There is no doubt that cycling is a sport that hooks. There are other sports, such as football or basketball, in which a couple of matches a week is already considered a good burden. But the lover of cycling, who is really hooked, requires 3 or 4 outings a week. This translates into about 7 to 10 net hours of dedication by pedaling in different days.
This point is key to those who have young children. If you also practice cycling and you have children (or you practiced it until they have them), you will know this well. If you enjoy out of bicycle several days a week and you are about to have your first child, this article can be of interest.
Let's start remembering the three basic points that the practice of cycling requires as we live and enjoy those who leave several days in week:
- Time (obvious, since each exit will take a few hours)
- Economic resources (buy a bicycle, keep it, equipment, accessories, etc.)
- Sacrifice capacity (common to all sports, but especially significant in cycling)
My experience is that of a father who has a 5 -year -old daughter, 4 grandparents available to take care of her and a flexible job. But in my environment I know friends and family who daily tell their difficulties to get half an hour to themselves ... even if it is not to invest in bicycle.
Let's see how to combine each of the three points described above that is required to continue bicycle with paternity.
How to manage your time
As indicated above, a lover of cycling precise between 7 and 10 hours a week to satisfy his pedaling thirst. These departures are usually distributed normally in 2 departures from Monday to Friday and a longer third on Saturday or Sunday morning. How does this change when children appear? Well radically.
While it is true that at first your child will take all your time and energies, within a few months everything will be stabilized, finding routines and free moments where leisure will be your great ally and you can see that series that you left halfway, or Up to the roller for a while.
However, it is from two years when the nursery, school, extracurricular activities, visits to the park with grandparents, etc., really help.
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The Cycling Father or mother must, without hesitation, take advantage of those moments as if they were his last pedaling. Half an hour? A little core. One hour? Roller. Two hours? Highway with squeeze in the repeches. Let's not waste time, which is the most valuable thing we have.
It should be taken into account that not everyone has the same schedules. Some people work in shifts, others by departure, and others may be unemployed. Each family is different, and each cyclist tries to adapt to their circumstances.
How to manage your money
A few months ago a good friend had a daughter. A few weeks before birth, he took the opportunity to change his road bike. Why in that moment? One may think that changing bike, if you are not going to have time to enjoy it, is to throw money.
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My friend's explanation is as follows:
"As I know I will have important expenses such as nursery, vaccines, new room, diapers, clothes and others, because I buy the bike that I would plan to buy in two years now, before the girl is born".
In addition, buying a new bicycle already generates the obligation to amortize it and, therefore, you will be more predisposed to occupy any free time with it than if you simply lower the one you have to the storage room.
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Testimonies apart, it should be mentioned that a child, during the first year of life, can mean a great disbursement. This point does not directly affect the practice of sport we love, but everything that surrounds the acquisition and maintenance of a bicycle.
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Maintenance: It will not be a problem, since we will use the bike less, and if we talk about BTT, much less.
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Buy clothes and accessories: Surely let's get fat with fatherhood, so it is convenient not to have undone of the clothes two seasons (the one before refining).
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Cyclist marches and trips with the group: It is something that we possibly look away for a while, so it will not be an extra expense. Above all, because the lack of training will leave us offside.
My recommendation is that you face paternity or maternity with the bicycle and closet ready for the following year. And without claim to spend in cycling beyond brake pads, covers and basic maintenance. The money must be at the service of your baby, especially if the family budget is not loving.
Willingness
For me this is the key point: sacrifice for what one loves. It is not easy, nothing easy, go out to train when you have slept little, you are tired and you have no spirits because you have taken a few kilos (since food bundles in food with relatives such as the ball of a
Pinball).
In this sense, I am going to tell you the story of which it has possibly been the most difficult occasion for me. Five years ago I surfed almost daily. Between 5 and 7 bathrooms a week of about two hours each. When my daughter was born, I went to 1 weekly bathroom the week I was lucky.
Surf, like cycling, is a sport that requires a high frequency and good physical form so that you simply have fun.
Well, on one occasion I had not been in the water for about three weeks and my daughter was sick. It was nothing serious, a small virus that had a little low forces. It was Sunday morning and my wife and I were at home with little Carla.
My wife, generous where there are them, insisted that I go to the beach to surf a little. Let me relax a few hours and then gave him the relief. Thus we would both have more strength to continue with the girl's care, which obviously did not need both of the two.
Well, friends, making the decision to leave home, ride the car and go to the beach having my sick daughter was the hardest thing I have faced in my life. Of course, when I returned from the beach and my wife went for a walk through the mountain, I took care of my daughter with the energy and delivery of an army.
I hope that this opinion article, based on personal or close experiences, is of interest and you share it. I think I am doing well, and although sometimes we throw a little morro pulling grandparents, in the end everything has an impact on the kids, since if we are fine (sport helps us physically and encouragement), they will be better.
And you, do you have children? Has your fondness changed to cycling? How do you carry the paternity or maternity with bicycle outings? Do not hesitate to leave your comments.
