Commuter Burnout
 

I'm there.:injured:

Anyone else ever hit a wall?

Commuting has so far been a great return on my investment in terms of well being and energy.

Until now, every effort I put in-- from those first rides a year ago, to every skipped train ride , every hill, every time I put the kid on the carrier and rode 7 miles home-- it all had an end effect of making me feel like a million bucks.

Well, I feel like the market just crashed. I'm probably just sick, but jeez.

How long have you been commuting by bike? Perhaps you've been pushing too much? Try to ride slower, make yourself more comfortable. Also, do things for your mind: detour, make your ride more interesting add some variety. Try to incorporate some errands in your route for variety. Try a different diet, change your morning routines, experiment with different tires or saddles just to keep your mind onto something. But, now and then there is nothing wrong with taking a break. I take a Friday off sometimes and make it a long, lazy weekend, no riding, nothing physical.

But I've been commuting for so long that it's become an addiction and such real burnouts don't happen too often. Quite the opposite: I feel down if I don't ride for several days.

Or you may be just coming down with something? So rest a bit.

Adam

Yeah, who hasn't? It may help to take a little time off. But ultimately, the only way to persevere, is to persevere and get back on the bike.

I really burnt out last winter. I had to put a limit on riding below freezing. But now that the days are warmer and longer, I'm recovering.

I've been at it for 14 months-- through two winters now.

I'm at the addiction phase that you describe, AdamDZ.

I think I am fighting something-- I'm about as achy and ill feeling as I was when the family had H1N1 in November (I was the last holdout-- and definitely credit cycling).

But I can't help thinking what my less cycling enlightened friends and family might think, that riding so much (85 miles on my espresso folder last week, all with a 20-25lb messenger bag and 14 of them with a 45 lb three year old on the back.) is what got me vulnerable to getting this sick.

I'm not normally one to advocate retail therapy, but maybe a new bike would renew the fire?

2 days in the Elm City in the rain has me feeling pretty down. I took the train this morning, and knowing that there will be some sun in tomorrow's forecast helps. Perhaps a couple of days taking it easy is what you need. If that fails, go see the guys at The Devil's Gear on their Penny-Farthings. That always cheers me up.

Change things up if you can. I have the luxury of having several commutes to choose from with the train/bike combo. Currently Im just riding two days of the week commuting for a total of 88 commute miles a week. Only riding two days these last weeks has really been a nice mental break, while keeping the miles up. Im already looking forward to riding 3 days after I return from Vegas, which I think I can attribute to the mental break I got from riding less commute days. Plus, I look forward to a training ride during the weekend, which I had come to dread.

Hang in there, even if that means a reduction in riding, or a short break.

Go drive it for a week and you'll be hating the car so much you won't complain about the bike again.

my guess from afar is that it has less to do with the biking than the things that surround the bicycling.

1) are you getting enough sleep?

2) properly hydrated?- I don't just mean for the bike rides but in general.

3) eating well?

4) work?...

5) life in general?...

If biking 85 miles a week is feeling overwhelming you need to balance some stuff in your life to allow time to do something that you say has felt rewarding until recently.

For the last 15 months I've been on an extraordinarily taxing schedule- very few days off, often working 7 days a week (haven't done a 5 day work week in over a year) right through holiday weeks and very long days, many times 10 -12 hour days. I rode right through winter and missed very few days. There were times it almost felt like a chore to get on the bike (very, very rare for me) but it's like the canary in the coal mine. If the bike starts to be too much I'm over working.

But for me the bike has been the source of my energy. My schedule is letting up just a bit so I've recently upped my mileage to about 210 miles a week- a little less than double what it was this winter and I'll have to watch that I haven't moved the balance point too far in favor of the bike.

I think Adam's on the money here. Take a break. I'd try bike commuting just 3 times a week and see how it goes. Even if you stay there, there's nothing to feel guilty about.

I hit that wall in '05, was ready to give up riding altogether; then I broke my R wrist, spent seven weeks in a cast.

While I don't recommend this as a way to get the fire back -- it worked for me. Haven't had a problem since.

One thing that worked for me, too -- no cyclo-computer. Forget numbers and performance. Just ride for the sake of the ride, get inside it, and experience it, Zen-like. Leave enough time each way, and just immerse yourself in the experience.

I feel burnt out sometimes. My problem is my body wants me to take a break.. specifically my weakened, sore legs, but my brain has other thoughts.. it wants to ride!

So far I haven't had a problem with burnout, but then I'm not hauling 45 lbs. worth of kid a couple of times a week. ;)

If I had to guess why I haven't burned out yet, I'd say it's because:

1. I plan each week to drive at least once. Some weeks I end up riding every day and some weeks I can't get 4 days worth of riding in. But I usually enjoy my drive when I do take the car. I have a nice commute, both for riding and for driving. Since I plan on driving once each week, I don't feel bad about doing it.

2. I've been really into bikes for the last 3 years. I probably don't go more than a month without changing something. The last two weeks I've been riding without handlebar tape because I've been trying the bars at different angles and adjusting shifter positions. The day I finally decide my bike is fine the way it is may very well be the day I burn out.

3. My commute changes. It might be a change in seasons or just the day to day weather variations. Sometimes I change the route.

In bed at 11, alarm at 5:40. So no.

1 Liter of H2O/ day. Half caf Coffee in AM and at lunch & 12 longnecks / week. So probably not.

super low salt (had borderline high numbers in previous years - my wife even roasts a chicken for my lunch meat-- salf free bread etc.) low sat fat (had high numbers at 21) and zero processed food.

I practice that whole "eating from around the edges of the supermarket" thing-- very little comes in packages from the aisles.

So yes.

English teacher in an 80-90% minority 100% free lunch 2400 student "failing" high school in a poorly run and corrupt district. So yeah...

As a deacon and a member of two choirs, I spent nine and a half hours at my Congregational church this past weekend alone.

Wife works nights and Sunday mornings in NYC.

Band plays 4 hour gigs and has weekly 3 hour practices.

Kids are 3 and 5.

Puppy is 7 months and 45 pounds...

So um, yeah...

Et voila! Le solution! :D Right??

This is how I roll. :-)

I've found that change works well keep me invigorated, and just mixing things up a little will help fend of burnout/boredom. Not being a full time commuter makes it easier for me to get that change, and feeling like I'm coming down with something often prevents me from riding. YMMV

It doesn't matter how fast you ride, as long as you have fun doing it. Personally the highlights of my ride home are both at 0mph. I stop at the top of a hill in the park I go through and sit for a minute enjoying the sound of the river and the sight of the trees, its rare that people go along that portion, so I am alone. I also stop to check the condition of the fish, the snakes, turtle and muskrats in a local creek by my home.

Sometimes, I go fast, sometimes I go slow, it all depends on the mood.

I would think that all the exercise had you less vulnerable to getting sick. But what do I know?

We all feel a bit burned out on commuting now and then. I caught the bus in yesterday, with a good book, partly because I'd done too much cycling over the weekend, and partly because I just didn't want to deal with the driving rain. Then I biked in this morning, and felt a bit more alive when I got here. If it's the flu, you've got a week of misery before you find yourself on the rebound. But it'll happen.

Just do it.

Or not.

No one's keeping score, you know.

What!? Then how will you come back tell us how many miles you rode in X time? Surely not guesstimation? ;)

I just got a computer with average speed on it, and was quite disappointed to find out that despite my best efforts, my average speed is only about 10 mph. That must be what you find discouraging. But it is all to easy to either not look at it or just unclip it, then you have it if you want it.

I can definitely relate to this I had knee surgery this winter, and working my way back into shape has gotten me more enthused about commuting again.

I don't have computer on my commuting bike either (only on my roadie). although I do wear my HRM on the commute (mostly just to record total time and average heart rate).

I burned out this winter. I didn't even mount the studded tires on the winter bike. I like bike commuting but the dread of riding a bike with heavy, slow tires in the dark both ways just weighed on me. I was just sick of the dark, sick of dealing with lights, sick of spending 10 minutes layering up, sick of riding a slow and heavy bike.

So I last rode December 3rd and didn't ride again until late March. And I have a lot more energy and a better outlook this spring.

If you need a break, take one. You will probably get back on the bike soon enough.

For me, a few days of driving in the traffic is enough to make me want to ride the bike again. I don't ride every day: I'd like to average 3 days per week once my knee recovers. I'm up to twice this week.

For one reason or another (usually transporting kids someplace, sometimes weather), I end up driving to work about once per week. I think this has been enough to keep burnout at bay. The only extended periods of non-bicycle commuting have come after purchasing a motorcycle, which has happened twice in the last 15 years. :)

Don't know if there are any lessons there, except that mixing up your transport options a bit will keep them all fresh.

This is true to a point, but adding exercise to burning the candle at both ends can be a net detriment. This November, I was the last holdout in my family while they all got the H1N1. I was the last to get it, got it the mildest, and recovered the most quickly. I have no doubt that riding put me on the best footing to deal with that flu.

I'm on the mend, though. I think I've learned where my limit is. I was pretty hardcore last month, riding ever day and even staying out late into the night in the workshop cleaning the bikes, switching out components and so on. Spring fever, I guess.

then what would we ever talk about here? :D

and I do beg to differ... http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=637183