eric w

i've lost my motivation.. i haven't gone on a real ride in months.
I ride to work, i ride tot he bar, i ride to a friend's apartment...
but i haven't done a nice long pleasure ride in a long long time

i'm not givin up on the bike, its my transportation and my love, but d*mn
what's a guy to do

BostonFixed

Maybe its not you, but the bike. I had some tough times on my old SS bike. I crashed probably around 15-20 times on it in less than a year, and those crashes resulted in a concussion, broken wrist, ****ed up shoulder, busted knee, and a broken ankle, and lots of painful oozy road rash.
I was feeling like I had it with that bike, so I got rid of it. To get rid of the bike and also to get rid symbolicly (sp?) of my troubles on my bike, I just thew the whole bike off a bridge into the river. (charles river, boston) love that dirrty water!
It was an old beater SS, about $200 into it. No big deal. No big hit.

sohi

I am the same. I only use it for transportation. The traffic here is so crazy that I dont
want to get killed by some monkey in a car. There is nowhere I could ride
and enjoy the ride itself.

SamHouston

A new ride definately helps, also tweaking an old one. I just readied my winter fixie yesterday, it's a standard workhorse, good looking but nothing spectacular, plenty not new looking after four years. I can't say I was too excited since I knew a new ride wasn't in the budget and I couldnt use a new ride in the snow anyway. So I did somthing to spark it up, I went and bought some black sheepskin(real) and measured/cut/soaked/sewed it only the frame. I had a great time and now my plain Jane fixie looks PIMP. I just posted it up

karmical

yeah it wouldn't take me too long to lose my motivation if i looked out the window and saw snow on the ground.... i tip my hat to all youz that deal with that reality...

on bad weather days i tend to do sprint work and get indoors faster...but i make up for it by crosstrainning...ok who am i fooling.....i have been making up for it lately by rasing all levels of self medication.... including buying 750 mls over 375 mls..

sohi

no way! thats the best time to ride.

karmical

i am just not a snow person.........at all....which would explain why i live in the bay area instead of in the mountains....

but i plan on taking a trip up to a cabin in a few weeks....but i'm not going of my own free will, i had to promise the girl i would go.....

the things one does to get the nod to buy a new bike....

Serbaside

Does the snow ever start to pack itself under the fenders? (I live in texas)

sohi

no, that was never a problem.

sbeatonNJ

I can relate to this, I can of fell out of riding for a while this summer. I still rode jst not nearly as much and I didn't have the uncontrollable urge to ride all the time. It kind of all started when I had a bad ride and failed to complete a double century, I became very discouraged but thats another story. I just took the time off and waited for it to come back. One of the things that helped was in fact getting a fixed gear because it gave me a different perspective and also getting a bmx bike. It gave me different ways to be on a bike and kind of helped me get that urge to be on a bike again. I'd say just give it time and it will come back eventually.

Xtrmyorick

Get into a different sport for a while. Take up jogging, swimming, or nordic skiing. Any of those will keep your cardio system in shape, and nordic skiing is actually wonderful cross training for riding. Don't even look at a bike for a while (a couple weeks up to a couple months, depending on the individual) and just concentrate on your new sport. After that bikeless period, hop back on and go for a fun ride (not a hammerfest or grueling ride, unless you think of those as fun) and you'll feel tons better about biking. Hitting a rut happens to everyone eventually (I'm in one right now) but doing what I suggested can really help pull you out of it.

nick burns

Relax, the desire will return. It always does. Many years ago I got so funked out I didn't ride at all for a year. Once that passed, I started riding hard again and every year got better and better.

roadfix

All you need is new bar tape.

forum*rider

You need a new bike! I demand that you go out and spend 5 grand on a new toy

Maelstrom 

What about bring the play back into it. Trying another part of the sport to add some excitement. I pretty much have add of mountain biking. I have a bike for every part (which I know not everyone can do) but even when I had one I would do a different type of ride each time. Play like a kid

cdale56

Join

bikejournal.com

it's free. Try to keep up in the top 100. or whatever goal you desire.

operator

The rest of us don't have problems getting laid... you do?