How do you warm up for the commute?
 

My joints are getting creaky and I feel like I need to do some kind of warm up before I start pedaling each morning. Walking the bike a few minutes until I get to the main road isn't really enough. As it is, on my 20 minute commute it is taking 10 to 15 minutes just to feel warmed up and it isn't until the last 5 that I feel like I can really get going. No fun.

I've been thinking of getting a set of rollers, but even the less costly ones are pretty pricey. Another other ideas or best practices?

I always ride a bike to get warmed up for riding a bike. Start out slower, then gradually ramp it up.

I warm up when I start riding a bike. For the first few minutes I go slow and easy and then gradually increase the intensity and speed.

I don't experience below freezing much but a couple rounds of pushups and jumping jacks beforehand makes those first couple miles more enjoyable on colder days. The pushups generate more heat than you'd think and the jumping jacks get the blood moving.

It allows me to leave the sweater off and use just a base layer and windbreaker that I can unzip along the ride.

It also seems like a really good time to get them in.

If I don't do a full 20 minute workout on the back deck, while my wife is fixing my breakfast and lunch to carry on my commute, I do a fast 7 minute drill which consist of stretches, push ups, deep knee bends, and sit ups. Sometimes I cut it down to 5 minutes..


On the return leg of the commute leaving from work. I do the stretches, and deep knee bends, I skip the situps and push ups.. ;) You be suprise how much you can get in a short time.. ;)

BTW, I am 72, and I gotta keep rockin.. ;)

I warm up with a 15% grade easy, lol

kidding aside, biking or not, I usually do a set of sit-ups either traditional or straight legged (I alternate days) a set up push-ups and if you can a set of pull-ups. For the legs I do full bent squats into calf raises.

Now how many you do depends on you, I usually just cut it in half of what my max is but usually 10-12 is enough maybe more than needed, the trick for me is, all the reps I do I do them very slowly. The more you keep whatever muscle flexed the more blood will go there and warm you up. It usually only takes me 10 mins.

As far as stretches go, that all depends on you as well. I dont stretch at the beginning but rather at my first or second stop light. This works for me, not everyone, I found that stretching will actually tire you out unnecessarily in the beginning but if I stretch the first 5-10 mins into an excercise not only do I get more range of motion but a better stretch. Like I said it works for me, I've been doing it this way with every excercise since I was 22, Now 27 and still serving in the USMC. Good luck.

Have you tried yoga? I was skeptical at first when a friend recommended it, but I went from barely being able to bend over to pick a pencil up off the floor to being able to touch my toes with straight knees for the first time in decades. Also, the foam roller is totally worth it (hurts like hell at first, though).

I have a cup of hot coffee and a handful of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the garage as I get dressed.

A cuppa and some leg warmers under my work clothes do me. :)

Layers.

My routine is weird, but works for me. I get up VERY early. So i wake up with just enough time to put shoes on and lock the door before i start my ride. But that first leg is only one mile to the train station. The next 45 min on the train is my coffee and paper time. I eat my breakfast on the train. Then, the last 10 minutes, i stretch and do a few sit-ups (yes, on the train, people think i'm strange!) before i head out on my 7 mile ride to work.

Maybe odd, but it works for me. It's funny, because that early morning mile before my "wake up" train ride really feels effortless now. As easy as getting out of bed. Although, i remember when i started commuting, it was a killer. Now it's just a way to get my eyes open.

5 minute hot shower, 15 minutes of leg and back stretches, hot coffee and light breakfast, then get dressed appropriately for the weather and head out. Panniers have already been loaded with what I need the night before. From the moment the alarm clock goes off to the key turning in the locks, I like to be out of the house in <45 minutes. If it is really cold outside I'll start of slow for 1-3 miles and gradually pick up speed. From 25%-75% of the ride distance I'm going fast, and then slow down for the last 25% of the ride so I can cool off and not arrive in a puddle of sweat. At destination I always stretch, 5 mins. maximum and no less. On the commute home I take another 5 minute shower, 30 mins of yoga afterward. Then I eat dinner and do whatever I need to do for the evening.

I just crack my knuckles.

do a couple lines of blow, shoot some burgulars, and you're ready for anything!

Nice one

Usually just kick the tires and light the fires, but I think I'm going to try a warm up from now on. Coldest ride so far has been in the mid 20's and that wasn't bad except for my feet, just can't seem to keep them warm. Maybe some pre-ride exercise will help with that.

I just start out slow and easy and when it's ready, my body pours on the steam naturally. If your ride is too short, make it longer.

No warmup. Dress, check the cats food & water, hop on the bike and go. I do monitor myself as I go. If I'm feeling it I slow down.

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.

Usually I do some calisthenics before heading-out. Two or three sets of pull-ups, pushups, and leg lifts. Even on a cold morning in nothing but my undies I find that this warms me up pretty well.

Also, coffee. Coffee helps.

Do some pushups, burpees, pull ups, air squats or something..

Sex with the misses tends to work quite well ;)

Also, it's a commute not a race.

My commute is somewhat hilly (400 ft of climbing over 7 miles), so I actually have a problem keeping cool...that means that I have to dress to be almost uncomfortably cold to start out, so I don't completely overheat on the hills and then freeze on descents. If I warmed up pre-ride, it would make it even harder...also, I'm lazy and will sleep until the last possible second.

LOL yea that's me lately on the morning ride. I have shaved 5 minutes off because I'm pedaling my arse off for the first couple miles, just to get warm. My ride is 1 hour though, so when I'm finally warmed I still have a good ways to go.

I was curious what mine is ... and it's similar 310ft over 6.8mi. however, it is a nice ride home :D

On a perfect day, I drink a glass of water, do 10-15 minutes of prayer/meditation, eat 1 egg, 2 bacon, 1 toast, then 20-30 minutes of full body calisthenics/workout via either the SWorkit Pro or BootCamp apps on my phone.

Most days, it's 5-10 minutes of P/M, oatmeal or fruit and 10-15 minutes of workout.

SWorkit is more stretching with some endurance work, BootCamp is strength-based, higher impact and can incorporate dumbbells.

The trick then is to get suited up for an 11 mile cool/cold weather ride without letting sweat pool up and freeze me the first 4 miles. I have to have things pretty well laid out so I can hit the door fast. But I do feel pretty dang good when I get out of bed in the mornings.

My first couple miles are slightly downgrade, and I usually have some degree of tailwind on the ride to work. I have to pedal pretty hard to stay warm after I already have a sweat going. On days with a headwind, it's out of the North, and much chillier, so I have to pedal harder, but have more chill to overcome.

About the same for me. Sometimes, if I'm starting off chilled before I even get out the door, I'll run up the stairs from the garage a couple times, but that's about it. I stretch at work after I'm warmed up, though.

My ride in is an easy 4.5 mi and has a total ascent of 147.64 feet. I spin fast and easy for the first couple miles.

get up, bump the heat in the house (winter clipless shoes in front of the vent), glass of water, take the dog out, shave/wash. put on all my bike gear (including jacket), then shoes last.

i've got about 1/4 mi before a decent hill climb on the way to work. after that i'm good.

(i don't eat or coffee until i get to work)

I can't imagine needing to warm up for a 20 minute ride. Are you riding at racing speeds or something? I have a 40 minute commute and I don't do anything to warm up, but then, I'm not really pushing the envelope on the ride, either. My suggestion is just take it easy. Your commute IS your warm up--for your day!

Eat oatmeal, walk the dog.