So it’s almost time for the gift exchange and you completely lost track of time and forgot to get a gift for the cyclist/runner/athlete in your life. It happens. First of all, DO NOT PANIC… or panic shop. In fact, if you don’t see anything on this gift guide you want to give, quickly head over to our “do not gift” list to see the recommendations we make for what gifts to avoid. We notice that the things on that list tend to be things that people buy when they’re in ‘oh $hit’ shopping mode and those gifts, while often trying to be thoughtful, end up in a landfill. So what should you buy if there’s no time to shop?
Let’s dig into our last minute favorites!
Donation to a Bike- or Sport-Themed Charity
We love the idea of gifting a donation in your athlete’s name to an organization that’s working to get more people on bikes or active. A few of our favorites include:
A Phone Consult with a Coach
If your athlete isn’t working with a coach but wants to be a bit more dialed in/has big goals for 2025/is just starting out and a little confused, a gift certificate for a phone consult with our cycling coach Peter Glassford is a great way to help them get dialed in for the new year. (Just note that it’s a gift and we’ll set you up with a gift certificate to print and share!)
Favorite gels/bars/snackies
I say it often, but when it comes to gift, sometimes the boring stuff is the biggest hit. And while it’s nice to do this ahead of time so you can get more sport-specific options to gift, there are plenty of relatively easy options that you can grab at the grocery store to make an athlete-friendly snack pack. The fun of this gift is in the variety, not the volume, so don’t just get a giant box of snickers and call it a day (unless you know that’s the perfect gift).
- Snickers bars (cliche, but SO good on a long ride)
- Nuun tablets (a perennial fave, and often available in grocery stores)
- Stroopwaffels (usually you can find packs of 10 in grocery stores)
- Non-alcoholic beers from Athletic Brewing—we’ve been surprised that most people are now opting for NA beers at holiday shindigs, and a few different varieties from Athletic Brewing or Rally are great for athlete goodie bags
- Small maple syrup bottles (basically a gel in a fancy bottle)
- Fancy sea salt (yay, electrolytes!)
- Luna/Lara/Clif/RX bars — there’s usually a section in grocery stores that has these as single serving buys as well as boxes. Grab a few different ones to make it an interesting gift!
3-Month Custom Plan Gift Certificate
If your cyclist is training for something big but doesn’t have a coach, consider gifting them a three-month custom plan created by us!
Gift Certificate for 3-Month Made-for-You Training Plan
Want to give a fully custom 3-month Made-for-You Training Plan to a partner, friend, riding buddy or family member?
Purchase a Gift Certificate and kickstart their training now!
You will be provided a digital gift card that will allow them to use a QR Code to apply for their plan after you gift it to them!
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Books! Books! Books!
Books are great last minute gifts since often, they’re available via next day shipping…. or you can be eco-friendly/super late on your shopping and gift a Kindle version of most books to a friend. (Just purchase as a gift, then print out a gift certificate with a photo of the book + instructions on how to redeem. You can set the email notification about the book to be sent on whatever date you want!) We’ve got a whole list of our favorite books for different athletes right here.
