Are you wondering how to start a cycling routine for beginners?
You’re in the right spot.
Creating and sticking to any new routine is challenging and daunting, but here, we’ll break things down into 4 small, manageable steps on how to start a cycling routine for beginners and stick with it for good.
Let’s get started.
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HOW TO START A CYCLING ROUTINE FOR BEGINNERS
Building a cycling routine is hard, but you’ll find a handful of tips here that can show you how to get in the habit of riding your bike.
Bookmark a time to show up for your workout
The hardest part of cycling isn’t the workout, but everything that needs to happen before it—making time to work cycling into your schedule, getting ready for cycling, and doing this consistently.
Before you ride your bike, you have to show up for your workout. And that’s the most challenging part of any new routine.
So creating your new cycling routine begins with not riding your bike.
So the very first step to creating a cycling routine isn’t actually about riding your bike.
It’s about creating space and time to show up for your workout. (Because you can’t ride your bike without showing up.)
What it means is, that you’ll have a set, defined time in your schedule that you plan to ride your bike.
You don’t have to do your workout, but show up at your scheduled time with your cycling gear on to reinforce that this scheduled time is time you’ve set aside for riding your bike.
And if you feel like doing your ride? Great, but that’s not as important as showing up.
You have to master the skill of showing up to begin your cycling routine.
Call yourself a cyclist
Do you believe you’re a cyclist? (You are.)
A cyclist isn’t someone who has the most expensive bike or flashy gear. The only way to be a cyclist is to ride your bike.
So if you ride, you’re a cyclist.
It’s normal if you don’t believe me (or more importantly, you). But, you can convince yourself otherwise by keeping a list of your progress and accomplishments.
Whether you finished your first bike race or rode your bike for an hour, keep track of those accomplishments so you can look back on your list anytime doubt creeps in.
Your list of accomplishments gives you concrete evidence that you are the type of person who moves, cycles, and is a cyclist.
Calling yourself a cyclist also directs your actions. Cyclists ride their bike, so you don’t have to rely on willpower or motivation alone to get you out the door.
The more you identify with calling yourself a cyclist means you’ll do what cyclists do—ride your bike.
On the days you’ve scheduled a bike ride, decide how much time you’ll spend riding your bike
Will you commit to 15 minutes? 30 minutes?
Some cyclists do bike rides that span several hours, but that doesn’t have to be you. The goal here is to ease you into a cycling routine that you can stick with long term.
So what’s a length of time that will encourage you to ride your bike regularly?
Before you settle on an answer, there’s one more tip I’ve got to share with you—it may be helpful to send a time range.
For example, you might say that you will ride your bike anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.
This way, a time range can help you balance something you can do easily (let’s say that’s 15 minutes) and something that’s more challenging (30 minutes), which can boost your cycling motivation.
Plan for the unexpected changes to your cycling routine 1
We’ve all heard it before—consistency brings results, and that’s no different with building a cycling routine.
But that doesn’t mean that we’ll never miss a day. We might be tired or stressed, or we might go on a vacation.
So if any of those things happen, it can be helpful to create some alternate plans for changes to your cycling routine. This way, you’ll have a way to stick with your routine even if it looks different for a few days, weeks, or months.
For example,
“If I don’t feel like riding my bike, then I’ll commit to a 5-minute core workout.”
“If I missed a day, then I’ll resume my cycling routine the next day, week, or month.“
Planning what you’ll do in advance gives you control over how you’ll return to your cycling routine and stick with it over time.
Creating and sticking to any new routine is challenging and daunting, but I hope that these tips can help you build cycling routine and stick with it long term.