Here’s a question from Bike Noob reader Ramon H. in the Rio Grande Valley of far south Texas:

Currently, we have a small group that rides on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:15 a.m. We ride for about 1.5 hours and we get back to our homes about 7 a.m. with plenty of time to get ready for work and go in at 8 a.m. I thought that was plenty early, but now some other folks really want to ride with us. However, they are asking us to move our ride to start at 4:30 a.m. That got me thinking, at what time do your readers do their weekday rides and why? I can start it off by saying that I love the morning rides because it gives me lots of energy for the work day ahead. Also, it just fits better in my schedule.
Ramon, I haven’t bought a really good light to do a recreational or training ride in the early morning dark, so I’ll have to defer to Bike Noob’s loyal readers. Does your club do really early morning rides on weekdays? Do you as an individual get up well before dawn to work in a ride before going to work? We know commuters do this all the time, but getting up that early for fun strikes me as odd (although I used to jog before dawn, back when I jogged).
Feel free to weigh in on this. Is 4:30 a.m. too early on a weekday?
*Photo from Beginning Bicycle Commuting blog.
YES
I commute to work, and I have to leave my house by 4:30 at the latest, or I will be late to work. So 4:30 is just another day in my mind.
YES! As is 5:15. I’m lucky if I get up at 7!
If you can’t tell from the comments to Bike Noob, there are no right answers in cycling. Since the new year I have been getting ups at 5:15 and am in the gym by 5:30 3 days a week and I feel great. When I leave the gym at 6:30 I usually see a couple of commuters heading toward downtown on bikes. Backpacks and blinking LEDs(what did we do before we had them?)I admire my cycling brothers but have no desire to join them at that time of day.
I don’t do workout rides, but I am a commuter, and during much of the year I’ll head into work in the dark. It’s varied over the last couple years, but I’ve left home at 4:30 to arrive at work at 5:45 (17 mile commute 1-way for a time). That felt really early then… but it worked. Currently I tend to leave home around 6:30 to be in by 7 (this time of year, that’s borderline lighting conditions).
It really doesn’t matter how early you get up if you can adjust the time you’re going to sleep. If you can’t discipline yourself to do that… best not to try getting up early!
@ Daved –
You can get up to go work out at 5:15 but can’t imagine biking to work at 6:30? That doesn’t make much sense to me!
Matt I am blessed with a job that allows me to work from my home.
I am up to ride at 4:10 most mornings – though my ride may not start until 4:30.
4.30am? It’s true then, cyclists are crazy!
Most AM rides here start at 6.30-7am, in summer and they are pushed back to 9AM or 2PM in winter.
If I’m riding by myself, I never leave before 5.30am.
It’s not worth riding if I haven’t had a decent sleep beforehand. I’ll just be extra tired and cranky the next day and probably get run down if I do it too often.
Bleah.. If I ride before work I’ll hit the pavement at 6:30a and that gives me an hour and a half to ride (I don’t have to be at work ’til 9am). Anything earlier than that I’d consider a nite ride (as in it’s still the night before) as opposed to a morning ride.
I can’t get out till after 9AM., I drop the wife off at work, then I come home and “bundle up” and get in a ride, (if it’s REALLY BAD), I’ll do the trainer. At 5 AM. here, you might find a bit of black ice on the roads and it will be way colder than my current riding gear could handle!
Just to give yall an update. I talked with the folks I ride during the weekday and they all agree: riding at 4.30AM is way too early. We have moved the ride up for 5AM instead. Interestingly enough, it seems like there are indeed a couple of folks that will ride at that time as well. Good to know.
-RamonH
During the summer months, I can more easily get up early (5:30 – 5:45) to go for a ride before work (I have to leave for work around 7:15), but come winter time when it’s still dark out, I just can’t seem to get my butt out of the nice warm bed. I’m not a morning person, so I have a difficult time going to bed early enough to allow for a good night’s sleep before getting up really early. I admire people who can get up and work out that early in the mornings, but unfortunately I’m not one of those people.