Motivation.
 

This year my motivation to get out and ride sucks. I'm finally admitting it.

I'm at about 500 miles for the year, whereas last year at this time I was pushing close to 1,000. The weather has played a small part in it. So that being the case I should be around 700 for the year at this point.

I don't know why though. This has happened in past years as well. I just dealt with it as best I could. As I'm doing this year. There may not be a clear cut answer as to why this happens.

Aside from being overweight I am healthy, eat a healthy diet, etc. My stress level is normal for me anyway. There is nothing happening that I can not handle. So these things are not factors in my motivation. At least I do not think they are.

I'm trying to get and stay motivated to ride but some days its more difficult then others.

Then there have been seasons where nothing could stop me from riding, and GOD help anyone or anything that did, aside from the weather.

Is it possible that because I rode so much last season I'm a little burned out this season? So I'm not as motivated to ride? This seems to have been the pattern in the past. I ride a lot one season and am very gung ho about it then the next season I'm not as motivated and at times I could actually care less whether or not I ride. Hmm, this could be the case. But still I don't know.

1. Anyone else deal with this?
2. If you do what do you do about it?
3. What has been the reasons for your lack of motivation, what ever the reason for it?
4. What should I do about my lack of motivation?

Thanks.

John.

>1. Anyone else deal with this?
Oh yeah.

>2. If you do what do you do about it?
I'll answer 2 and 3 together. I loose motivation because I am sick of riding. I ride too much or the same route too much. I tire myself out. I take some time of the bike, don't even look at it, about a week or 10 days. This period I will do all my outdoor household things that I save up for this purpose. I.e. built a new planter box for my wife, rake all the rock of the land for planting grass (just built a new house), caulk around the windows, clean the window glass, paint the fence, plant trees, etc. In the evenings after a good day of hard work (but taking my time) I sit and read or watch a movie, have 2 HUGE cups of coffee and something sweet that I like.

OR

I go on vacation. One year we went white water rafting, another we went to visit the parents for a week, another time we went to BC

>3. What has been the reasons for your lack of motivation, what ever the reason for it?
See 2 above

>4. What should I do about my lack of motivation?
If it was a case of riding too much, or the same route too much I'd say but the bike away and do other stuff. In your case maybe 500 miles is already too much and you need time away. Try it see what happens. I always come back refreshed. By the tiem fall shows I am ready to swich over to my MTB bike and do some short 20k rides in the evenings when they get shorter and shorter.

Digger

i cant really comment on most of the questions, but i'll try some suggestions.
maybe try a new area to ride in
if you arent in a club maybe look into joining one.
try to find friends or family to ride with, sometimes company can help.
watch the TDF i find that pretty motivating.
lastly maybe try adding some other activities, walk or swim or run, play raquet ball tennis.
sometimes just being physically active can help with motivation, and maybe a different activity would help get you there.
good luck and i hope you get your motivation back soon :)

o almost forgot, i also find reading peoples tour journals, or books about cycling motivating. even if you arent into stories, theres nothing like reading about peoples adventures to make you want to get out and ride :)

I agree with the above comments about changing routes or fiding some other activity for a while. Just make sure it's an active hobby like hiking or swimming.

Also, it helps to set some sort of achievable goal to work toward. Not neccessarily a mileage goal. Rather, try to find some event that you would really like to ride that requires training. For me, I wanted to ride the OK Freewheel all the way across Oklahoma. It was important for me to ride the entire route and not walk any hills. This provided motivation for about 9 months to ride frequently and even put up with an indoor trainer during the colder winter months.

Even smaller goals can be useful. Working toward riding a century (english or metric) at a specific upcoming event can provide motivation.

Sometimes when I get home I feel tired and start looking for excuses not to ride. I remind myself that I should be looking for excuses TO ride. Hook up the trailer and go grocery shopping. Bike to work, if possible. Vow not to drive your car except to and from work. Promise to do some kind of riding every day - even if just around the block. I find that just getting on the bike revs me up and before I know it, I've ridden 20 miles.

My motivation is at an all time low, especially when almost all my friends dont have their bikes working right now. I try to go and ride by myself, sometimes I even get all my stuff ready and never go. Playing tennis has overtaken biking on a bunch of days too, like today.

It can get boring so changing routes for sure.I read that on days you ride and dont want to that if you just do a few miles that most of the time you will end up doing more and be happy you road.

Changing routes is a must (I do this regularly). Perhaps you might also consider going out to ride simply for the sake of riding. Turn of the cyclo-computer, ignore distances and speeds for a while and just enjoy being outdoors. This can work wonders for one's motivation levels sometimes. Not every ride has to be at 100%.

I have lost some of my motivation lately, too. BUT, I am going on a vacation next week that involves swimming and guy-watching instead of cycling. :D I am betting I will be rested and plenty motivated after a week of now bikes!

I used to be totally into cycling and training a couple of years ago, but things happen and your motivation falls. I ultimately ended up putting on quite a bit of weight and changing my interest. I went from bikes to cars. That kept my attention for a while. Until a few months ago, I got back on the bike for the first time in almost 2 years. Let's just say I have only one car now, and 6 bikes. Sometimes it just takes a break from it for a while. And it also helps to give yourself a goal to work toward, no matter how small.

Motivation, what a sick twisted blade to deal with. You can never really tell when burn out hits you. When I don't feel motivated(which is rare) I will either do 1 of 5 things.
1)Tweek something on the bike, see if it makes that piece perform better. It will make me anxious to try it out.
2)Fall Back on my other passion, photography. Sometimes seeing nature will help motivate.
3)Working on restoring a cruiser.
4)Look at bike, read magazine, or watch a video.
5)Listen to music-Very hard, driving metal works for me.

Hi John, sounds like you are ready for a real trip, across Canada maybe or somewhere to the arctic circle, where not many people rode to and im pretty sure, the route will not be too familiar.

Just thinking about riding the same route over and over gets me into depression...

All the best! :D

I've also suffered from low motivation this year. In my case, it seems to have been related to medication. Stopped the beta blocker, and I can now get out of bed and ride again!

I also started riding on the road more and bought a new road bike. :D

The suggestion to join a club or find a riding buddy was a good one. I find I'm more likely to get out and ride if someone is waiting for me.

I think we all get the attacks of "no motivation" from time to time.

I do like most of the aformentioned posters- vary my route. I also take the time to explore my city and find new places to go- there's a lot to explore here in Chicago.

I also set goals for myself- either trying to improve on my time, or improve on my speed, or improve on my distance. I also have a goal at the end of the summer to do my own century- I keep my eye on that prize at the end of the summer, and the fear of not being prepared also keeps me motivated to make the most of my rides.

There are also days when I don't ride at all. Sometimes, I feel a bit burned out from all the riding, and I need a break. I don't do any other sports, just walk from point A to point B. Then after a few days, I get on my bike, and as soon as I swing my bike over the top tube and take off, I feel like I must have been crazy to not ride- the ride is always a good one after the break, because I'm so happy to get back on and ride!

My biggest motivation is to not be like the rest of America. I use to weigh 260 and life just sucked now I bike about 30 miles a day require way less sleep and have such a high energy level my motivation is to not go back to what I use to be.

But when I need to kick start my motivation, I watch Rocky or Breaking Away thoughs two help get me wanting to go out and ride. Or read others success stories when I hear of others personel achievements it just gets me pscyhed and I want to go work out. Also changing routine helps alot I just like to go and find and see things that everyone else over looks. I also like to read articles on the benifits of working out, knowing I'm reduces my risk of so many health problems is motivation enough.

I had serious motivation issues that required a break for two weeks to cure. Now I am progressing towards my goals for the year once again.

Sometimes you just gotta take a break or change something.

Thanks a lot folks, appreciate the advice. I will take ot to heart.

Just FYI, I am a member of the local bike club, as well as on the board of directors. I'm the new map maker. Meaning I've been charged with updating our 15 year old maps. Being a member of the boartd has nothing to do with my lack of motivation and feeling of being burned out.

In fact there are other members of the club who feel the same way. Maybe this is something geographical. Maybe its something in the water.

As well as take a lot of the adive given to me by you good folks here I'm also going to take an additional nutritional suppliment, Ginseng. I already take a multi-vitamin, but I'm going to add to it.

I'm surprised no one mentioned a vitamin or other nutritional suppliments.

Again thanks.

John.

Sometimes, it's not about pills and supplements... it sounded psychological, not physical as far as what your description sounded like.

I just think you all could use some time off the bike, that's all...

Koffee

You'll snap out of it in time. When you get to the point that you feel you have to do something, it becomes work. Work (as a rule) is not fun, if it were, it would be called play.

Don't pressure yourself. If you wanna ride, ride. If not, don't beat yourself up about it.

My philosophy exactly! :)

Relax, enjoy, do whatever. When you're ready, saddle up and ride... hang in!

Work is when you ride regular and then stop for a week and then start back up,killer for me if i dont ride for 3 days in a row.

I've never used pills or supplements of any kind in my life, and I doubt they'd have a serious effect on your motivation in any case. It sounds to me like you just need to change your routine. I freshened up one of my pre-dawn rides earlier this week, and it did wonders. :thumbup:

I changed a puncture today, got both tyres at the correct pressure, adjusted my saddle height (haven't changed it since late November and im a growing 16y/o approaching 6ft) and shoved the saddle right forwards to try and site on the sit bones (saddle was already quite forward) and went for a 4km spin. It felt amazing. I would of gone for 50km if it wasn't getting dark! I'm gonna go and readjust my cleats so they are more comfortable, and be ready for the morning. That's how I got my motivation back today, after feeling really tired from racing on sunday.

Brendon
:beer:

How about a reward for riding.For every 5 miles you can have sex.Theres motivation.

:D

Uh oh, my husband is going to start uppin his mileage. He's already doing 55 miles every other day! Hope he doesn't see this thread!!

Girlfriend, if he's as good as you keep bragging, you better SHOW HIM this thread and get ready! ;)

In fact, he may start doing 55 miles EVERY day...

:lol:


Koffee

WOW,i'm now overly motivated.

You say you're active in your club--maybe that's one of the reasons you're losing motivation. You just get so engrossed in it that it becomes more of a job. Do you feel guilty if you don't ride your bike to meetings? Do you end up riding less because you're taking care of club business? Just a thought.

Me, I just look around me and see all the out of shape people. Like, my dept went out to lunch yesterday and DROVE to a restaurant that's across the street and in the next block. I was walking back afterward and one stopped to ask if I needed a lift! Just look around. Call it fear or pride, but it keeps me going.

When mountain biking in the backcountry this could actually be a training tool. Or should I say TOOL training :D

Nothing like a PIT stop along the trail.

Certainly a good way to help prevent the NUMB knob.


OK I will shut up now! ;) Happy humpin... err biking!

Why do I get the feeling a whole new market for viagra has just been created?

Dont take it and then ride.WOW.