Introductions - Put me back on my bike.

Hi all,
Been lurking these boards for a while and figured it was time to chime in a little. I am trying to find the motovation to start riding again. Back in the day (10 years ago) I was doing 300-400 mi. a week, a little racing,riding to work and just enjoying the healthy cycling lifestyle. Now I am 43,married to a great lady and have two great daughters 3 1/2 and 6mo. and have been promoted at work enough to where 10 hr.+ days are fairly common. How does one in my situation find time to ride? I work from 3 PM to whenever I get off so my riding would be a before work event. I have a couple of nice bikes- A Klein Quantum Race and a Specialized Stumpjumper begging to be used. Any of you folks have suggestions for how you make time and motovate your selves. I love the sport of cycling and follow European road racing esp.
Thanks, Dylan

Just climb aboard and start doin it... You'll soon find that motivation isn't a problem :D

Dylan,

I would love to have that evening work schedule. It would give me a little more freedom. Right now I average 130 mpw with many being riden during a lunch "hour" at work. I am lucky to get that because my work schedule is normally 10-12 hours.

It will be definitley tough to get in 300-400 miles per week. But 150+/- is possible. As suggested, just jump on and go. Things seem to fall into place. As the kids grow and begin to attend school, your hours may change.

Ever think about pulling the kids?

Good luck!!! HAVE FUN!!!

How much time do you spend commuting ? You could convert that to riding time by the simple process of riding to work.

Riding home in the dark shouldnt be a problem unless your route crosses paths with driver's routes home from the bars. Get two Cateye EL-300 lights for the front and a couple of blinkies for the back. You may have to ride home a bit slower, but think of it as a recovery ride.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I do have a burley trailer and do pull one of my girls from time to time but I just cannot seem to get in a meaningful routine. I will ride regularly for a couple weeks and then work gets crazy, I have a few 12 hour days and nothing left for riding. As far as riding to work it would be about 25 mi. each way which would be doable if I was in the condition for it, and 20 mi. would actually be on a bike trail that follows a river through a parkway. Very scenic with wildlife ect. during the day. Night would be a different story however as the trail is unlit and the night wildlife is of a most unsavory nature if you know what I mean.
Dylan