Turd Ferguson

When I go out for rides ( 2-3 hours on weeknight ), I find that I'm struggling for the first hour but aftter pushing it 2-3 times, I get energy and can burn pavement - keeping it up for a good couple hours.

Is it normal to take a hour to warm up? An exercises I can do to shorten this warm up period? Perhaps it's nutrition thing?

When I'm on tour it's the same thing. I'm blah for the first hour or two..the remaining 4-8 hours I'm energized, especially near the end.

lvleph

It takes me about 45 mins to warm up.

dekindy

I returned to cycling last summer. I am the slowest riding, by a long shot, that starts at the training ride I attend. I was so bad that I could not keep up during what I thought was the warm-up. An experienced rider advised me that the other riders were warming up before leaving for the ride or were actually riding to the start point as a warmup. Once I started getting in better shape and getting there earlier to warmup things have improved. You should experiment with stretching and doing a warmup ride in advance. Chris Carmichael recommends squatting and jumping straight up in the air as high as you can. Do 10-15 reps of 2 sets at the beginning and 15-20 reps of 3 sets when you get in better shape.

chzman

stretching is a good pre-ride thing...

as far as a 'warm up', unless you are in a race, just add it in the ride. sometimes i spin for 20-30 minutes, hit the lap button and then push hard. No need to run 3 or 4 miles before a marathon, right?

Machka 

It takes me about 75 kms to warm up.

merlinextraligh

it' normal to take a couple of hard efforts to warm up. The key to your post is you feel strong after a few hard efforts.

Talewinds

Takes me 5-6 miles to get going. I'll do 16-17mph for a while, but then I've gotta do 25mph for a long time to get my avg speed back up, that sucks.

spiderbike

Don't warm up slow!!! do a couple of hard efforts or intervals and you'll ready to go in 10 minutes. You need to get your heart pumping.

Pugsly

Doing week-long rides, I always find the first 10 miles each morning tough. After that, I'm warmed up and ready to ride.

rickyaustin

I'm glad someone asked this. I'm just starting and was experiencing this same thing. I now know I'm not broken, lol.

Snicklefritz

I almost always seem to need 30-40 minutes to feel warmed up. A few hard efforts seem to help as long as they are short. If I do too much at or around threshold in the first hour, I fade easily. However, if I warmup carefully with 30 minutes of noodling around before I do any hard short efforts, then I last a lot longer.

I saw Elvis

Yes quite normal, it takes me about the same. Just say to your self I'll take the first hour easy, as long as you designate that period as warm up you'll find it easier. Before you go try stretching exercises and use embrocation to warm the muscles up. As long as your diet is balanced and you don't eat junk you should be ok.

Eatadonut

takes my heart 15 minutes to catch on that it's playtime, and the legs another 30 or so.

Snicklefritz

yeah, but that's cause your average ride is about 1,000 kms!!!!

lvleph

My ride starts with a mile long hill of about 6% grade, but I still don't feel warmed up until I get over halfway through that ride, and about the first 13 miles are hills.

chzman

the whole point of a 'warm up' is to prevent injury.

so unless you are in a TT or track racing... just keep doing what you are doing


oops, i already posted something similar.

-VELOCITY-

It usually takes me about 30 minutes of warm up. I'm gonna try some stretching and see if it makes any difference for me.

FIVE ONE SIX

i noticed this too. i started riding to the meeting point, and purposely leave late so i have to ride hard to get there in time, and it's been effective so far. if i don't have time to ride there, or we meet somewhere else, i just get there early and warm up on the bike before the ride actually starts...

i noticed last year, when i did my first duathlon, that my last 4 miles on the bike leg were my best 4 miles. i thought that was strange, and i didn't think anything of it until then, but now i pay attention to it...

Tio

Add my name in support of this being typical and normal; in fact, it is so true of my riding MO that when I used to ride competitively some of the guys I would ride with would never-fail ask, "isn't it about time that you really start pushing it?" If I could keep up the first 45 minutes, I knew I was golden for however long we rode together. This process was so never-fail that it was as true for competitive rides as it was for recreation rides.

Terex

I'm highly variable, but I know what you mean. Some rides, I'm good to go out of the box, sometimes I'm OK'ish, but then feel really good in about 45 min., some rides I used to feel like my heart was going to explode with just a modest initial effort, and then I was OK. A lot has to do with recent activity level, and pre-ride level of hydration. If you drink too much the night before, your electrolyte levels will be way off for the first hour or two. Not saying this has ever happened to me...

SpongeDad

15 minutes with a few short spins up to significant effort - basically starting to sweat just a bit.

lvleph

What if you drink every time the night before?

donrhummy

It takes me about 10-15 miles to warm up.

I believe pro cyclists usually warm up for 2-4 hours before a stage.

ericgu

What are you having to eat right before the ride? If you can get 200 (ish) calories of simple carbs perhaps 30 minutes before you ride, this will help your warmup. That gets rid of the "struggling" feeling for me.

It still takes a while for my legs to get the kinks worked out of them, but it helps a lot.

Turd Ferguson

I usually eat a peanut butter sandwich 30 mins before a ride.

Thanks for the input.

I was in my race (MTB 50km)race last weekend and wish I had warmed up prior to the race. I was the only guy on fully rigid which may of put me at a bit of a dissadvantage but what really slowed me down was the beginning as the muscles were not in the mood for pumping hard. For the 1st 20km I was moving, but not pushing it. After about 25km and a hammer gel packet I ripped up the track. I did nothing but pass people and did especially well on the flats. Alas, the dogging the first part put me too far behind to acheive an exceptional finish time.

Now that I have a road bike I'd like to get into some group rides, perhaps even race. I'll just have to warm up properly beforehand otherwise I'll always be the guy in the back