If “magic hour” was a month, it’d be October. That’s why we’re bringing you Spoketober—our very own celebration of the freedom, fun, and exhilaration of cycling—in the heart of autumn. We’re challenging you to take daily rides through the 31 days of October. The more you pedal, the closer you get to winning awesome prizes and earning exclusive fundraising rewards. The best part: your October cycling journey powers free, accessible public bike education programming.
Information about the 2021 Spoketober Challenge TBA!
In 2020, Bike New York launched the virtual Spoketober Challenge to connect our vibrant community of cyclists. It’s a month-long celebration made to keep you in touch with your bike, your fellow riders, and the singular joy of seeing life from behind the handlebars. This October, join us in taking a ride every day in the name of wellness, camaraderie, and good old-fashioned fun.
As your autumn cycling adventure rolls on, you’ll have the chance to compete for phenomenal prizes and earn exclusive bike gear. We hope that spending time in the saddle each day will keep you feeling good; just by registering, you’re doing good through your support of our critical bike education services.
When the road gets rough, we ride together. This October, take on our Spoketober Challenge and see what amazing things you can accomplish.
Move over, pumpkin spice–we’ve got a better treat for you this fall.
Riders in the inaugural Spoketober Challenge covered over 70,000 miles in 7 countries (all while raising nearly $10,000 to support free bike education programming!). Check out some of their highlights from the road.
Need a little push to get you back in the saddle? We’ve teamed up with Heather Milton, Sports Health expert at our official Healthcare partner, NYU Langone, to create a 21-day training plan you can use for any bike challenge you might be taking on. Made for cyclists of all skill levels and perfect for riders looking to kickstart their fitness routines after an extended period of lower activity.
Want to learn more about the Sports Health services at NYU Langone? Click here to receive concierge access.
But first, let’s talk through some key pre-ride prep that’ll get your body and mind to roll.
Step 1: Start to slowly build mileage.
The old standby of a 10% increase in training per week is a safe and conservative way to gradually increase your fitness routine, which will keep you from hitting the wall during competition–whether you’ve got plans to take on a century or a month-long daily ride competition (hint, hint).
If you’re joining us for Spoketober, don’t forget that you’ll be rewarded with bonus points when you ride 5 days in a row (with a little extra boost for your Wednesday rides), so be sure to factor that info into your training plan. The chart below demonstrates a good progression to follow while you’re ramping up your routine. Let’s say you currently average two 60-minute rides a week. With a little work, you can modify your routine to score those extra points while also gradually increasing your total on-bike time each week.
Keep in mind that you don’t want to change workout frequency, duration and/or intensity all at the same time. Try to keep your intensity as consistent as you can throughout the ramp-up period and focus on individually increasing just the frequency or duration, as the chart above shows.
If you’re starting your routine with less total time per week than you’d like, don’t stress! With plenty of rewards to motivate you, tour Spoketober Challenge is an ideal opportunity to set and achieve new fitness goals.
Step 2: Balance your body.
Getting your body ride-ready isn’t just something you do while you’re pedaling! There are all kinds of exercises you can do off your bike to help keep you fit and ready for long rides. While cycling, the body tends to hold a similar position over an extended time, so some muscles remain in a shortened and tight position while others are in a lengthened or weakened position. Over time, imbalanced muscles can contribute to compensation patterns and overuse injuries.
To keep everything balanced and working to its full ability–or to even increase that ability!– add some mobility drills to the beginning of your workout to ensure you are getting both a good warm up and getting the range of motion your body needs to move at its best. Check out our recommendations in the gallery below.
As the name suggests, this technique involves rolling the muscles of the thigh, back of leg, hips, and lower leg over a hard foam roll.
Step 3: Crosstrain.
It may seem counterintuitive, but stepping out of the clips can actually help you perform better while you’re in ’em. Since just 30 minutes of cycling time per day gets you Challenge points, we recommend also working in some resistance training 2-3 days per week, if you can. Resistance training is a great way to build muscular efficiency, improve metabolism, and help you conquer those climbs.
Below are some examples of exercises that have a nice carry over to cycling performance. Start with just 1-2 sets per exercise if you have less experience with resistance training, then build as you get stronger.
At NYU Langone, our Sports Health team has the combined multi-specialty expertise to help you reach peak performance–no matter what your ride or race looks like. We are dedicated to providing world-class care to athletes at all levels and believe the best way to care for your unique needs is to bring together experts from a wide range of specialties who understand your priorities. Our Sports Health experts collaborate to customize diagnostic, treatment, rehabilitation, and performance plans to fit your lifestyle and help you attain your athletic goals.
Watch our video to learn more about our services, and visit nyulangone.org/bikeny so we can create a plan to help you start and finish any race at your personal best.
Developed by Heather Milton, MS, RCEP, CSCS, Exercise Physiologist Supervisor and Sports Health expert at NYU Langone.
