these workouts can become repetitive. Although there are certain workouts, which act as staples and deliver results, it doesn’t hurt to try out a new regimen occasionally. “I Love Bicycling” has some great articles on different workouts that address specific weaknesses. Also, Joe Friel’s book “The Triathlete’s Training Bible” and “The Cyclist’s Training Bible” both have great workout routines. Friel does a great job on breaking down different types of workouts, providing drills to address weaknesses, differentiating speed work vs endurance work and when to do either one. By completing a new workout, it helps us feel as though we’re progressing towards our goal, and provides us with some confidence when we complete them successfully.

In trying any one of these 5 motivators we will certainly see a surge in our eagerness to ride and consequently in our efforts.