These tips will help you triumph over three issues that frequently affect cyclists, and make your rides more enjoyable. – By Selene Yeager

Got bike riding excuses? We’ve got a BS detector – and solutions – for three common reasons would-be cyclists say they simply can’t ride.

“I’m too fat!”

Talk about a pedaller’s paradox, huh? Cycling is a great way for someone who’s overweight to get fit and burn fat, because it’s relatively easy on your joints. Yet, everything from finding clothes, to feeling accepted in what may seem like a sea of sinewy string beans, scares XL riders away.

The next time you start making this excuse, do these things instead:

Buy a quality kit.
So you’ve put on a few kilograms. That doesn’t mean you can’t get high-performance cycling apparel and get back on the bike. Companies offer men’s and women’s kits in true larges for cyclists of every size, and skintight pieces make rides more comfortable and help prevent chafing.

Work your strengths to build your strength.
Straight up (pun intended), hills are not going to be your strong suit if you’re carrying extra weight. Researchers have calculated that, for a 72-kilogram rider on a 5k climb with a 7-percent grade, every extra two kilograms of body weight adds 30 seconds to get to the top. So, yeah, hills will be harder – but you can still motor on the flats like nobody’s business. And if you build strength (remember, cycling is a power-to-weight sport; you can work both sides of that equation), you can also get so good at rocking rolling terrain that you can power up and use your weight to gain momentum down the other side.

Power up.
To gain power, perform explosive strength training like fast (but controlled, with good form) squats. Do two to three sets of 15 reps, and you’ll activate more muscle fibres for pushing those pedals. As the weight comes off, increasingly steep pitches will become easier.

Find your flock. Go to any charity ride and you’ll see cyclists of every shape and weight. Size is no excuse. Find people you’re comfortable riding with and get out and ride!

“I have no time!”

Seriously?! Who does! To be fair, if you’re holding down three jobs to make ends meet, you may be extremely time-challenged. But we know full-time landscapers, shift workers, single parents, and emergency room docs with four kids who carve out time to ride. Here’s what they do:

Ride there.
Commuting is far and away the most popular strategy for sneaking rides into packed schedules. Even if you can’t ride all the way to work, chances are you can ride some of the distance. Plus, commuting doesn’t have to be limited to traveling to and from your occupation. Busy cyclists we talked to figure out how to ride all sorts of places – to pick up groceries and beer; to run errands; even parties on the weekend (make sure you dress appropriately). As one constant commuter put it, “Think of time spent behind the wheel as wasted riding time.”

Get up, get up, get up! Dawn Patrol.
First bird. Early morning power hour. We’ve heard those a.m. rides called all sorts of things, mostly, “effective!” Put out your clothes and set up your bike the night before, so you can wake up and go – even if it means a session on the trainer during cold/dark winter months.

Let stuff slide.
“The secret is Chinese takeout and an untidy house!” says Cheryl Gloster Osbourne, who works long hours and still has time to race. Her get-it-done strategy is a popular one: “Let go of all the small stuff.” The house will not be immaculate. The garden will have some weeds. But if you make riding a priority, you’ll ride.

“I’m too old!”

Define old. Last year, Robert Marchand, a 102-year-old Frenchman, broke his own hour record by pedalling 26.8km in an hour, which was a new record in the over-100 category. And yeah, there’s an over-100 category. That is old, and that guy is still racing. Want to be like him (who doesn’t)? Pedal forever with these strategies:

Maintain intensity.
Sports performance inevitably declines with age. There’s no way around it. If you do nothing, your VO2 max (the benchmark of endurance fitness) drops by about 9 to 10 percent a decade after about age 25. But it does not have to be a precipitous free fall throughout your adult life. Research suggests you can halve that decline (and maybe more) by continuing regular vigorous activity. In fact, research shows that if you continue to train, you can maintain a V02 max in your sixties or seventies that’s higher than that of untrained riders half your age. Keep up those intervals!

Strength train.
If you’re feeling weaker and slower, don’t just blame your age: Do something about it. One study of triathletes ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s found that by the time they were in their 60s, they had to burn more than 17 percent more energy than their 20-something peers to produce the same amount of power on their bike. The reason? They were less efficient. Now, let’s look at a 2012 study aptly titled “Strength Training Improves Cycling Efficiency in Master Endurance Athletes.” This study found that when masters cyclists (about 52 years of age on average) did lower-body resistance training three times a week for three weeks, they saw a nearly 18-percent jump in leg strength and improved their efficiency by more than 16 percent. Clock turned back, just like that.

Remember: Late is WAY better than never.
An eight-year study of nearly 3,500 men and women (average age: 64) published in 2013 found that the folks who started exercising during that time span were three times more likely to be free from major illness and cognitive decline than those who remained inactive. All the more reason to keep riding and if you’ve stopped, to get back on your bike – now!

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