Privat3j3t

I've been off the bike for just over a year now and have gotten really out of shape. I'm feeling motivated to start riding again but my wife and I just welcomed twins which has obviously changed my daily schedule quite a bit. I'm struggling to find the time to ride/train and get back into shape, any tips or advice?

Also, my work day is 7am-4pm not including a 30-40 minute commute each way.

Cyclist0108

Congratulations. See you 18 years from now.

When they get a bit older, a Burley double trailer is in your future.

When we got two puppies at the same time, it nearly killed me.


The best answer might be hinted at in your last sentence. Can you bike-commute? This way you aren't robbing too much time from your family.

travelerman

I stopped for the 20 years it took to buy a house, start a lawn, build a deck, work a salaried job, and raise a kid. I started back up when the latter went off to college, and haven't let up since.

Honestly, though, when you can find the time, ride... I will never have the fitness and endurance I would have achieved if I had found a way to keep after it.

ChrisAlbertson

Buy an indoor trainer. These show up on craigslist for $35 and up. Used trainers are dirt-cheap. Start with 30 minutes, every other day. When you are finished with it sell it on Craigslist for $35. Zero net cost.

Then this summer buy a bike trailer and two tiny bike helmets and take the kids. It gets you back outside but more importantly, your kids will grow up being used to bikes and being outdoors and active. You can not wait until they are larger to start. Got to start so early that when they are older, they can't remember their first ride. I see this a during the week, mom riding with one or two kids in the trailer.

Trailers do cost $$ but they are cheaper than a gym membership.

HerrKaLeun

Make kids part of the riding. Many options from trailer to seats on the bike. Or get a cargo bike with seating options.

One thing you realize is the type of riding will change, but riding a mile with your kids is worth more than riding a century alone.

Kids will love the time you spend with them and will remember the times they are pulled int eh trailer etc.

Added benefit, riding a cargo bike or trailer is really good workout!

Trakhak

If you follow the advice about buying a trailer to tow the newborn twins, forget about using it this summer. Your pediatrician will tell you to wait until they can hold their heads up before taking them out in a trailer or in a baby carrier on a bike. That's usually at about a year old.

sixer

Pick the method most likely to be repeatable, whether commuting, a trainer at home, or Sunday lunch time rides. Find time for your wife to get her hobbies in too (helps when you want your turn). Assume there will be some struggle in finding the right method.

I have 8yo twin girls. After the first 6 months there was probably more time until 2-3 (i.e., predictable naps), then all over the place, then after a few years, more time, but school schedules. Problem is they always change so you'll have to adapt.

AdkMtnMonster

I would think the hardest part about riding with any newborn, twins, triplets, or other, would be having to keep stopping and waiting for them to catch up.

ChrisAlbertson

I totally forget that the kids are today newborns. Kids need to be old enough to sit up and look around. But still buy an indoor trainer. It will take a few months of using the trainer to get strong enough to pull the trailer.

Darth Lefty 

Congratudolances! I understand. The goal can't be cycling per se. The goal is living through the next year without falling completely apart.

We have a 5yo and 3yo twins. I managed to keep myself a lot better shape through the second pregnancy than the first. It was more about eating... in the first one I felt like I had to normalize her appetite by eating something when she did - be it big dinner or midnight snack or whatever.

I don't remember a lot of the first year with the twins. They are a lot of work. Unless you have your MIL living with you or something you need to help. It's too much for just her - especially if she is pumping or working or both. I took the after-work to 2AM "shift" and I just wasn't getting enough sleep, I was falling asleep at work sometimes. Take every labor saving opportunity. After my wife gave up pumping we made a daily pitcher of formula, just for instance. Try some gadgets. Nap when you can.

As for working out and taking them with you. Go on foot until 1yo. A BoB stroller is really good but not for newborns, iirc they need to be a few months old to sit in the seats. The car seat attachment isn't double. We got a Bob but didn't really use it much until we were no longer carrying them in their car seats, up until then we had a Joovy Twin Roo, a long stroller like a shopping cart that the seats snapped into. I used the bob a lot more from about 6mo to 2.5y. You can get that trailer, just use it in jogger mode. Thule Chariot trailer has infant slings available, though they say to use them only in jogger mode. You should check if it's possible to use two. Something is tickling my memory, like the older ones you could and now can't - or vice versa. They also have infant padding for the regular seats that you can also use in other such things. I got the bike trailer about age 1 and so didn't use that stuff, I was only able to use it with both kids for about a year because the boy twin is a giant mutant and eventually I moved the girl to a bike seat at the same time as boy in the trailer.

As for no wheels. I had an Osprey Poco for the first kid but it didn't work with twins. We got a double sling that would take one kid in front and one behind but I was never really brave enough slinging them around to put it on and pretty soon they were too big anyhow.

And finally don't go too long and pay attention. That goes for car seats too. The baby industry has lately stopped selling "reclined sleepers" because babies were suffocating and the infant slings are largely the same thing. Keep track of their little heads on their little necks, they like to loll when they fall asleep, and keep them strapped in so they don't roll over. That's why they say 1yo for bike trailers, that's about the age the danger of that tapers off even if they're.holding their heads up a lot earlier.

Keep track of your wife through all this. The Internet is a stupid minefield for new moms, telling them anything they do is wrong just in order to sell them another book or some commercials or diapers at double the price. Breastfeeding is particularly fraught

OBoile

Any chance you could do some or all of your commute on a bike? That's actually how I got back into cycling. I road a bit in HS (mounting biking mostly) and then got into lifting because you can't flex your heart. With my second kid, I needed a way to exercise that took as little time as possible. Riding to work did that since that time was already not being used (it actually saved me a few minutes each way) and I rediscovered how much I enjoyed cycling. The other nice thing about commuting is that you have to get home, so there's not much temptation to skip out on a ride if you're tired at the end of the day.