scotlandtb

Call it what you will I continue to fail to get my ass on my bike. I buy a new bike (colnago steel frame) and all it does is sit on my wall. I blame it on commitments but I think if i want to I would be on it.

My question. Im sure everyone has went through these funks (vicious cycle though I have gained 40lbs) how did you get yourself out of it?

Steve

thestoutdog

Sorry to hear about your slump. If I were in your shoes, I'd just take my new bike out for a walk, for a mile or so. Don't ride it, just walk next to it. If at the end of your mile you don't feel like getting on it, hang it back up until tomorrow. Repeat the next day, and the day after... I would be willing to bet that you will get so tired of pushing it that you'll hop on and ride sooner rather than later. Just my two cents, but doing something is always better than nothing. Best of luck! (please report back if you take my advice)

Mr Sinister

How I broke myself out of my funk was to get out and just take a few minutes to myself. I took the time I would spend sitting on the couch and trying to figure out what I wanted to watch, and get out and do a mile or 5. Then slowly it became a habit. I just figured out something I didn't need to do and eliminated it. Replaced it with biking, and then took out more of my resting time and replaced it with biking.

Mr Sinister

Oh and if you don't want the bike, you can always send it to me, COD. I will pay the charges.

scotlandtb

Mr Sinister *LOL* its my precious... I cant part with it now I just traded it (erk not it... my old novara road bike - getting a friend on a decent bike at a decent price) for a new Video card and PSU *LOL*

StoutDog, I just couldnt do that..... If she is taken out of the stable she is going to be ridden *grin* I still love cycling just not doing it *blink blink scratch of head - yeah I know*. My issue is taking her out the stable though. I will admit I am stretched a little thin time wise ( Work, 2 hrs travel time for work, college - 6hrs masters, and new baby in house) but a 10 mile ride would only take me 30 - 40 mins I just dont understand why not, before I would be home and in lycra and on the bike before you said "ewwwwwwwww lycra" now its not happening!!!!!

Hmmm just saw the tired of pushing it line I like...... Sinister I may have to sit and figure what I can cut out I hope with school almost over ( need to deal with last 2 weeks I delayed due to our kid being preemie by 6 wks) I am hoping I will do something.

Erwin8r

I am very busy these days as well (two jobs, two girls at home, a sick girl/wife in Seattle). I find that if I don't schedule time for my rides, I don't get them done (and I am not usually a "schedular" type...). I make time in the the morning, and right when I get home. Before dinner/tv/etc. With it getting dark later now, I have an extra hour or so of daylight when I get home--I can easily squeeze in a 20-30 minute ride. And maybe instead of thinking "10 miles," think "around the block"--we know how that can easily turn into more miles than we anticipated, once we get rolling...

scotlandtb

erwin, hmmm didnt think about scheduling....we used to do that and the rides happened

iqbal624

Couple ideas:
1. Talk to your wife and tell her you really want to do it even if just for a 30 min ride.
2. Don't look for things you can cut out, just decide that Tuesday and Thursday after work and school commitments, you will go for a ride.
3. Night before, put wife and baby (congrats by the way) to bed and head out to the garage. Take the bike off the wall, check gears, air preessure, etc. Set out your shoes and helmet by the bike. Set out the Lycra so it's easy to access.
4. Try to find a riding partner... Easier to convince yourself to say no than convincing two people. Also, you're more likely to go if you don't want to let people down.
5. If you're a Facebook user, post on your wall in the am saying you're going to go for a ride that way you know that someone will probably ask how your ride went... Therefore, you will have to go.
Find a nice ride from home... If you don't have to drive to your destination, then you again are more likely to go.

Basically, you are removing all of the reasons that make it hard to get out...
Additionally, you are adding accountability...

It's taken me a while to figure it out but I do most of those things that I posted. For example: I will get home today at 4:15 and should be out of the house on my bike by 4:25.

I live at the top of a hill so up until last week, I never biked from home because I never wanted to climb the hill. Since I tried it, it's not too bad and the 30 minutes round trip I used to spend driving, I now spend biking.

Good luck.
If you need some personal accountability, email me: iqbal624@me.com
But, I will require that you hold me accountable too!

myrridin

I suggest taking a hint from the personal finance playbook. When teaching people to save money, the suggestion is to pay oneself first. Meaning take a fixed and predictable amount of money from your paycheck and deposit it in a savings account before you sit to write bills. Then learn to live on the leftovers..

I suggest applying the same principal to exercise. Like savings, you don't need to do a tremendous amount to have benefits. Decide that you will commit 30-45 minutes a day to riding--I've lost 75+ pounds riding 45 minutes (to an hour) a day. For me that means that as soon as I awake, I go for my morning ride. If I have to be somewhere in the morning, I get up early enough to do my ride and get ready for that appointment. The other thing I do is schedule errands in the morning so I take care of them while riding.

For instance, at the tail end of my Sunday ride, I will do my grocery shopping for the week. If I know I need to pick something up from the store, I stop on my way home from the ride.

And all that said, if something comes up and I have to skip a day, I don't beat myself up over it, I just start again the next day.

One positive benefit of regular, light exercise is that you have more energy to get other things done.

Seattle Forrest

Can you commute to work, or part of the way?

What other things do you enjoy? Every now and then I won't really feel like cycling, so I'll do more hiking and kayaking. Then when I come back to the bike, I enjoy it a lot.

rex66

I always find when I'm having one of those lazy days where I don't want to move I tell myself just 1 or 2 miles and I can come home and plant my arse back on the couch and find whichever channel has a "House" mararthon and zone out all day just to get me out there and probably 19 times out of 20 it turns into a long ride and I'm glad i went.

Seattle Forrest

Speaking of motivation problems...

Ratzinger

This is a real challenge. In life there are things we want to do, but when it comes down to it, we don't FEEL like it at the moment.

There are a couple things I find useful in making myself FEEL like going out on the bike. One is having bought a cycling computer this year, I am motivated to see my total KMs climb (even it it's jsut 10 or 20 at a time). I've also made a nerdy spreadsheet on which I record my KMs, on which bike, it does the math, totals it up and converts to miles etc...

For excercise it's always useful to have commitments- i.e. find a riding partner and commit to, say, two or three rides a week. That way, even if you don't FEEL like going out, you accept the inevitable and go out anyway. And usually you're happy that you did.

I also use riding as a drug. I want to acheive the feeling I have after a ride- being satisfied and relaxed, especially if it's after work and I'm tired and stressed. When I think about it that way, I want to get out and ride.

exile

Usually it is a couple of things with varying degrees of merit. Don't beat yourself up about them. Just recognize them and see what changes you can make (which is easier said than done).

Set goals for yourself and see if that helps. If you are not riding now then 1 day a week would work. But hold yourself accountable or have someone do that for you. Goals can be both personal to you, but beneficial for the people around you. Tell your significant other that you need some time for yourself and that you will be riding on Sunday between 10am to 11am to the local park and back.

That way she can expect you out of the house and plan activities for herself and then yell out you for not following through when you start making excuses .

Jim from Boston

That's the five day forecast for Boston too, but I'll still ride (commute).

StephenH

One reason I took up bicycling is that it is exercise that I like, so getting motivated is not a big issue.

jyossarian

Steel Colnago? Sell it to me.

Seve

I think everyone has been there at one time or another Steve.

As a suggestion, try the following:

Commit to 5 minutes and only 5 minutes on the bike. If after the 5 minutes is up and you feel like packing it in, do so and no harm no foul.
If not, then off you go for whatever length of time you like.

A Steel Colnago as garage art can't be truly appreciated by the masses,

socalrider

Too nice a bike to be hanging on the wall.. Just get used to laying your clothes out for riding as a reminder.. When you get home, get dressed, once your dressed, you'll feel like riding..

1FatBikeRider

I started getting serious about this bike riding thing back in the middle of March - I was at 312lbs. High blood pressure - and on the verge on being in the "Diabetic" category.

I am now at 290 - on a lower doese of BP meds, and no where near being a Diabetic.

This is my motivation. My 5 yo son, Drake. I would like to be around to watch him grow up and spend every bit of time with him that I can.

Erwin8r

Get out for a ride today? I didn't... and am now kicking myself! I hit the snooze button one times too many--but I'll make up for it tonight. I think I'll hit that monster hill as punishment/reward...

skilsaw

Is the issue "motivation" or "interests".
I find I'm more interested in wrenching my bike than riding it.
It was the same thing with radio controlled planes... more interested in building than flying... Of course, crashes kept me building, so everything was cool.

That being said, it is time to take that bike off the wall and wear out a set of tires, or two.

And just think, if you leave the bike unlocked when you go into a coffee shop, you may come out to find you have an excuse to build a new bike!

Aquakitty

I forced myself to do it. It got easier over time. Basically I said "I am going to do this damn workout" and I made my lazy butt get out of bed and onto that bike. Sometimes there is just no more excuses, and people do not get places in life without doing things they don't want to from time to time.
Also I take it one day at a time and try not to think too much about the total amount of weight I need to lose and instead I focus on what I need to do that day and hour.

magohn

What a handsome young man!
Im in the same boat. I have an 8 yr old daughter and the thought of me not being around for her for as long as possible soon gets my legs running to the bike. For me, there are definitely "better weeks", mainly based around the weather, but I know that if I do stop riding the 30+lbs I have lost so far will creep back on...when I feel unmotivated I just try to go on a 7 mile "fun run" around the neighborhood. It takes 25 mins and at least I dont have those guilt pangs of losing my cycling passion when the day is done

The "great days" are when me and her go cycling the neighborhood and dad isnt gasping and complaining as he tries to keep up - on those days all the effort I put into riding is priceless and worth every second