Riding Motivation
Why do you ride? What do you like most about riding? How do you stay motivated? For those people who have been doing this for years, what is the thing that keeps you going?
I haven't been road riding that long, a year and a half, plus or minus a month or two. I came from mountain biking and I only did that for 2-3 years prior to getting a road bike. My mileage and time on the road this year has been significantly more than on my mountain bike. In 2014 so far, I've logged about 3000 road miles and 600 trail miles. I transitioned to road riding primarily because it's a lot more social than mountain biking. There are more organized weekly rides and cycling events like centuries. I've ridden a few centuries and have considered setting a goal of doing the California Triple Crown which is 3 double centuries in a year. Other than that, I've thought about racing crits next year too. I do race my MTB in 2-3 events a year and may up that as well.
I've just found I've been lacking motivation the past few weeks. I usually get a motivation boost after an event. I did the Marin Century in 5 hours and didn't get that much of a boost. It was so so on the fun meter. I also did the death ride in July which was 130 miles and 15000' of climbing in 9 hours. A challenge and achievement for sure but I didn't feel like I really accomplished anything. On my weekday training rides it's always a drag to get my kit on and head out the door. I probably don't start enjoying it until after I warmup and can start pushing my speed. I hear all about zone 1-2 training mid week but going slow bores me to death.
I'm starting to think that riding might not be my "thing". That maybe I only continued riding because of the initial honeymoon period where it was easy to improve. Perhaps my current plateau has diminished my enthusiasm.
Maybe these questions are a bit OT but it'd be great to hear why everyone here is so passionate about this sport and hopefully it'll rub off on me.