Tex_Arcana

If he still won't ride I say we bring in "The Jewish Mother" (tm) to guilt him.

Wogster

Yup, I did post a similar thread, and things haven't really changed, although I don't know if it's really cycling related, there is other stuff going on, but that's not for public consumption....

Rollerdave

Well, if Wogsterca wants to hang up the bike and do something else for a while, I would be a hypocrite to criticize. I put away the $5000 trike I bought and walked off 100lbs!

In the end, whatever you choose to do, just do it for your health and happiness, it will all come right in the end.

RD

Tom Stormcrowe

I wuldn's sweat it, Wogster....

We all go through times where the motivation is lacking. It happens. When yu do ride, just do it for fun! No specific goals, no itinerary. Switch off to another sport for a bit.

Maybe try out triathlons. Multisport is a blast.

Missbumble 

OK- So didja like my suggestion??? If ya can't get motivated to go out side - just jump on the trainer ...sweat like a madman.
Go WOG Go

turtlewoman

Hi,
I agree with the Historian. If riding doesn't feel right, don't do it now. But don't under any circumstances feel bad about not riding. You're just in a slump. It'll come back or you'll find something else to be passionate about. Just live!

prxmid

If you're like me, I get bored doing one thing for a while. Right now I'm hot on cycling, then I'll play tennis 4 days a week, then I 'll get the golf bug. Always keep my hand in all three but the passion rotates.

It's not a job. Do whatcha like

Wogster

Part of the problem has been the weather, Monday, winds of 40km/h gusting to 60km/h.
Tuesday, not as windy, but still windy enough.
Wednesday had other commitments.
Thursday, work knocked the stuffing out of me....
Today, rainy, windy and thunderstorms forecast.
That leaves tomorrow, isolated showers.

Another part of the problem, the bike. I liked it originally, it was a mountain bike, mountain riding and I do not get along, too many unplanned dismounts and a serious injury left me going back to road riding. So I kinda converted it to a hybrid, which worked okay, but isn't spectacular either, the fit isn't quite right, and the gearing is wrong, the bike is too heavy and now the front suspension fork is fading. I can't afford to replace it, with something more roadish, at least not at the moment.

There are other issues too... that I can't go into here.

love2pedal.com

Sometimes when I don't want to ride, I remember the alternative is spending time with my wife and listening to her tell me all the things that need done around the house. Almost always that is enough to get me out the door on a ride (sometimes below freezing at night).

More seriously though, I know I ride a lot more because I ride with a group that meets at the same place at the same time every week and it has become part of my routine. Maybe there is a group or club you could ride with-it just seems a lot easier to ride when it is scheduled instead of whenever you can fit it in.

Good luck.

Dan

Bikeforumuser0022

I hear ya Mr Wogster. Our weather has been really crappy this year. Fornicating snow in April... rain all thru May... now never more than a couple of sunny days at a time...

Yet I find activity helps. As everyone else has posted, do something...

This year I bought some moleskin to help prevent foot blisters when I go walkies...

If you think it might help, jump on the GO train and visit Niagara -- bike or no.

Neil_B

Good advice. Here are some suggestions for 'new' riding:

- find a stretch of road or trail you like and do a time trial. Repeat as often as you like, but track the time.

- ride your normal route in reverse. It's amazing how 'new' things appear when you see them out of your usual order.

- do a transit/bike combination ride. Use the train or a bus to get partway on your trip.

-

Neil_B

Can you go for a hike? Even a short walk would be a good start. God created a beautiful world for us. It's hard to be down when you are out being active in it.

Feel free to contact me privately if there's anything I can help with.

ThinLine

I also feel motivational issues about riding. I try to do 300-350 miles a month with a hectic work schedual.

What I do: When I feel un-motivated, I think about offering up my ride for animals being abused or suffering, the lowland gorillas in Rwanda/Congo struggling to survive or any other wildlife or environmental issue that we insidious humans have caused.

IAmCosmo

I go through the same thing from time to time. I just have to remind myself how good it feels to finish a ride. Even though I may be dreading getting on my bike, I always feel better when I get back home after riding...

Jim from Boston

Do you commute by bike? That really gets you out on the road. I am further motivated to ride even more by a ten-week century training program I follow which sets specific daily mileage goals with the payoff a much improved level of fitness. Meeting those goals is very motivating, and I even graph my progress on an Excell Spreadsheet.

I do admit that commuting and training on a day to day basis over similar routes can be uninspiring and I have adopted a couple of mind tricks inspired in some way by a few BF threads. First, I keep my head up and look around more than I used to, just focusing on the road. It makes the route seem new. Secondly, in response to a thread, "Talking to yourself," I posted:

I note you post from Toronto, and I've been there and would really enjoy being shown around on a bike.

Finally, and not to open up a "popcorn" thread, I ride with a listening device. Most often it is AM Talk radio, but just this morning, I used an I-Pod with my own musical selections for the first time and my average speed on my 14 mile commute was up by over 0.5 mph. FWIW, I've been seriously cycling for about 30 years now, and I'm enjoying it more than ever.

Wogster

Commute? No, I need to travel through one of the more police active parts of the city to get to work, making that trip on a bus is bad enough, on a bike, at night, no way. One of the problems with Toronto though, except to the south, where there is Lake Ontario, it's ringed in other cities now, and while Toronto isn't bad for cycling, and the inner suburbs are tolerable, the outer ones consist mostly of high speed, high traffic arterials with small streets running off that are lined with cul-de-sacs. Not exactly bike friendly, especially when the bike I have, isn't really suited to the purpose.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the favour of a reply and taking the time to negate almost all my suggestions for motivation. I suppose I don't really know enough about cycling in Toronto to respond, but I might mention that Boston reputedly ranks up there with surveys of the worst cycling cities. I have posted often on the Forums and in PM's that IMO Boston, Toronto and (frigid) Minneapolis have the most actively posting commuter contingents to the Forums.

I continue to look forward to further posts.

Sincerely,

Jim

(edit) PS: FWIW, I think that whatever stresses cause demotivation are better met by continuing to cycle than not. Cycling won't make them go away, but makes them more readily tolerated, IMO.

Wogster

Toronto itself isn't bad, although it has the typical problem of a mayor that is ALL talk and no action, the fact we have had a nearly month long garbage strike is proof of that. So the mayor talks big about adding 500km of bike lanes all over the city, by 2011, at the rate they are putting brush to pavement though, they are more likely to finish in 2111 then 2011. With those bike lanes, they almost all seem to be on streets that don't really need them. A little tree lined street that sees 10 cars an hour doesn't really need a bike lane, a street like Finch or Bathurst that sees 1000 cars an hour at any given location, double that during rush hour, needs it more though.

The other issue is, it takes forever to get out of the city now, and most of that has to be on high speed arterials. I don't enjoy riding on streets with cars whizzing by in close proximity for hours on end.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the reply. Boston too has a mayor who advocates cycling, but one well known lane on Comm Ave has been roundly criticized on BF. He has hired a pretty active Bike commissioner or whatever her title. As a reverse commuter, early morning rider I personally am free of many of hassles of most riders.

A nice feature in Boston that seems little used is that commuter rail trains allow bikes during certain hours, including the entire weekend. allowing one to get outta town bypassing city riding. I know TO has a great subway system. Can you ferry bikes by rail?

Missbumble 

Dumb question.... I ususally stick my bike in my car and go find group rides inthe country...Are you able to do that? Much nicer than navigating traffic.

kenkayak

Hi Ya Missbumble //I seldom ride here In my home beach community the roads are narrow with high hanging trees makeing the beach crowd traffic just no fun. I do have two vehicles and many bikes so I generally ride going or comming from my woodlot about 40 miles away but whenever I can I load the bike and head east I try to go for two days east of Machias and now that I have my passport Canada visits again./Kenneth

Wogster

Yes and No to your question, you can outside of rush hour, the subway however doesn't get you out of the city, I live near one of the terminal stations. There is GO which is regional, but again bikes are only allowed during certain times, on certain routes although buses for both the TTC and GO now seem to be growing bike racks...

Wogster

In Toronto, you can go most places by transit, and a small group of people in the city, mostly concentrated in the downtown core, find that it's quite convenient and very economical to live without having a car. Although I don't live downtown, I am one of those who is car free. Not as convenient, but reasonable enough. That situation may be ending shortly, if my better half gets the job she is trying for outside the city proper, which would require moving.

It has advantages and disadvantages, it means a longer commute for me, one that would need to be done by car, but it's also the outer suburbs, so riding out of the city into the country would be much easier.

Neil_B

So Wog, you aren't riding your bike. We know that. What we don't know is what you ARE doing. Tell us. Start a thread on a hike. Tell us about your judo class. Write on your run on the paths in Toronto. Let us know you are doing SOMETHING.

I'll be posting a thread about my hike today. I thought about you as I climbed. And climbed. And climbed.....

Wogster

Well, I am riding a little, but there are times that it's well nigh difficult. Take today for example, conditions:

Temperature 20℃ / 72℉
Wind: W at 28km/h
Conditions: Cloudy threatening rain.
R.Humidity: 53%
Distance: 17km

Okay, first the temperature, this is mid July people, it's supposed to be the hottest time of year. It should be averaging 26℃ / 79℉, the wind was fine heading East, you had to be careful to steer West when going North or South, heading West was like riding through Chocolate Pudding. The distance is a lot shorter then I want rides to be this time of year, but even at that, I almost got doored, and nearly hit some old codger who forgot that an 8 sided red sign with the word stop on it, means stop and wait for traffic, and thought it meant stop then hit the gas. He was lucky though, if I had been driving one of those tank sized SUVs that are so common now, he would be occupying a slab at the city morgue.

I did try something new, I have tried to keep the tires at the maximum pressure on the tire 85PSI, I pumped the rear to about 92PSI, and it made a big difference, whether it's something I will keep doing or not, I don't know, I may try to find a tire that has a higher allowed pressure, but a similar width. I'll make that a separate thread though.

I think the biggest problem with motivation has been the weather, this week is forecasting rain for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday . I don't mind riding in a warm rain, but lately it's been cold rain, and that puts a damper on everythingm feels more like late May then mid July.





So anyway, I may plan a downtown ride for Friday, but I need to get in a couple more 15km rides first. Wife hasn't ridden since her crash, I need to get her going as well.