I've been riding less, and enjoying it a bit less than years ago. It's not that I don't like it, but I have less of the "I can't wait to go on a ride" feeling. And I've been letting some of the bike maintenance slide instead of looking forward to it.

Part of this is due to colder, rainier weather, the same old routes, and getting older, but here's what I think is the main problem:

I've become convinced that the long, slow cardio workouts (such as a five-hour sixty-mile ride), are not as beneficial as I used to think they were. That is, there is more benefit from a 30 minute workout which includes high-intensity interval training, than from an all-day bike ride. Further, I see the long rides as a net negative for health, when figuring in the chance of injuries (actual crashes and repetitive stress injuries).

Here's the kind of article that changed my mind:

http://www.examiner.com/article/hear...cardio-or-hiit

Now that I'm riding less, and working out more efficiently, I have fewer of those evenings where I'm really beat. In addition, my prostate has always gotten annoyed with a lot of long rides.

I think that some of my joy came from feeling that I was really doing something good for my body.

But, I miss the enthusiasm that I had, and the fun of a day-long ride with my wife, stopping for lunch somewhere.

Suggestions for how to get the old enthusiasm back? Can someone convince me an all-day ride is beneficial?