How to get back into cycling after time off the bike? Make it fun and enjoy the pain

Following the crowd eases a return to the road, and the aches and sores that inevitably come after time off are to be embraced

'If the body isn’t regularly exercising you need time to adapt' (Getty)

The man who invented the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange, did not think cycling should be fun. To Desgrange the perfect bike race had only person left at the end of it, such was it’s gruelling, unrelenting nature. The Tour has come a long way since then and is a little less masochistic these days, but it is worth remembering when getting back on the saddle after time away that it does not have to mean putting yourself through agony, even if the slightly mad Desgrange may have said otherwise.

For all it’s brilliant challenges, it is sometimes forgotten that getting on a bike is supposed to be fun. After time away, sending yourself straight up a brutal mountainside is unlikely to feel good, either on the bike or on two feet in the days that follow. A better strategy is to find the things that make riding enjoyable: an off-beat route that leads somewhere stimulating for the eyes as well as the legs and lungs, a group of friends taking on a challenge, or just a hill with a pub worth battling to reach the other side.

“Making it enjoyable is crucial so anything involving social interaction is good,” says Marshall Thomas, a professional cycling coach and coach trainer on British Cycling’s education programme. “Training with other people is important. It’s one of the reasons train-at-home bikes are becoming so popular, like Zwift. I’ve trained a couple of accountants who go upstairs and put their shorts on and they can race online with anybody. Go wherever there are other people.”

Even so, there will inevitably be some aches and sores that come along for the ride. There is perhaps something to be said for Desgrange’s idea of a little suffering in the saddle, and Thomas encourages returning riders to embrace the pain.

“Some people I know just want to hurt,” he says. “The number one thing is to make haste slowly. Don’t try to do it all in the first week. Pace yourself. If the body isn’t regularly exercising you need time to adapt. If you’re starting some bike sessions you might want three days in between. A couple of weeks later you might be riding every other day, then increasing the volume: 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes and so on. It’s going to hurt, you’re going to have delayed post-exercise soreness. Be proud of it. Embrace it.”

No pain, no gain. It’s all part of the fun.

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