My normal training used to be 3-5 hours a week, including a race. 2-3 days 1 hour/day, an hour for a race. Cat 3, reasonably competitive in "easier" races throughout the year (flatter, no road races or stage races, some P123 "motorpacing"). It's fun, keeps the racing going, and doesn't require a lot.

Now a normal week is about 7-10 hours (heavy volume). It'll go to 3-4-5 again during Bethel since I am too exhausted to ride until Wed or Thu night each week. I try and do more than an hour at Bethel but it's hard.

A lot of training for me is 8+ hours a week. Like all my free energy went into cycling.

I think commuting on the bike will be key. When I rode to work 2x a week (round trip so 4 hours of commuting during the week) I went from blah to winning races.

Thing is your family will be around a long time and, with kids, your family progresses relentlessly. First smile, first focused gaze, first words, first step, all that.

Your cycling can stop and resume and no one will miss it. There are a lot of Cat 2 Masters who had kids, took 10 years off, and are now winning National jerseys, races, and Bethels as Masters racers. If you're not a pro you can take a break from cycling. If you're like me and really need to cycle, you'll be happy with whatever you can squeeze in. For a few years, while my mom was sick, I rode once every week to three weeks. I managed to get some really good placings in races during that time. I also gained 30-40 pounds but that wasn't important to me. I rode when I absolutely felt the need to ride, and otherwise I didn't.

No kids but lots of nieces and nephews and friends' kids as well as much younger siblings that I helped raise,
cdr