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I work in this company from Monday to Friday starting from 8 a.m to 6 p.m. I do overtime almost daily and usually arrived at home at around 9 p.m. I'm not a fit person. Last time I tried to do some running I vomit like a dragon. Won't do that ever again so I decided to buy my first mountain bike after 15 years. It's been one month since I bought this.

My current routine is to ride on Sundays (once a week). Usually lasts 1-2 hours with 14 - 27 km distance with 100-ish meters of elevation at 11-12 km/h speed (always the same route each week) I can feel a huge progress on me by just being able to ride longer and farther than my previous routine.

Is it good for a beginners to do a one ride per week routine? I feel like I could improve more by doing a night ride, but I'm not sure because of the dense traffic around my area.

Also I need your suggestion about the most effective routine for a "busy" person. Thank you.

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    Depending on how unfit you are, 14-27 km might be a lot; you might want to consult a personal trainer/medical professional. You might also want to try going shorter distances faster as well. General work life balance might help -- 13+ hour days including commute time can take a general toll.
    – Batman
    Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 14:34
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    Just saying no to overtime will help. Can you commute by bike at least some days per week?
    – ojs
    Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 19:32
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    Can you ride in the morning before work, or even to work? Our road club has 6 am rides (of varying levels) so that people can get a good blast in prior to work starting. Occasionally I can even fit a 100 km ride and still be at work for 8:30 start. It's a type of schedule you obviously will need to work up to, but with planning it is possible to fit a lot in one day.
    – Rider_X
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 2:26
  • “Is it good for a beginners to do a one ride per week routine?” for an absolute beginner maybe. From personal experience I think one day on and one day off (i.e. doing a quality ride every second day) is great. “I feel like I could improve more by doing a night ride, but I'm not sure because of the dense traffic around my area.” Dense traffic even in the night? Get some proper bicycle lights and enjoy the night time!
    – Michael
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 10:42
  • “Also I need your suggestion about the most effective routine for a "busy" person.” If it’s just about general fitness, maybe you should consider running again or try weight lifting. Much more time-efficient than bicycling. You could also try to incorporate any kind of exercise into your daily life. From taking the stairs to doing push-ups or squats during coffee break.
    – Michael
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 10:46

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Going for a start on a weekend like you are doing is a perfect idea. Once you are comfortable with this (sounds like you're getting better already), perhaps the simplest and most time-effective way would be to try and use your bike to get to or from work.

You can start simple: ride to work one day a week, and if that makes you very tired, you can leave it there and return home by other means, riding your bike back the next day. I am a lazy person when it comes to exercise (I would never go to the gym) yet I have found that using my bike to commute effectively gives me 'free' exercise that does not take up any extra time in my day. As a bonus, it gives me something to look forward to in the mornings and evenings too!

No need to rush into things though. As you are doing, start with one day a week, and move from there when you feel ready.

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    For longer distances a partial bike commute can also be good (e.g. ride to a suburban station to get a train). This also avoids the worst city traffic. +1
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 10:53
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It sounds like the same path I took when starting to cycle again after puberty.

I initially started with very short rides (about 10 km in 1 hour) on Saturday, then, as I felt I could try a bit more, I went further and further, increasing both distance and time of riding.

Then I started using my bike to commute (back then I worked 5 km from home and I had a fantastic countryside road where the only danger would have been some sheeps) and that summed up to my weekend ride.

In this way I ended up riding 8000 km in 1 year.

It's a good way to start, then I would suggest you to

  1. try various paths (so that your body and your mind does not get trapped in the routine)
  2. Increase the distance
  3. Increase the time
  4. Try using your bike during the week, too (can you commute by bike? Can you cycle in the lunch break at work? Can you go buying groceries with the bike? Can you do morning or evening rides?)
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  • Lunch rides at work are fun - we have anything up to a dozen people of huge ability ranges, and we take on a known local climb. The fast guys aim to dawdle and then smash a short strava section, then double back and accompany the slower who might be trying it for the first time only. All fun. Our rides are about 70 minutes, maybe stretching to 90.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 7:15
  • @Criggie: It’s a good idea but the problem here is that bicycle rides require quite a bit of time. You can easily cram a running or weight lifting session into 40 minutes (excluding shower time) but a good bicycling session takes ≫1h.
    – Michael
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 10:38
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    @Michael that depends on your roads (and hills, but I don't have those near work). I can do 23km of flat road in an hour starting from here. Most of it is quite empty and straight so I can stay over 30km/h for a few minutes at a time. 500kcal is worth having. That was my test ride when I bought my new bike. If I used it as a training ride I'd put a heart-rate monitor on and sprint intervals
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 11:03
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    @Michael Sounds like a casual ride for transport, not a set of intervals where you go hard for a short time then a short recovery. My work commute has 9 red lights in 2 KM so on a bad day I get up to 9 sprint starts :) However that is likely to see OP arrive at the office in a condition that needs a shower.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jul 31, 2017 at 11:06

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