Training and physical preparation for the Way of St. James by bike
Am I ready for the road?
When we talk to friends about the idea of cycling the first thing that comes to their minds is that we must be very prepared to do it, that we need to be in very good physical condition, of course to do the Camino you need a previous preparation, like almost everything in this life, but it is not intended for professional cyclists or fans of two wheels, EVERYONE can do it, along the way we have met people of all ages and conditions on bicycles, so if you are thinking of doing the Camino and you think you will not be able to do it, you are already taking that idea out of your head.
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We are not going to tell you that it is going to be a piece of cake, you will have to train before, what is more, the effort and dedication of your previous training is inversely proportional to the enjoyment later on in the route, if you are sufficiently trained you will be able to enjoy it while if you are not well trained your day to day life can turn into a torture and a fantastic experience will turn into a nightmare.
It is convenient to know that not only a good physical preparation is required, mental strength is also very important, the road does not give anything away, it is possible that at the beginning of the stage you feel strong and you pull like a damned but later your legs may fail you, that is when you will have to pull that mental strength to focus on pedalling without falling apart, because although the road does not give anything away it does reward the effort and you have to keep in mind that you are ALWAYS going to reach your destination.
Here you will not find a daily training plan to get there like a bull, firstly because we are not trained to do so, secondly it depends a lot on the physical shape of each person and thirdly it depends on the stages you are going to do, so we are going to give you a series of tips that have helped us to enjoy the route. It must be said that the first year we went, the training wasn't the best and we arrived at the hostels looking like dogs and it was already getting dark, but it served us as experience for the following years and to be able to enjoy the Camino more and more each year.
If you suffer from the much-feared "pájara", be sure that we have all suffered from it at some point, stop and rest and above all eat some chocolate and nuts. To avoid this, it is advisable to eat an energy bar or similar from time to time.
Training to do the Camino de Santiago by bike
Take the occasional road trip
Don't just train on asphalt, it's important to do kilometres to get your legs used to it, but don't forget that the road is on dirt and it's always much harder to do kilometres on it.
Endurance training
This is not a race, it's a lot of kilometres every day, if you go too fast you will miss a lot of things.
Make Kilometres
Start with a few kilometres on your rides and gradually build up, but don't become obsessed.
Train with weights
This is only necessary in the last stage of training, to get used to the weight and handling of the bike.
Training climbs
Get used to climbing, you'll get sick of them, but if you master them everything will be much easier and you'll enjoy them.
The first day is the worst
The human body is intelligent and after the beating of the first day you will improve, every day you will get a little better, you will surprise yourself as you improve day by day.
Enjoy
Don't forget that you are going to have a good time and live a new experience, if at some point you get tired then you stop and that's it, if you can't climb a hill, then you get off and walk it. We all do it.
