The hard part for me is getting motivated to ride point A to point A. Why bother if you're only going to end up back where you started?.
Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
You need to look for interesting things along the way. I've ridden the same loop four times in the past week. Each time I see something different....
I previously replied to this thread on the Commuting Forum,
”How to motivate myself to ride when I'll no longer be commuting to work?”
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Originally Posted by
jfowler85
I have a hard time riding unless I am commuting to a destination. Otherwise I just get bored.
Now while I enjoy cycling under my life circumstances, one discouragement over my usual routes is
boredom.
I have posted a couple mental tricks to alleviate boredom:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I'm very motivated by novelty, and stymied by boredom on a bike, but I do have the motivation of commuting to work. I have found that when I drive my frequent, decades-old routes I often notice things I had not seen before. I think it’s because I can look around at more than just the road surface when driving. So when the commute is getting too familiar, I just raise my head higher and look over a wider field of view...
A local BF subscriber @
rholland1951 who contributes hundreds of photographs to the local Metro Boston thread
from the same 11-mile long MUP he rides, once commented something like that just the lighting / time of day / day of the year makes the ride “different.” So too does the direction, one way, or the reverse.
And after buying a high end carbon fiber bike:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
……I further craved the smoothness of the ride, including the shifting, making cycle-commuting [and riding in general] more pleasurable. Of greatest benefit, while long (greater than 40 mile) rides took the same amount of time as before, I felt much less tired at the end.
Finally, one mental trick I have used is an imaginary riding partner. Since Boston is such an interesting town, and I like showing visitors around, I occasionally "show" around a fellow BF subscriber from my native Midwest, whose posts I like, and point out various sights on my route.
Originally Posted by Daniel Tosh
Even when I was a kid, my imaginary friend would play with the kid across the street. I'd be like, "Hey, so I guess I'll see you later," and he's, like, "Whatever...
...That's how I know my miles are likely to fall precipitously when I retire. Which is part of the reason I've pushed my retirement date out as far as possible. June 30, 2027 if all goes according to plan.
Just yesterday a colleague asked me when I was going to retire. I suggested a number of years, adding,
“I like my job, and it’s a convenient place (and distance) to bike to.”
PS:
Originally Posted by
jfowler85
Damn it jim, I keep clicking on the notice of my posts having been quoted without realizing it was you putting me in a quote box maze.
Fixed it for you.