Early Morning Cycling

Secteur

My favourite thing in the world is my Sunday (sometimes Saturday) early morning cycle, where like to be out as early as I can (0530hrs if the light allows).

I haven't done it on a week (work) day yet, for no particular reason.

I can go miles without seeing a single car and it's so tranquil and peaceful. I like seeing all the closed curtains and knowing everyone us fast asleep. With the roads being silent, I can go miles just hearing my breathing and the snicking of the chain and the whishing of the rubber on Tarmac.

You notice things that you wouldn't otherwise notice as the lack of cars frees up the concentration a little bit.

Secteur

PS off to sleep now so I can be up early!

verylonglegs

The best ride I've ever had to date was a pre 5am sunday start from near bakewell in the peak district a month back when I was on my hols. I don't think I saw or heard another human being for at least 2hrs. Was beautiful.

It's the same running along the coast here at dawn too, the sun rises out of sea as you are jogging along and it's glorious, certainly takes away any thoughts of aching muscles.

mouth

I commute at early o'clock ie 4.30 am and late o'clock on late week ie 1am. Particularly in the morning I very rarely see anyone else in the 4.5 miles or so until I get really close to work. The thing that worries me the most is what if I get run over? Who's gonna be there to help me, or find me lying by the side of the road? I do love hust getting my head down and booting along though.

sungod

i enjoy it too, shame it's so nippy this summer, i wake up but then my hibernatiion reflex just keeps cutting in

campagone

What do you guys do for food on early morning rides, given that a good breakfast needs some time to digest. You do eat first yes? Don't think I could ride very far first thing on an empty stomach :?

Hoopdriver

I go out every morning very early - 4:30am or so and do about thirty miles, back at 6:30 when the rest of the family is getting up. It is the perfect time to be out in a bike. The roads are quiet, the countryside peaceful - just a nice private time.

I don't eat anything before I go, just have a nice breakfast when I return.

Secteur

campagone wrote:

What do you guys do for food on early morning rides, given that a good breakfast needs some time to digest. You do eat first yes? Don't think I could ride very far first thing on an empty stomach :?

Empty stomach, always (OK, maybe a quick banana as i'm getting changed).

Cup of coffee and bowl of fresh fruit on return.

Never had a problem.

islwyn

I had one of these so called 'Early Morning Cycles' yesterday however it turned out to be a royal NIGHTMARE.

Left London at 6, got to the Surrey Hills, planned on tackling 9 hills... Leith Hill, Dorking, Box etc etc, anyway - I was going up a hill and boom, chain snapped which wrapped around my derailleur which forced it to go in between my spokes, the force of my pedal down caused the derailleur to snap off! This was NOT fun. So after realising I couldn't bend it out, I had to remove it - and just make my bike a free wheel bike - pushed it to the top of the hill, my club then trained me for 4 miles so I could free wheel to the local village down below where they left me to get a cab etc... I knocked on a house to ask where the nearest train station was, the lovely lady said it was too far to walk and insisted I put my bike in her car and she would drive me (nice lady!) so then had a mammoth journey on South Rail Trains & London Underground.

verylonglegs

I eat fairly well before my early morning rides, cereal, toast, some yoghurt maybe. I have to eat first thing regardless if I'm cycling or not, it's just how my body is, if I don't have breakfast I would probably flake out whilst driving to work.

jordan_217

I'm a big fan of early morning rides, mainly because I can get out for 3-5 hours on a Saturday and/or Sunday and still be back early enough to enjoy my w'end with the Missus and kids, like a lot of people time is tight these days.

I find that getting everything prep'd the night before is the key, drinks ready in fridge, kit laid out, etc.

Regarding food - I have a bowl of porridge with sliced banana and honey. I feel sick if I don't eat within 30 minutes of waking, going out for a ride on an empty stomach would make me feel terrible.

Secteur

jordan_217 wrote:

I find that getting everything prep'd the night before is the key, drinks ready in fridge, kit laid out, etc.

agreed!

If I didnt do this, I expect I'd just go back to bed. As it is, I can go from asleep/alarm going off to being out on the road in 15 mins!

HoHoHoBlueGiant

I'm a big fan of early morning cycling. Like most it's a good way to get the miles in without taking too much time out of the family weekend.

I also do this in the week, getting an hour in before breakfast and work seems to set me up for the day.

My Saturday morning run was slightly tainted this week though as the only car I'd seen in about an hour thought it wise/funny to give me the w@nker sign through his car window as he went passed in the opposite direction! :evil: I'm a w@nker why? Being there, being a cyclist, having a bike more expensive bike than his 15 year old Corsa? You half expect it from young lads showing off to their mates, but this was grown (very grown by the look of it) man.

What goes through these people's small minds?

Generally though, early mornings are great

jordan_217

HoHoHoBlueGiant wrote:

My Saturday morning run was slightly tainted this week though as the only car I'd seen in about an hour thought it wise/funny to give me the w@nker sign through his car window as he went passed in the opposite direction! :evil: I'm a w@nker why? Being there, being a cyclist, having a bike more expensive bike than his 15 year old Corsa? You half expect it from young lads showing off to their mates, but this was grown (very grown by the look of it) man.

Something similar happened to me a few weeks back, less than 500 metres from home, leaving my estate. Basically I was approaching a junction which has it's approach obscured by parked cars - this reduces that part of the road to a single lane. I knew there was a noisey disel behind me and turned round to check it was safe to move right over, in readiness to turn right at said junction, I was 10-15 metres in front. Mr Van Driver (not saying he was Dutch) decides he wants to jostle for the 10 metres of tarmac before the junction and accelrates round me and cuts me up. I just cycled along side him and asked him what his problem was, he done the usual 'hard man' thing - shouting and gesticulating as he was accelerating away.

Fat muppet, please note; Having your trade name, address, etc plastered all over your van before you cut someone up isn't really wise.....

This really played on my mind for the remainder of the ride and spoiled a perfect morning of riding.

Monkeypump

Secteur wrote:

PS off to sleep now so I can be up early!

Off to bed at 9pm on a Saturday? Really?

I've just realised why I love the idea, but hate the reality, of getting up early for rides!

The Ors

HoHoHoBlueGiant wrote:

What goes through these people's small minds?

Nothing?

clickrumble

Well not quite that early but usually 7.30 - 8.00 start. 30 miles or so before 10 on Sat and Sun while Mrs CR goes swimming. Start out with a bowl of muesli and take a banana. Come back to a mid morning brunch, so then we've got the rest of the day free to do other stuff. It's a great time to go out in the lanes round here and if I see others it's usually cyclists.

andy46

I'm also out the door between 05:30-06:00 on either Saturday or Sunday it's the best time to be out, as others have said I just love the peace and quiet and the sound of nothing but my bike humming away on a nice smooth stretch of tarmac (which is getting hard to find these days)

:roll:

On another note, I've just had a driver shout at me tonight. Around 10:30pm coming home from work, on a quiet B road and a single car coming towards me (Corsa I think). The driver starts shouting out the window as he passes to "get that light switched off!"

I'm not being funny but that would kinda defeat the object of it. I use a Hope vision one, so not the brightest of lights but adequate. I don't get some people.

Secteur

andy46 - is your light angled (dipped) correctly? If so, then he's an idiot.

peat

One ride i look back fondly on was a mid-week pre work loop of Oxford (when i lived there) early one summer morning.

The early morning sunlight beating off the architecture, no-one around bar street sweepers and a few drunk students making their way home. Flouting traffic laws, riding wherever and however i pleased. It was like a massive urban adventure playground. Mega.

cyberknight

Love commuting home at 3 am after the last night shift of the week, i can get all the way home and see maybe 2-3 cars and they will be taxis .

Cycloslalomeur

Inspired by this thread, I started a 200-kilometre ride at 5.25am today, taking in roads on either side of the border in Hainaut. Fabtastic. Didn't see another cyclist in this Mamil-infested area for the first 70km, which made me think I was the 'ardest one out there this morning... Highlights: woke up a Gallic cock that was clearly dozing on the job (cue puns) before arriving by chance in Binche for the start of a Tour de Wallonie stage.

Cycloslalomeur

Cycloslalomeur wrote:

Inspired by this thread, I started a 200-kilometre ride at 5.25am today, taking in roads on either side of the border in Hainaut. Fabtastic. Didn't see another cyclist in this Mamil-infested area for the first 70km, which made me think I was the 'ardest one out there this morning... Highlights: woke up a Gallic fool that was clearly dozing on the job (cue puns) before arriving by chance in Binche for the start of a Tour de Wallonie stage.

Oh dear. It seems the forum engine automatically replaced "c0ck" as in male chicken with "fool". :roll:

thefd

Myself and a mate go out 3 mornings a week - meet at 6am and cycle for 1 - 1.5 hours before work. Also on a Sunday we meet at 6.30am. Love it!!!

wiffachip

get to hear Fisherman's Blues on the wireless when getting ready, or Brian Matthew if a bit late, which is nice

Pross

I'm amazed the roads aren't chock full of cyclists pre 7.00am based on this thread! I love the idea of it but I do enjoy a lie in, having to get up at 7.00am yesterday to ride out and intercept the club run was enough for me. The view from Llangynidr Mountain at 9.00am made all worthwhile though.

wiffachip

i have me lie in when I get back

perfect saturday - cycle from 7 till 12ish, dinner, snooze, tea, Toon

ishmael

Being a 50 year old ex-rugby prop I'm not only insanely heavy but also have the metabolism of a sloth. Early morning rides before eating anything is just about the only way to kickstart my system so that it burns fat. I've trained for London to Paris rides (inc 24h) like this zand found it much more effective than riding at any other time of the day. Plus, it's over and done with before the missus wakes up.

Love getting out there in the peace and quiet too. Best thing I ever saw was a big old owl cruising across the road in front of me. It then turned and tracked me for a couple of hundred yards, completely silent and with hardly a flap of its huge wings. Quite a magical, if eerie sight. Owls are 'harbingers of death' in mythology and old wives tails. I half expected to get sideswiped by a bus or van on the route home.

Redhog14

The only thing I can hear on my rides is the Fury of the Fiery Hounds of Hell as I bend the laws of the Universe with my speed, either that or I need to lube my pedals

Garry H

TheFD wrote:

Myself and a mate go out 3 mornings a week - meet at 6am and cycle for 1 - 1.5 hours before work. Also on a Sunday we meet at 6.30am. Love it!!!

You live anywhere near Penicuik? I think I used to drive past the two of you on the way to work, you were usually going up the hill by the Flotterstone. Guy on a Specialized usually in front.

I now ride in at around 5.30 am, so haven't seen you for a while. If I see you again whilst driving, I'll be sure to flash.

thefd

Garry H wrote:

TheFD wrote:

Myself and a mate go out 3 mornings a week - meet at 6am and cycle for 1 - 1.5 hours before work. Also on a Sunday we meet at 6.30am. Love it!!!

You live anywhere near Penicuik? I think I used to drive past the two of you on the way to work, you were usually going up the hill by the Flotterstone. Guy on a Specialized usually in front.

I now ride in at around 5.30 am, so haven't seen you for a while. If I see you again whilst driving, I'll be sure to flash.

Yup that is us! The last three weeks has seen us having holidays which overlap, but should be back to it. I'm the guy with the specialized but after 2 weeks of holidays and eating I suspect I'll be at the back now!!!