training for corporate slaves

[peeingabovetreeline]

Howdy internet,

I have a job. It's a great job! Unless you'd like to, uh, do an ultra bikepacking race. Lately (the past two+ years) I've traveled between 33-50% of my time. Travel tends to be disruptive, I can't bring a bike and I'm expected to pull long hours. I've mitigated this as best I can through running; which is part of my winter training approach (typically running/slipping around on an icy bike path/weekend gravel/bikram yoga/ski touring ) but it's clearly not riding a bike. This has been ok for one day ultra events; however, the idea of committing to something greater with my professional obligations can be a little daunting.

So, for those of y'all that travel (or have huge built-in time sucks), how do you manage to train while not having access to a bike for a week at a time?

Thanks!!

[Nathan Jones]

Not to just throw money at the problem but you could get a folding bike if you are traveling so much.  At least then it's a smaller footprint and it's MORE of a workout if it has 20" wheels.  Not sure if that counts with "can't bring a bike" as they fold up pretty small these days.

[Iowagriz]

I used to travel a lot 60-75% and never really figured it out.  But, if I went back to the travel gig, I'd either buy a BikeFriday(.com?) or get a membership to a nationwide gym so I'd have access to Spin classes and such.

For the bike friday, I've ridden one for a few days.  Nice bikes, but I'd go for the bomb proof model and not the road model.  Maybe used if I could find it.

[superdavebruno]

If you wanna do good in the event, you need to disrupt your job. Work and the status that comes with it is so over-rated. Recommend to bump down to part-time say 80% for six months to get focused. When I was training for TD11 there were two phases, inside and outside. Inside was November-January, work 12 hours, eat dinner, get kid to bed, then stomp the stationary bike for an hour to midnight to soothing music like Lighthning Bolt at 140db on a full stomach with the windows wide open (ie. to simulate the reality of a fast TD: hallucinating-tired, binge-eating stupidity). Outside was Feb-May which meant building up to back-to-back Friday-Saturday-Sundays outside up to 16 hours in sadddle with 10kg of wrenches on the bike, in all weather (no excuses), with 4am starts. This meant some disregard for job and kid and wife, which is not a regret but just a statement of fact, a one-time decision made with all involved. For actual TD I took a month off unpaid. So if your serious about pushing yourself you need to tell the boss to take a rightful back seat in your life, and lovingly ask your family to understand and forgive. We're all 75  years old soon enough. So Go For It in life dude. Ain't never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. Liebe grusse from Zurich where its just started snowing and I can see it out my windows from my corporate slavedom pult. Bikepacking and TD forever. SD

[peeingabovetreeline]

nj - A folding bike, though not without it's merits, probably isn't a likely avenue right now. Should things change, that's a great thing to keep in mind.

ig - The spin classes are a great idea! Thanks so much for the insight; I would have never thought of that. Probably because I have a severe gym allergy. 

sdb - My manager is actually very supportive and is working to reduce my travel; however, it can't happen overnight because of the commitments I made.  I suppose you could say I'm looking for a bridge to get me through the blocks of travel I have left. Regarding my wife & children, I'm not married. I'm also straight. And female.  

Thanks to all of you for your replies!

[Briansong]

If you wanna do good in the event, you need to disrupt your job. Work and the status that comes with it is so over-rated. Recommend to bump down to part-time say 80% for six months to get focused. When I was training for TD11 there were two phases, inside and outside. Inside was November-January, work 12 hours, eat dinner, get kid to bed, then stomp the stationary bike for an hour to midnight to soothing music like Lighthning Bolt at 140db on a full stomach with the windows wide open (ie. to simulate the reality of a fast TD: hallucinating-tired, binge-eating stupidity). Outside was Feb-May which meant building up to back-to-back Friday-Saturday-Sundays outside up to 16 hours in sadddle with 10kg of wrenches on the bike, in all weather (no excuses), with 4am starts. This meant some disregard for job and kid and wife, which is not a regret but just a statement of fact, a one-time decision made with all involved. For actual TD I took a month off unpaid. So if your serious about pushing yourself you need to tell the boss to take a rightful back seat in your life, and lovingly ask your family to understand and forgive. We're all 75  years old soon enough. So Go For It in life dude. Ain't never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. Liebe grusse from Zurich where its just started snowing and I can see it out my windows from my corporate slavedom pult. Bikepacking and TD forever. SD

Great insight. I completely agree with your analysis. All weather no matter what. Family & Job need to be in complete agreement.

[hikernks]

Maybe just renting a bike at local bike shops?  I've rented in a few places, and never paid more than $25/day - and that's including a titanium Fatback in Anchorage.

[mountainjah]

+1 for the spinning. I tackled my first ultra season last year (2013) while continuing to work a very demanding job. I had hurt myself that fall (2012) and saw spinning as a way to build back up into cycling shape. The strength gain was tremendous and my endurance grew- although I also had to accelerate my training with the gravel grinding, frozen bike path, ski touring routine you reference above. This year, injury free heading into the winter, I'm looking to spinning again for strength training. I feel as strong as ever coming out of this season and not only do I want to maintain current levels, I want to push forward. I'm also adding fatbiking into the mix to expand my "outside" training options. I'm confident that spinning allows me to attack some early events in better shape than most. Last year this include a 115 grinder, local 30's and a 300+ mile bikepack all early in the season. Where I travel for work, gyms with spin classes can be found via the wonders of the internet. Three times a week from Dec-Feb has proven to be a sustainable approach- both in regards to my wallet and similar gym fatigue....don't wear a kit, focus on yourself and the goals you have for next season and get er done.

[Flinch]

What he said....Spin 

Seriously, focus on the spin classes as they are a proxy for hill climbing and can get your legs used to spinning faster (not the roadie 90 rpm fast, but steady 60-80 rpm). No crap, spin. And spinning is not sissy-fairyworm stuff: I had my ass handed to me after my first spin class.

I trained both spin 2-3 times/week and outside rides when possible for the 2013 TD route in July (1250 miles: had to start ride in July, so got flushed out of Banff and decided to ride for fun/experience, and cut ride short for personal reasons and thus off route). I stopped spinning 6 weeks before my ride from Fernie BC to Pinedale, then Pinedale-Evanston WY this summer.   I quickly noticed a deterioration on the training hills, and got back into spinning in time enough to notice a positive difference before the ride.

I've never bikepacked before, and am not an endure athlete, but really value the conditioning that spinning gives me. Along the way I lost 50 pounds and was amazed that my recovery period was overnight along the ride (averaged 60+ miles/day, and did two century+ days).

Oh, and I'm not quite a spring chicken at a bit on the other side of 60. Or as my daughter says, "Dad, you're not old - you've just been 21 three times!".

Looking forward to more abuse, er, bikepacking,

Glen

[falkenjaeger]

I totally agree with Glen. I did the TDR this year - and had to quit after 1000 miles due to heavy knee issues (patella). I did a lot of spinning in advance as I own a spinning bike and we had lots of snow til end of April. In the end - i am just guessing - I felt pretty fit (doing app. 110 miles per day on average) without any major problems but I probably should have done more long rides over several consecutive days with the FULLY loaded bike to condition my knees. Uh, and I celebrated my 21 birthday only twice so far -:)