Riding 2/3 times a week and having any kind of career

Arnold Schwarzenegger would say “sleep faster.”

Skipping the bike wash after every ride goes a long way. 

I’m fortunate that I can get 2/3 days of riding in a week. I work for local government and have a great schedule - 10 minute commute. Home by 3:15pm most every day. 

Then I have pretty much designed my maintenance/riding program to be as easy as possible. The more time I have to spend on something the less likely I am to do. I have a wash bay set up - bike goes straight from the van there. Then into the shop for a quick maintenance - then usually one full evening dedicated to the in depth maintenance. 

Multiple sets of gear, couple helmets, couple pairs of boots. I have sort of a “beater/practice” set up that doesn’t get a tip top cleaning program. 

Having a parts/oil stock is important too - so you’re not waiting for stuff in the mail it’s in the shop on the shelf ready to roll. 

I also am fortunate that I have a lot of local riding opportunities that I can utilize - A full prepped motocross track open most weekends in season.  Beans Bike Park ~ 12 minute drive and 400+ acres of trails at Crow Canyon Motorsports Club ~ 5 minute drive. I literally bought my house with riding options in mind. 

Plus Ohio, Michigan, and Western PA have an insane amount of tracks the region. Also cannot understate how important it is to have off-road options too. Not just prepped moto but turn tracks and trail loops to be able to ride. Off-road is often cheap/free and usually accessible on weekdays. New England boys crush the local turn track scene - they have the sickest spots. 
 

I guess it pretty much comes down to engineering a life that makes riding a priority and makes it easy/efficient to go riding. 

Ride Saturday, race Sunday, then find a night track one night a week.  There’s your 3 days of riding with little impact on work.  I put about an hour of ride time on my bike every day I ride it (race days included).  This schedule only requires maintenance once a week.  Wash and prep the bike on Saturday night so it’s ready for the race on Sunday.

I try to ride twice a week. I live in a great area of the country for track access, so I ride on Thursday nights, then either Saturday or Sunday. I'll admit Friday mornings are pretty slow moving, however I try to schedule my Friday mornings to be easy. I usually wash my bike and gear on Sunday, as well as change oil/air filters. I try and stay ahead of maintenance, but honestly I enjoy working on my bike. So I guess my answer is: I schedule my work to be light on Friday mornings and I enjoy doing the maintenance lol. If I had any kind of labor intensive job, I'd be a weekend warrior only.

ETA: I do bring my bike to work with me on Thursdays. This is pretty much a necessity if you want to ride after work and be done at any reasonable time. 

I stopped riding 5 years so because I have 3 kids and at that time my oldest, 5 and 6 years old, were just getting to the age of having full time school and their own extracurricular activities. I had them riding some but never wanted to push them to ride, the desire had to come from them. They wanted to do other things instead of just ride so that meant that there was no longer time for me to ride and race like I previously did. 

I’m also extremely busy in my career and travel a lot so riding/racing at this stage of my life isn’t possible. Not ideal but it is what it is. I’ll be back eventually when life permits. I sure do miss it but it can’t be the most important thing in my life right now. 

I’m sure that’s not the answer you are looking for but it was the reality I found years ago facing the same question. 

I based my entire career off being able to ride as much as possible….and even with a half ass effort in the corporate world, I was still able to out perform most of my co-workers……got even better when work told me I have to work from home now😂…..

On your death bed will you regret not giving more effort at your day job?

I know this is rhetorical, but absolutely not. I don't now. I'm working two people's job right now for a single employee's pay and I'm also the first one in the office every day. I feel no remorse blocking off my Friday mornings. I should be going remote again towards the end of the year, so my free time will probably triple. 

Hey man, every little bit helps! 😁

Like Bierbower said, set up your life so there's a clear and scheduled time to go ride. Having all the ducks in a row ahead of time makes it much easier.

"Your focus is your reality" - Yoda

Your comment "feels like a full time job" is relatable for how I felt when I was in my 20s ... now that I'm in my 40s, your comment about the grind is pretty cringe worthy! What I would do just have time to ride/practice/fall down/fix bike again!

If you ask the guys in their 50s/60s, they'd want the same as what you got (especially your healthy joints).

Having an enclosed trailer that you can lock and say " that's future me problem" has been helpful. Ride once during the week and wash/prep different day. Then head out and ride later that week or weekend. A little wrench and cleaning time a day is a lot easier than wash, prep change parts blah blah blah 

I've been riding at least two days a week, except winter here, for two decades. Owned my own business and on work days squeezed every hour out of every work day.

I keep a couple extra air filters cleaned and oiled so I only have to wash the whole lot of them infrequently (and use a dust cover to keep it clean longer). I'll stop at a car wash to rinse the bike off on the way home. Little things like that help. Oil changes are pretty quick and easy. Now I'm back on a 4 stroke so one less thing to do since I don't have to mix gas. And I just pay my buddy who has a shop to do any major or semi-major maintenance. There are things I could do myself but simply don't have the time or inclination. It's not just work - if I spend a bunch of time working on my bike to the exclusion of things my wife wants me to get done that could make my life uncomfortable. 

None of us really have good advice. Family kids and wife will inevitably take up most, if not all of your time (not to mention Career).

The best advice is to not have a family. 

I think it depends on what kind of career, commute, and family life you want to have. 

I have what some would call a "cushy" desk job. The reality is that the hours are long, the stress is high, and there isn't much time left outside of work to dedicate to all the training, bike prep, driving to the track, and riding if you want to be a physically and emotionally present husband and father. I came to terms with it a few years ago. No regrets. 

Now, if you have the type of job with set hours that you can build your schedule around, it accommodates your income needs, and still allows you ample time to do all the other things, then that's a whole other story. 

Buy some land you can have a turn track/woods loop on. Have a practice bike that you don't have to maintain as much as your race bike. Get those numbers up to 5 times a week.

I had two matching 450's up until recently, and i feel that really helps cut down on maintenance time and cost. I feel you're always buying clutches, tires, chain/sprockets, etc. when you only have one bike because it always needs to be race ready. When you have two, you can let parts on the practice bike get worn down further, keep the race bike fresh, then rotate the older parts off the race bike to the practice bike. 

Also if you practice on Thursday or even Wednesday, and need to leave for a race Friday after work with one bike you need to wash it and put whatever fresh parts on for the weekend within 24/48 hours. When you have two bikes, you can leave the practice bike dirty and wash it with the race bike when you get home from the race, or wash it during the weekend at the races and do whatever maintenance there in your spare time.

Working, family/home-life, riding/racing, working out etc. is a grind any way you shake it. But I'm going to keep grinding til' I can't. 

Riding track 2-3x a week and maintaining the home/family balance would be a tall order.

Field riding 2-3x a weeks and putting the bike back in the garage til the weekend comes for maintenance. No problem.

How far away from a track is your house/ work?

Point being, would it be possible to take your bike to work and ride at lunch? How hard is it to break away from the house and get to a riding spot?

I used to work so much I didn't have time to ride. In the end I decided the money wasn't worth a thing if I wasn't making the most of my 20s. I now work 4 days a week, I told work that I couldn't ride my bike enough and somehow they took my suggestion of 4 days on board and I got it no problem.

I now ride a minimum of twice a week, once on Wednesday and once at the weekend. Often it's both days at the weekend.

As we move towards the summer I'll be able to either trail ride or practice on a stupidly rough cheap local track in the evenings after work. I'm aiming to ride 3-4 times a week most weeks, just got a 20L jug of 2 stroke and my goal is to burn the lot by the end of summer!

Unless your career is going to be a professional MX racer you are better off concentrating on the career that will be paying the bills and not a hobby. Succeed in your chosen career and then be able to afford to pursue your hobby of racing. 

If you want to consistently  ride 3 days a week and not neglect your family, don't  get married  and have kids.

I’ve got approval from the boss (wife) to ride once a week solo.  I get the kids out about every other week, sometimes once a week depending on their schedule. I’m 44 years old and have 4 kids. It’s definitely a chore to get the whole family out but at the end of the day it’s worth it. 
 

I do shift work and that allows me to get my solo ride in once a week. The bummer is sometimes I work a weekend day and that puts a strain on family functions and family ride days.  Momma is not to excited to spend all day at the track when we’ve only got one day off together. 

To ride 3 days a week is an ambitious goal if you want to manage a POSITIVE relationship with wife/kids and work a full time job. I’m not saying it’s not possible, I’m just saying it’s not possible for me. 

I agree with your last paragraph there , for sure.  Also a shift worker.... two days you can make happen with planning, anything more and I'd be short changing other areas of life,  even just things like errands.

If a vet guy has to load up and drive out to ride, two days a week is A-ok.

Yeah why buy the cow ? When the milk is free .   If your in your 20,s & you don’t know much about women or life . You hv kids . Then get divorced & live on your buddies couch , see your kids every other weekend , pay the x alimony . So she can party with her new boyfriend . Sell your bikes for pennies on a dollar.  Then spend the next few yrs on Vita mx under some goofy name .  After 20 + yrs you saved up enough to buy a 4 yr old 250f . But a 125 specialist on a stock bike blows your bars off. Knowing your washed up on a mx track . Then take up woods riding quickly u discover. U suck at that and its boring.  So u get your ecm re flashed thinking more hp is the answer . Once back at the track u discover u still suck . So u get a big loan & purchase A kit suspension. Once back at the track . U guessed it , you still suck.  So u get another loan & hire a trainer & a shrink . It’s discovered that u hv no balls . So u hire a different shrink trying to find your balls back . This takes u into your 50,s.  Now u don’t care about life . But your fast not that u found your balls u never had any .  U just don’t care but now . Your ripping holeshots and winning easily.  Happy  Happy ending.  Oewh long day . Bitchen 48 chev pu

Between work, a pregnant wife, and a three year old son, I’m lucky to get out two or three times a month. I’m hoping with the weather getting nicer and my son getting on a Stacyc we will spend more time riding this year. Might pick up a Talaria or SurRon to ride with him in places that would frown upon a gas bike. 

The last time I was able to ride three times a week was my early twenties.