how do they do it?
 

This morning I was just waking up, just after 6:00am. Hear voices in the street outside my window. Its a group of cyclists. Just now, 2 1/2 hours later they are returning from their ride. After working all week, how do you get yourself outa bed and onto your bike at that time of day. I need the weekend to recover, although I am working today. If I get out by 7:30 on the weekend thats an accomplishment. What am I, lazy?

You're in Wilmette...what group was it? xXx?

That's my way of stress relief for the week. If I don't start early the wife gets upset that I'm taking away family time.
It's also peaceful at 600 in the morning and I am back by around 10am and I have a full day ahead of me.
You should try it.
Allan

Funny, literally minutes ago they rode by the coffee shop I am parked at, at the moment.

I've done the on-the-road-at-6am thing, and it's horrible at first, then a regular ride after awhile, and not something I love doing. I'd rather stick to my midday rides, because, well, I guess I'm lazy!

I love riding before every one is awake. I used to be out on the road at 5am when I worked.
I do not enjoy riding in the evening since I get towered to go to sleep.

When I was riding, we would often have 6:30 am group rides.

Wake up time is directly proportional to bedtime and required amount of sleep. I get 6 hours of sleep. I go to bed at 11p and get up at 5 for work. Weekends I go to bed whenever and wake up 6 hours later. If I go to bed as normal on a Friday night, I'm typically up as normal at 5. Few minutes for my bowl of Cheerios and to get ready and it would be easy to be out on the road at 6.

I don't do this though. I normally end up watching a movie or my wife gets home a little after 11 so end up going to bed later, but I'm up after 6 hours of sleep.

My friends that got me riding daily started at 4:45am... Which means waking up at 415 to get out the door and meet them in the driveway. By the time 730 or 8am rolls around and you pass the local shop ride group already having 50 miles under your belt for the day, you feel like a rock star.

It it is easy to get up early whenyou have friends up that early.

I wake up at 4 AM...Can be on the road at 4:45 AM.

IMO, nothing beats early morning rides. If you're motivated enough, or love riding enough, getting out of bed early to do it is never an issue.

I have no idea how they do it. Riding in the morning in 100% humidity is MISERY. I'd rather be home reading a good book at 6am, which is what I do.

People love riding their bicycle.

Is it really linear? I have observed that if I go to bed between 9pm and 10:30pm, I only need 6 hours of sleep. But if I dither about until 12am, I will wake up 7 hours later. I never use an alarm clock.

Meh. Morning people. All activities, not just cycling. As a forever night person I don't understand and won't ever understand but I am always jealous of those who can get up and get things done super early.

Luckily my wife is a morning person so she takes care of the super early stuff and I get everything from about 7am to 1-2am.

Seriously. When those people are on their morning rides, I've been sleeping for 2-3 hours. ;)
I like dinner-time rides, although, it is getting dark by 8 pm here, now.


S

Methamphetamines

I have done some 4am rides and they were great, no one is on the MUP.

This.

I go to bed at 9pm and wake up 4:45am daily, which gives me plenty of time to get a good workout in before work during the week. The added benefit of riding early is that there are FAR fewer crazy drivers on the road, plus it's cooler.

Maybe you're just not a morning person? I am, and I love the quiet beauty of the morning sunrise over the evening heat and traffic. If it's not too hot and not too crowded, go for a ride whenever you jolly well please.

how do they do it?
 

I think a lot of it is the morning ache. It takes me an hour to get to the point where I can bend my legs and lift my arms. But 2 miles on the bike and I'm pretty limber.

Its just a matter of priority. I get up at 5 for work Monday-Fri. I get up at 4:45 on Saturday to eat and get ready for my 6:30am ride. Its something I look forward to all week. Of course I'm tired and sometimes think it would be better if I just stayed in bed. I don't get to ride much if at all during the week, so come Saturday morning, I'm ready to jump out of bed. I'm also the kind of person that only needs 2-3 min to wake myself up even at my sleepiest of mornings.

And as mentioned above, its a sacrifice I take in order to ride every Saturday. I'm able to ride and get home just after the wife and kids have gotten dressed for the day. If I don't go this early, it takes away from family time.

Duration of sleep has little bearing on time I get up. When I was working I would be up at 0330/0400 and off to work in about 1 hour. When the weekend came I would still get up the same time and off to ride by 0500 or later if I had a group ride.

Now-a-days at 64, I still get up weekdays at 0350 after going to bed at 2200/2300. Went to bed at 2200 Thursday and was out the door for yesterday's 14 mile run at 0315. Today was a 31 mile bike starting at 0330 after going to bed again at 2200 yesterday. July 20th I was on the road by 0230 starting my 135 miler but had gone to bed at 2100 the night before.

In eight weeks from the time I'm posting this I will likely be at mile 5 in the marathon of my 2014 Ironman Florida.

See, just reading that makes me tired. If I din't get 7-8 hrs of sleep i'm useless the next day. And it takes me a good hour, sometimes most of the morning, to wake up.

It takes practice to wake up early. I have to be up at 5am 6 days a week to get to my welding classes and I try to keep up the habit during breaks.