PeteHski

What time do you go to bed to make that a realistic schedule?

genejockey 

I have been lucky in that my job doesn't require a rigid schedule, so for years I'd ride before work. Now that's changed a bit, so I ride after. It helps that my boss is 3000 miles away, on Eastern time, with me here on Pacific time, so I never have any meetings scheduled after 2 PM.

As far as the riding goes, I think you'll get more benefit from riding 3-4 days a week for longer times, especially at first - you should be able to progress fairly rapidly if you're riding hard every other day with a rest day in between.

Another thing that works for me is a smart trainer and Zwift. In the winter it's too dark both before and after work to ride, so I used to largely stop riding in November and start again in March, maybe a few weekend rides during that time. So, every Spring I had to claw back the fitness I'd lost over the Winter. With Zwift I keep riding through the year and it's been a big help, not only for fitness but also for keeping weight off. Also keeping me sane!

bampilot06

7-8 pm. Usually average about 6 hours of sleep. Once my kids are asleep no reason for me to stay up.

rsbob 

If you have the room, you might consider getting an indoor trainer, like a Waho Kickr on the days you are really pressed for time - also bad weather days. Of course on nice days you may want to designate an hour a day as “dad’s time” or “sanity time” so you can get out and ride or ride indoors.

mschwett 

my wife and i split most of the kid duties during the week - i make them breakfast and make sure they get to school / take them to school. so morning rides are out. i read the bedtime stories, which happens around 7pm. what i do between drop-off and story time depends on work obligations and opportunities - but if i have a 1-2.5 hour gap in my day on a weekday without meetings or things i need to finish ASAP, i'll take a ride from the office. i look at my calendar in the AM and decide if i'll ride my commuter or road bike to work based on how i'm feeling and the odds of a ride.

i typically find time for 2-3 15-30 hour rides during the week.

on saturdays, i try and get the kids out of the house early and we have some sort of adventure, giving my wife time to relax, do whatever she wants to do, projects at home or tidy up etc. sunday i try and get up and out earlyish for a ride, 3-6 hours. we spend the late afternoons/evenings all together on the weekends.

it's a good balance, with a lot of consistency enabled by our mild, dry weather and lots of good riding routes that start from home of work.

Jughed

Full time worker.

Father of 3 -19, 17 and 12.

I’m in the office or logged in at home by 5:30AM every day, out by 3:00 whenever possible.

Im on the bike trail, road or trainer by 4:00.

Home by 6:30.

Weekends I’m up and out at sunset, and typically back home before the kids wake up.

jadmt

get your whole family involved with riding.

Chuck Naill

Riding has never been about miles. I just enjoy a short ride most of the time. I live near downtown so a circular course is always enjoyable. A trip to the grocery store and back, less than three miles is something I enjoy. If I were to think about miles, it would become a chore.

oldwinger14

Two bits of advice:

1) Do not create such a rigid schedule, where you feel compelled to ride eac day. After a while, you will think of it almost like a 2nd job and not enjoy it because you are feeling forced to do it.
2) You will most likely cut down on the # of days per week you will ride, or want to ride. Be careful, though, as your mind will come up with lots of reasons why it’s ok not to ride on any particular day (too hot, too cold, too windy, might rain, too busy, I’m tired……etc..

spelger

if you are close to work you can combine the two. it's only 6 miles in but ride 9 to work. then about 40 on the way home. i do this about 4 days a week and on the 5th rotate 4 changes of clothing. no shower here so the morning ride i leave at 5.45 when it is cooler and i don't push too hard.

PeteHski

I tried that, but you have to accept that they may not have the same enthusiasm for biking. My wife quite likes easy mountain biking and one of our two daughters enjoys riding occasionally, But our other daughter just isn’t interested at all. None of them will ride on the road and I don’t blame them. Fortunately we have some nice off-road trails at the door so we do sometimes ride together as a family, but very rarely these days.

WhyFi

Last time I got them all out on a ride, my son wouldn't pull through in the paceline, my daughter fouled my town sign sprint, and my wife wouldn't stop signaling every little bit of debris on the road. I got so frustrated that I dropped those chumps on the next climb. Haven't seen them since.

big john

lol. We used to ride with a woman who yelled "car back" for every damn car. She became notorious and everyone just referred to her as "Car Back".

noimagination

Ummm, you might have to do this on his active recovery days (if runners have such). I don't know you, obviously, but there's no way I could have kept up with my daughter on a run when she was 16. I never ran track, though, so if you used to do so then it might be different for you.

Maybe do the first mile with him, break off to run at your pace, then hook back up for the last mile?

Reflector Guy

I bet they were using the wrong chain lube too.

Reflector Guy

I'm a 3-4 times per week rider but that tails off come October when it starts getting dark sooner. A few years ago, i bought some lights for my bike and now I'll do one night a week until it gets too cold.

This time of year, I can ride after dinner but soon that will switch and I'll ride first, eat later when it's dark outside. I suppose that is my one big concession to make time for riding LOL.

rsbob 

Heard some excellent advice from my favorite Podcast yesterday: Hidden Brain. The gist went: If your goal is to do whatever seven days a week, give yourself two flex days each week where it is permissible to miss those days if needed. In other words, hitting the goal maybe the object, but also give yourself permission to miss it due to extenuating circumstances.

big john

I never wanted to ride every day. When I rode dirt bikes I didn't want to do that every day, either.

I did ride every day on the tours I did and I always thought when I retired I would do 400 miles per week but that ain't happening.

When I was working I would ride every Saturday and Sunday and Wednesday after work. When I got into my 60s I was so exhausted after work I gave up the Wednesday ride and had trouble with Saturdays, too. Took me a long time to get back to the meager fitness I have now.

MoAlpha

I don't mind that as long as it's not stated with frantic urgency or followed by an admonition to ride single file.

rsbob 

Totally understand. It can become monotonous, suffer burnout, or lack of rest doldrums.

I was responding to the OP’s statement, “I want to keep up the habit of riding every day, but man, some days are just so busy.”. Just allowing him to give himself permission to miss.

big john

Frantic urgency would be an understatement. Imagine a large crow hovering over your shoulder squawking every 10 seconds. "Car, caw, caw, car, caw, caw."

bampilot06

Does not compute.

bampilot06

I bet the real reason you dropped them was because they use tubes.

WhyFi

I mean, it certainly didn't help their case. Rubes and their tubes - ugh.

Broctoon

I could never get away with riding every day, unless I did something extreme, like getting up super early to ride before work, or staying up late at night (and I don't really like to ride in the dark).

Usually, I'm lucky if I can fit in two to four rides per week, and only one of those will be more than an hour.

Just too many other things I need to stay on top of.

Sometimes I find ways to combine other responsibilities with riding. For example, maybe my daughter comes over and wants to do something with my wife. They'll go to a movie or go shopping or something, and ask me to watch our grandson. Perfect! I have a bike trailer he can ride in. He gets entertained, they get a break from him, and I get a ride. I remember a few times when one of my daughters worked late and then was nervous to walk to her car, or even to drive home alone. I hopped on my bike and rode to meet her. The time away from "family responsibilities" really wasn't; I was just killing two birds with one stone.