Creaky joints are often combined with fading short-term memory, natures helpful way of enforcing a warmup:
Pack bags.
Put on coat, shoes, helmet.
Can't find gloves.
Run upstairs to retrieve gloves.
Go out. Lock door.
Check door locked.
Forget phone.
Run upstairs to retrieve phone.
Lock door
Check door locked.
Get bike out.
Forget if I check door locked.
Run back and check door locked. It was.
Now warmed up sufficiently for gentle ride.


On a big day of riding on tour, I find that I get to my max performance after about 4-5 hours of steady riding.