General Cycling Discussion - Life interfering with your cycling?

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jester69
05-29-03, 01:56 PM
Hi all,

Any of you had life interfere with your biking lately?

We have been remodeling the bathroom in our (very small) house and I decided to redo all of the pipes in the house to copper from the original 65 year old galvanized steel pipes. (lucky I did too, one pipe in the wall was so rusty that touching it caused the rust to weep water!!!!!) It took all weekend and the better part of this week. I should finish tonight.

So anyway, I havent had a chance to ride since last week, and my new Univega frame came yesterday and I haven't opened the box yet/ Guess i'm putting it off until I have time to enjoy the experience. Until then, it sits in the corner encouraging me to sweat those last few pipes together!

So, what's been holding you back lately? How do you work around it? ( I need to start commuting, but i'm not back in shape enough to start just yet. My ride would be 14-16 miles each way!)

peas,

Jester


Raiyn
05-29-03, 02:05 PM
Since I now work EVERY weekend my trail riding is screwed. To add insult to injury I just bought a new FSR prior to losing my old job and it now sits looking at me from the corner. I haven't even ridden it since I had the new shock put on. :mad:. If it weren't for commuting I wouldn't really be riding at all. Ironic since I work in a bike shop.

Waldo
05-29-03, 03:12 PM
It's ironic-you get a job in a shop and you end up riding less. Commuting is pretty much all I get these days.


scubagirl
05-29-03, 04:19 PM
YES!

We have been off our bikes since mid-March.
We got our house ready to put on the market, (Mid April)
It was shown for 2-weeks (We did get to ride then)
Accepted an offer (need to close in 3-weeks)
FIND a house...negotiate...pack...close.

We are moving this weekend and ridding next week.
I need it.


:beer:

horndude
05-29-03, 05:03 PM
Ive got the opposite prob....my riding and job riding is interfering with my life,we may be hiring soon LOL.

wabbit
05-29-03, 05:42 PM
Lately it's mostly the weather- we've had a lot of rain and unstable weather, and every time the weather is good, the timing is bad, something happens. etc. OTOH the crappy weather has given me a chance to do other stuff I've been putting off.

fubar5
05-29-03, 07:00 PM
Heck yeah it has. It's making me crazy!!

kingajo
05-29-03, 07:34 PM
This time time of year my work gets crazy. Way too many hours, today I did 13. Have to come back in at 3 am tommorrow. No time to ride. I am also too tired anyway. And I just got a new Selle Italia prolink saddle today too. Got it off Ebay for $47.00. I wanted to try it out today but I it will have to wait till tommorrow evening.

cyclezealot
05-29-03, 07:47 PM
I refuse to let life interfere with my cycling. Biking to work is a big help. Anything else, in terms of home chores comes second. My wife knows that and has given up on changing that.
Years to come can't wait for retirement. Really be a cycle- holic.Then will have others things to have time for in life other than work\cycling.
I now have a bike related injury and that has not stopped me.

Rev.Chuck
05-29-03, 07:54 PM
Between working in a bike shop, dealing with a serious family illness, blown head gasket on the van, and the constant up keep involved in a hundred year old house, I get in about 20 miles a week. Did a trials comp last week and had not had a chance to practice for two months, still got forth and yes there were more than four guys, there were six. I was the oldest to.

Inoplanetyanin
05-29-03, 08:17 PM
Originally posted by kingajo
This time time of year my work gets crazy. Way too many hours, today I did 13. Have to come back in at 3 am tommorrow. No time to ride. I am also too tired anyway. And I just got a new Selle Italia prolink saddle today too. Got it off Ebay for $47.00. I wanted to try it out today but I it will have to wait till tommorrow evening.

Hehe, but time waiting is a pleasurable time.
Have you considered to wait several weeks, constantly thinking about it... :) Could be nice... :D:D

closetbiker
05-29-03, 08:32 PM
Over the years, with raising kids, I have managed to get week end rides in when I worked a 4 on 3 off and a 4 on 4 off, but for a year I worked a regular 5 and 2 and with all the usual chores involved in raising a family, I couldn't get any week end riding done then! Good thing I've always commuted year 'round!

deliriou5
05-29-03, 08:55 PM
I have to say the opposite.... cycling is interfering with my life....

I should be spending more time getting serious about my future, spendin time with friends and family, paying bills, getting errands done....

but the time and money I spend on this addiction takes away from all those things.... many times for me cycling is more of a guilty indulgence for me than a healthy lifestyle-enriching hobby.

ngateguy
05-29-03, 09:04 PM
Naturally summer is thew busy season at work so now I put in 60 hours then it has been weddings milestone birthdays, helping people move replace the water pump on the truck I have managed to only get in a couple of good recreational rides in all year. SO I commute I hope to get one in on Sunday cause it will be the last time for 2 weeks.

Chris L
05-29-03, 09:05 PM
Well, I get about 210 km through the week, which is OK, but I'd like to get more. Unfortunately my commute is only about 26km round trip and while I generally go for a couple of pre-dawn rides through the week, there's usually too many other things getting in the way.

I like to do (on average) about the same distance again on the weekend - assuming there isn't some tosser nagging me about doing this, that or the other. Of course, last year I lost about six weekends in a row due to bushfires and the resultant smoke. May we never have another drought again!

lotek
05-29-03, 09:08 PM
I've been travelling on business this week, see
lots of cyclists here but none of them are me.
Not only is it getting in the way of riding, I can't even
find enough time to call WorldIRC and meet for lunch. . .
oh well, maybe next time.

Marty

Prosody
05-29-03, 09:47 PM
I'm in the process of finishing out the semester where I teach. With digital writing portfolios and whining seniors I'd go crazy without riding. Luckily, the weather has been great, and I've ridden every day, an hour or less on weekdays, for the past eight days. Tomorrow I go with my daughter and the entire 5th grade of her school to a Cardinal's game. The 5th graders are singing the national anthem.

slotibartfast
05-29-03, 10:39 PM
Today was my first day off in 9 days, so I was looking forward to a nice ride. Unfortunately, last Sunday we had a windstorm and the top of one of our 60 foot pine trees split off and landed on our deck! Hit the side of the house (cosmetic damage only) and missed 3 windows by mere inches. Since it was the holiday weekend, we left lots of messages with tree people to come and clean it up. We had an appointment this morning for 10am - they show up at noon. I see my ride totally slipping away. They clean up the tree on the deck and the goddess of finances came home for lunch and decides we can pony up the $$$ for them to not only take out the tree without the top, but also 2 more trees that are in questionable health. There goes $750 of my "new road bike" fund :( . Oh well, had to be done for safety reasons, I guess. Anyway, my wife got home around 2:30 and didn't have any plans, so I got to take off for an hour - got in 14 miles. Man, it felt great - I needed it. Golf tomorrow, but maybe another ride on Saturday.....depends on when the tree guys come back to finish up.

greywolf
05-29-03, 11:38 PM
99% of my riding is done to & fro from work , I cycle 10ks direct to work & try & ride 50 on the way home ,I was getting about 300ks a week in the summer but now the winters here my favourite hilly loop is out of the question for 2 of the 3 shifts as its dark & the route is narrow, twisty & full of potholes +its commanley used by drivers who've had a drink or two ,to avoid the checkpoints:( .not a good combo. in the dark !!
At the moment we are working 10 days for a day off with a good smattering of 12hr shifts ,my energy levels are low so I'm only riding 40-50ks a day. When my days off come round I end up sleeping heaps & relaxing. It seems a familiar story here ???
Hopefully my energy levels will improve as I become more accustom to the winter:)

legstrong
05-30-03, 12:20 AM
oh, the cycling is part of my life, and the bicycle is my stretched leg! i ride 30kms a day, on the weekend, i may ride 100kms, some time 200kms. i hate the car, hate the pollution.

mrfix
05-30-03, 04:35 AM
yes, yes, yes, life does get in the way of living. I just ride where I need to go and ride for fun when I get the chance, it's what I have in the time I have so there's not much choice in the matter so I suck it up, do what I do and ride when I get.

cbhungry
05-30-03, 06:13 AM
I have to bike or I go crazy. A short work week is 80 hrs so I've learned to ride late (trails) or come home and saddle up the baby and ride a 12 mile loop in our neighborhood pulling her behind me. I've learned to function on little to no sleep (sometimes 36 hours without sleep once a week) so I can ride and get back to work and finish up. My house is a pigsty, I don't cook any meals, barely get any shopping done (I hate to shop). If I felt compelled to do the latter like alot of working women I would never get a chance to ride. luckily my husband is so understanding and helpful and understands my addiction, since he rides as well. I also think the biking keeps me happier and saner than many of my colleuges.

RiPHRaPH
05-30-03, 06:40 AM
riding means getting up at 5:30am which means sleep by 9 or so. impossible with 3 kids. i need more than 24 hours in a day.

danr
05-30-03, 01:53 PM
Yeah, they keep expecting me to work like, 40 hours a week. C'mon people.

slotibartfast
05-30-03, 09:27 PM
Right, danr. My job really cuts into my day.

froze
05-31-03, 01:22 AM
Yes life does interfere with biking; things like work, a wife, children, house work, relatives etc. But you know what? Life is worth it!!!