The Perfect Cycling Day
The checklist below ensures I always have an awesome day on the bike!
These checks work best for me, but your list might be different.
Sometimes it can be a lot to remember, hence the list, and sometimes it can be hard to do but having done the below subconsciously now for the past 16 months means I don’t need to think about them as much.
🌝: Night Before
Create GPX Route on Komoot (link here) and sync to Garmin.
Have a rough idea of where I plan to stop tomorrow in order to ensure there’s a hotel nearby, or a Warmshowers host – otherwise I won’t think about it and instead, wild camp.
Ensure my bags are packed for an early start in the morning
Ensure all my gear is charged and ready to go.
🌅: Pre-Ride
Quick morning stretch
Brush teeth
Healthy breakfast (+coffee makes a huge difference for me, in my alertness and in my ability to pedal).
Add some cash to my handlebar bag for roadside food later on.
Fill water bottles with water and add electrolyte tablets.
Get changed into my cycling gear and put on my chest based HR Monitor (for advanced data metrics).
🚴🏼: During the Ride
Zone-out to have a good ride, put on a good podcast (I’ve linked some here) or an amazing music playlist such as my FAVES below!
Turn on iPhone’s Airplane Mode to conserve battery life.
Take lots of photos and videos! See my instagram for inspiration.
Towards end of ride, start to think about accommodation and if a hotel or Airbnb, get it booked at least 1-hour before sunset.
😴: Post-Ride
Protein shake (my protein goal on the bike is 119g/day based on my needs)
Healthy eating / veg/fruit / meat, nutrients. As little packaged/processed as possible.
Stretching – usual leg stretches, especially hamstring. I find kneeling on a bed/sofa helps stretch my calfs and thighs.
Massage (as a treat if possible, in Thailand especially)
Keep off alcohol, drink milk post-ride instead (although beer is definitely the best post-ride drink IMO).
Read why alcohol is not good for fat loss, or recoveryEarly night and maximise sleep – ideally 10 hours
Moisturise skin especially after a long day in the sun, and it helps to avoid sunburn post-ride.
Upload ride to my Strava (link here) and add photos and caption, and/or create and publish vlog to my instagram here.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments.
As always, you can stay up to date with my journey riding around the world via my links here!