discouraged....
09-30-11, 10:33 AM
#1
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discouraged....
I'm getting discouraged.
Before school started I was riding 10mi and 20mi rides around a great park nearby (Prospect park for locals) 3-4 times a week, and trying to best my previous times, work on cadence, speed up the hills etc. Things were going great(when I wasn't dealing with the seat post issue)! I went on my first casual group ride, at 40 mi (37 by my count) it was double what I had done at the park in any one ride. I learned, however, that my park must be pretty awesome because the long ride was a piece of cake strength-endurance wise...but city riding was NOT fun. By the end of the ride I was eager to get home because of the bad feelings i got from riding along the highway, being honked at in crowded traffic, and because I needed to take something for back/neck/butt pain!
I kept riding a few times a week, then I got a tune-up and the seat post issue got worse, then better, but then a week had gone by without riding and school had pounced on me. A couple weeks later, and barely 3 rides later came the NY Century ride! I had a goal of finishing a half-century before it snows, and this was my shot. It went well, I tried my first GU, I got stuck in my cleats and fell at a stoplight for the first time (crank teeth make cool scars...and cut DEEP!), rode through downtown manhattan traffic for the first time, and felt physically very good after the ride! BUT, then I paid for my day off from studying for a week...
a week and a half later I finally get air back in the tires and here I go! nope. thunder, rain, crap...guess it'll be tomorrow. TODAY, ready to go, carry it down the 4 flights of stairs and ride up hill to the park and notice my BB is clicking. one lap around and I'm pretty sure this sound isn't good news so I take a detour to the LBS. up the big hill before leaving the park and a string of awesome super fast roadies pass me like i'm standing still, with that cool mechanical woosh as they go by...man i'm slow... I leave the park, there I am in traffic again, away from the safety of the park so what the hell, I've been meaning to get a matching scar on the other side of my leg...get stuck in cleats and boom. grr. keep going. Get to the LBS, they tighten a few things and say that it might be fixed, if not I can bring it back and leave it and they'll open up the BB. 5 minutes down the road and I notice the clicking continues. crap. it's been a little over an hour since i left, and i think about the work i have to do today, maybe i've had enough 'fun' for today. i ride home, click click click, bike up on my shoulder I climb the stairs, put it back against the wall, delete the record from my garmin. i think, this just hasn't been any fun lately.
Before school started I was riding 10mi and 20mi rides around a great park nearby (Prospect park for locals) 3-4 times a week, and trying to best my previous times, work on cadence, speed up the hills etc. Things were going great(when I wasn't dealing with the seat post issue)! I went on my first casual group ride, at 40 mi (37 by my count) it was double what I had done at the park in any one ride. I learned, however, that my park must be pretty awesome because the long ride was a piece of cake strength-endurance wise...but city riding was NOT fun. By the end of the ride I was eager to get home because of the bad feelings i got from riding along the highway, being honked at in crowded traffic, and because I needed to take something for back/neck/butt pain!
I kept riding a few times a week, then I got a tune-up and the seat post issue got worse, then better, but then a week had gone by without riding and school had pounced on me. A couple weeks later, and barely 3 rides later came the NY Century ride! I had a goal of finishing a half-century before it snows, and this was my shot. It went well, I tried my first GU, I got stuck in my cleats and fell at a stoplight for the first time (crank teeth make cool scars...and cut DEEP!), rode through downtown manhattan traffic for the first time, and felt physically very good after the ride! BUT, then I paid for my day off from studying for a week...
a week and a half later I finally get air back in the tires and here I go! nope. thunder, rain, crap...guess it'll be tomorrow. TODAY, ready to go, carry it down the 4 flights of stairs and ride up hill to the park and notice my BB is clicking. one lap around and I'm pretty sure this sound isn't good news so I take a detour to the LBS. up the big hill before leaving the park and a string of awesome super fast roadies pass me like i'm standing still, with that cool mechanical woosh as they go by...man i'm slow... I leave the park, there I am in traffic again, away from the safety of the park so what the hell, I've been meaning to get a matching scar on the other side of my leg...get stuck in cleats and boom. grr. keep going. Get to the LBS, they tighten a few things and say that it might be fixed, if not I can bring it back and leave it and they'll open up the BB. 5 minutes down the road and I notice the clicking continues. crap. it's been a little over an hour since i left, and i think about the work i have to do today, maybe i've had enough 'fun' for today. i ride home, click click click, bike up on my shoulder I climb the stairs, put it back against the wall, delete the record from my garmin. i think, this just hasn't been any fun lately.
09-30-11, 11:12 AM
#2
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Sometimes you need to take a break... try some other form of exercise or just get thinsg done around the house whatever. Come back to the bike when your head is in it... you will be surprised; the passion does come back. You have made it "work"; got to think of it as "fun". Get out and do a ride in the country... leaves are changing the air is cooler, change of scenary is needed.
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Private docent led mountain bike rides through Limestone Canyon. Go to letsgooutside.org and register today! Also available: hikes, equestrian rides and family events as well as trail maintenance and science study.
09-30-11, 11:13 AM
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Sounds to me like your doing great! So what if your cranks clicking and you fell a few times. The point is that your still riding - keep 'em rolling! 
09-30-11, 11:32 AM
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Sounds like you and cleats are not friends. I'm a sneakers and toe-clips guy. But the onset of Winter is often depressing for riders. Fenders offer some reprieve, but the massive loss of traction in wet weather while riding in city traffic just isn't safe sometimes. So many of us pray for Spring...
And some of us folks, formerly Canucks from the Pacific Northwest, move to California for that reason. Sunny, cool, crisp most days. Rain? What's that? We have what is referred to as "drizzle" in most other parts of the country. It passes for rain sometimes. Winter is a time to look at fixing the BB yourself. Get a small stand for the apartment. Get some BB tools. Stop the clicking. True your wheels. Write up plans for Spring. Buy biking stuff on sale. Make a wishlist for the holidays. Get an indoor training with silent magneto-dynamo thingy and watch TdF videos while pedaling. Work on diet and lift weights. Listen to some Vivaldi. Spring may come sooner than you think!
And some of us folks, formerly Canucks from the Pacific Northwest, move to California for that reason. Sunny, cool, crisp most days. Rain? What's that? We have what is referred to as "drizzle" in most other parts of the country. It passes for rain sometimes. Winter is a time to look at fixing the BB yourself. Get a small stand for the apartment. Get some BB tools. Stop the clicking. True your wheels. Write up plans for Spring. Buy biking stuff on sale. Make a wishlist for the holidays. Get an indoor training with silent magneto-dynamo thingy and watch TdF videos while pedaling. Work on diet and lift weights. Listen to some Vivaldi. Spring may come sooner than you think!
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chefisaac
Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg)
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