I’m 17 and just started a job and I’m at college I used to ride nearly every day but now my only spare time is Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day I race enduro
and plan on having the day of for weekends away my boss is laid back but it’s the little rides I like the most and I’m knackered come Saturday it’s my first week so should get in a routine but just wondering how people stay stoked I don’t want grow up haha

Ride to work.
Get some lights and do some night riding.

Wait until you have a wife, dog, children, family duties, DIY etc etc if you dont think you have time now.
Ride to college, get up early or get some lights.

You’ll get into a routine. Rides after work for an hour or two.

Try running your own business and having a baby! (Actually don’t, leave that for a good while!) Night riding is awesome, both for quick blasts or longer 3-4 hour after-work stints. You’ll get used to working soon enough, it does get less tiring. N.B. Grammar! 😉

You dont need to post about it.

99.9% of the posts on STW aren’t needed. Are you here to shut down the site to improve the nation’s productivity?

Couldashouldawould. Think lights are my next purchase and I’m more grown up than you if you post things like that I ment it had a joke

lights; night rides. the only way to keep riding when you’re working & weekends are otherwise spoken for

+ some decent winter clothing. waterproof jacket, socks and/or shoes. did I mentions lights?

John_drummer
that’s some quality advise cheers

99.9% of the posts on STW aren’t needed.

True. If a bit optomistic.

You’ll get used to it, and will make time for what’s important to you. As you can probably tell from the responses so far, it doesn’t get any easier but that’s life. The silver lining is that the less free time you have, the more you appreciate it. Finding a job you enjoy helps too! 🙂

Plus having a job means you can get better/more bikes. And lights!

True saving up for crossmax wheels so if I weren’t working that’s out of the window plus I enjoy my job so far now I need some advice on what lights to get

Well at least I got to take my bike to work with me and get 2 days in over the weekend while away, but back for 2 days managed a 20km road spin to unwind my legs and now back to the airport…7 days in Brisbane no room or time for a bike either

for lights you could do worse than these:
http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-lights/cabs-02-series—cree-xml.html

have a set of these on the bars and 1000 lumen version on your helmet and you won’t go far wrong. For riding through the winter a decent set of lights is probably more important than a set of weight-weenie wheels

45years to go…….and remember the old saying,you,ll never see a grave stone with ‘ wish i had worked harder’ on it..

I work full time and have done around 10,600 miles so far this year.
I find having neither wife nor children helps enormously. I guess at your age you have neither too, you should be fine.

I’m 17 and just started a job and I’m at college I used to ride nearly every day but now my only spare time is Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day I race enduro
and plan on having the day of for weekends away my boss is laid back but it’s the little rides I like the most and I’m knackered come Saturday it’s my first week so should get in a routine but just wondering how people stay stoked I don’t want grow up haha

wait till you have an orange 5 an audi and a job in management before you complain

you truely will have all the time in the world to ride but probably will just end up arguing on here

Not much to add to the good advice about night riding and riding to work, except to say that when I first started work, I was knackered, but that doesn’t last too long!

Night riding, riding to work, getting up early and sneaking a ride before college starts – it’s not as bad as it sounds, yes being 17 I can imagine getting up in time for college is awfully hard, let alone 2 hours earlier but once you do it a few times and enjoy it (and feel smug all day at work / college because you KNOW how much more worthy you are than your mates), it’ll get easier.

And if you need the miles for fitness as opposed to pleasure – save a bit from your first few pay packets and get a turbo trainer. Then you can do a hard 45 min session in 45 minutes, shower and done, and the benefits of targeted training will pay dividends, and the rides you do will be all the better for it. If your riding is purely for enjoyment – unlikely a turbo will be better than riding for that, unless you’re wired very differently to me!

Op: good you have a job.

Evenings (£15 chinese XML lights) and weekends mate

Its difficult, no doubt about it. These pro’s don’t get where they are by sat at a desk for 10hrs a day and grabbing the odd ride here and there. I try to ride three times a week plus some commutes. I try to get out after work for a couple of hours a week and once at the weekend – if I get up early I can get a good 3hr or so ride in and be back home while my wife and kids are still faffing around getting ready. It is difficult to maintain your fitness through the winter unless you just bite the bullet and decide to go out in all weathers, which is difficult when you know the conditions are going to be crap and you’re not going to actually enjoy the ride. Its crap. Being a pro rider is the best way to ride every day!

@sirtomsmith – congrats on getting work, it’s not easy these days.

So welcome to the next 40+ years 😕 Trying to juggle the time is difficult but make sure you keep your leisure activities (ie biking) going as it will keep you sane. A quick ride at lunch time, ride to / from work. Go to bed early to ensure you get 7-8 hours sleep that way youre less tired come the weekend. Having a job means you’ve got more money for bike bits but less time to ride. When I started working it was straight into leaving at 6 and getting back at 8, tbh I did nothing but work and family for 10 years, hard to recommend that.

Keep at it and see how you feel in a few years, you could make a switch to another job (eg contracting) that would give more time to ride or perhaps work towards becoming a guide for a few years. You are 17 so all the options are open, have fun and enjoy it.

Then you can do a hard 45 min session in 45 minutes

Behave, this is STW there are guys on here that could do a hard 45 minute session in half an hour(Rigid and s/s).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-Bicycle-bike-Head-Light-Headlamp-Rechargeable-Head-Light-/330958001861?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item4d0ea256c5#ht_10000wt_1170
£17 quid off the bay

sirtomsmith – Member
I’m 17 and just started a job and I’m at college I used to ride nearly every day but now my only spare time is Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day I race enduro
and plan on having the day of for weekends away my boss is laid back but it’s the little rides I like the most and I’m knackered come Saturday it’s my first week so should get in a routine but just wondering how people stay stoked I don’t want grow up haha

First thing, quit. Quit the job. You’re 17 you’ve got the rest of your life to work, or at the very least take days of to go riding, since things only get worse from here on in.

I’m 19 and I started mtb at 17 when I was at college. I’ve got a 9-6 manual job now, I get home at 7 but I need to make myself food and get ready for the next day, so evening rides are out of the window. Also come the weekend I simply don’t have the energy to ride. One other thing is that since I only ride on the weekends my riding skill has diminished, so when I do ride I don’t have as much fun. Also any injuries will put me out of work, If I had an office job I could still come in and be useful with a broken leg say.

I can only suggest going straight to bed after work and getting up at 5 the next day, morning rides are ace and the trails are dead so you can really pin it (do people still pin it on the trail – or is there a new term for you 27.5ers).

As for me I don’t ride at the moment so i’ll either quit MTB all together or get a CX bike and pootle about.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibPziIrCRZA[/video]

If you quit your job you will have no cash so how do you buy bits and spares?

rob jackson – Member

If you quit your job you will have no cash so how do you buy bits and spares? rigid singlespeeds for the win.

But yea, work sucks, but really theres still 8 hours of that aren’t work or sleep, so thats an hour for a lazy breakfast, morning sex, commute by bike, home cooked dinner, 3 hours riding and still an hour left for more sex. theres lots
of hours in the day if you use them.

I remember the same feeling when I left Uni and got a full time job.

Was used to riding whenever I felt like it and suddenly it was cutting into the time I liked to spend doing other stuff (night riding had not been invented then).

Now I’ve got my own business so work seven days a week, have a baby, a five year old and a puppy.

I never knew how good I had it!

Buying a decent set of lights was the best money I ever spent. Since having kids 9 years ago, and running my own business, those days when you get to head off into the hills on a Saturday morning, and stay out for the day, are a rare treat! Not necessarily a bad thing – you don’t half savour them where you get them!

But the majority of my riding gets done at night. Which again is no bad thing. I bloody love night riding!

Oh… The other thing I did was moved house to somewhere where I come straight out of my front door onto some truly fantastic trails. I understand this may not be an option. And my 15-20 mile off road commute takes in Cragg Quarry 🙂

*looks smug*

The advent of decent lights really has saved me from no riding at all.

All my riding is done when the kids are in bed – either morning or evening. Looking forward to being able to get out at the weekends when they’re bigger.

I work 0700 – 1500 get home for 1600 and have a hour and do my 10 mile local loop. Some road there, some twisty woodland track, a farm track with a belting rocky chute between some stables and some testing climbs.
If I’m off I’ll extend it to go up Cadshaw and up Darwen moor or to Rivington. Or we will jump in the car and go Gisburn.

Missus sometimes comes out on bike but has a Horsebso when she goes horse fetteling I go biking 🙂 it works well.

Prioritise, organise and buy some lights.

I ride to work which is more fun than driving and keeps you fit enough to enjoy the good rides. I plan rides and put the in a calendar so they happen. I can finish work at 4:30 and can get a 5 or 6 hour ride in if I’ve sorted my life out. You can only fit so much in so decide what you want to do and what you need to do and lose the stuff that is neither.

I just ride on my days off or either before/after work depending on what shift I’m working. I work 5 mins down the road from Woburn so I always try to get down there after an early shift for a ride! Other than that road bike makes more sense for getting quick rides in.

Good to see another member on here! I think my advice is learn to balance and compromise,

I’ve just started uni so I balanced a course with better job prospects with a good riding location – Wales. I’m still settling in and i’ve not got a routine yet however stick at it and you’ll soon see when you can and how much time you’ll get. The outlook for us isn’t all that great, my career looks like i’ll be working long hours in a job that might not be that exciting but if anything it’ll mean when I do get to ride i’ll have a nice bike and savour it. Stick at the job and certainly dont quit without a back up plan.

TBH you’ll have no idea how “Time rich” you Currently are for at least another decade (all being well), mortgages, spouses and offspring seem to almost appear overnight and gobble up “spare” time and funds leaving very little for cycling.

Ride to work, good for fitness, moral and it saves you money.

Do try to make time for riding now, it will generally benefit you in the long run.

Stop watching TV. Get up early. Learn to power nap.
Has anyone mentioned lights yet [ :roll:]
Buy good weatherproof clothes and enough shorts/shirts etc so you can always have kit to wear
Ride everywhere.

but has a Horsebso

Is this the equine version of an Asbo?

❓

ride to college, ride to work. when I was 18, I was putting in 350miles a week and had collegd, girlfriend, bar job and a drinking social life. I lived on 2 hours sleep and did that for 2 years…llenty of chances to ride but ddpdnds on the type of riding you do…dh, forget it, too much faffing to get ready anc then once you out…just riding has plenty of stuff…make it happen!

saying all that, having a family was a bigger impact. solution was to separate from wife…now have more time for family and biking.

I do 4 A -levels (but they’re easy ain’t they) 9-4 monday-friday + plus an hour or two at home each day, work Saturday 9-6 and still get around 8-14 hours of training/bike riding (inc racing at least fortnightly) in pretty much every week and I nearly have a social life. Get some discipline, relevant lights and clothing, an intimate relationship with coffee and a routine, you’ll find copious amounts of time to ride. Beginning you half hour commute to work an hour early than needs be is a good decision – trust me!

Guys: I posted a reply yesterday to this that I thought was funny.

Obviously it wasnt and I apologise.