Rowman today I want to talk to you about how I plan a training ride. Let's cue that intro! The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our long-chef it? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Welch and welcome to the Rowman Podcast. Roadman, welcome back, Roadman to another roadman, Cycling podcast. We're back, it's Monday again, looking out the window, it's all doom and gloom here, it's pouring rain, it's cold, November is well underway, the season is over, but fear not, the roadman cycling podcast will not be stopping. We're rolling five days a week, all the way through the winter, all the way into the summer, all the way through the winter, rinse and repeat. And that's actually a good segue before I jump into this topic to tell you how I've been able to keep this going and it's because of the generosity of you listeners on Patreon. But don't celebrate yet. Put that cock back in the champagne. We are a long way off the target. Your generosity so far has got us this far but I need to call on you again to keep it common, to keep sustaining this podcast. There's no podcast show sponsors at the moment. it's entirely funded by user generosity. So, all I'm asking from you is the point of a beer once a month. We're in lockdown at the moment, you're not even going to the pub, you're not even going to notice the cash, the price of a point of beer once a month and in return I'm going to give you the podcast comment five days a week as always but I'm also going to give you access to the secret podcast and last month's secret podcast I dive deep into topics like DNA testing and a secret drink I'm using to melt away body fat. Super exciting episode and I'd like to thank very much all those who are subscribing over on Patreon already. With all that said let's jump in and talk about how I plan a training ride because it's not just a matter of heading out the door and going wherever I go today there's actually a process that goes into it so I know I chat to clients training partners that I see occasionally. A recording team from all them is, I had to ride in the same route all the time. And they have two or three routes and they end up riding them all the same. And, you know, that just, it grates at me a little bit because one of the reasons that we love cycling, I spoke with Lauren's 10 dam in our podcast, right, right, fast, lives low a few weeks ago, we all love cycling, or at least I love cycling. And I got into cycling because it was that sense of adventure, making free, the shackles of my neighborhood, because your parents are at a young age, so you're only let go past the end of the road and don't go past Sanzo's house. But then, at some point, you got a bike and all those constraints were removed and you were free to adventure, to experience new things. And it was just filled, every ride is filled with joy and it was filled with a sense of exploration. Then, at some point, we decided to trade exploration for monotony and repetition and doing the same thing over and over again And so I want to talk to you about my planning, my advanced planning, sometimes mental, sometimes I go a little bit further and actually get it down on paper or in an app. But one of the main things I consider when I'm thinking about the ride is how long am I going to ride for? That's the main factor because there's no point in me planning this ambitious, this sounds obvious, but there's no point in planning an ambitious route that's true to hills if I can only ride for an hour and a half. So how long you're going to ride for is going to be an immediate factor.