Work w/ travel and "chores" do impose some limits. We try to get a 50 mile weekend ride in on the tandem and at least two other 20 mile rides during the week. Our long rides come in the form of organized 100K and 100mi rides.

I must have missed that when I read the accident post

Take it easy until you're completely healed. There will always be more metric centuries

I discussed this with my orthopod. He says I can do anything that doesn't hurt my leg. He did specifically prohibit running and getting hit by cars. I rode 21 miles yesterday. I'll get in a couple of short rides this week and see how 40 or so miles feels next weekend. If that goes well, I'm in. If I have any doubts I will do the 50K.

lack of internationally refillable prescription for my Glaucoma meds,
US DOD ships whole people around the world
to fill all the overseas military bases , and project Power. make War.
But the VA won't mail Meds where I want to travel, just to a home address.
+ the medicated eyedrops must be kept Cool,
no putting the wee vials in a pocket, body heat is too warm.

Ah but ain't that America for you and me
Ain't that America somethin' to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me
oh yeah for you and me - John Mellencamp

At this point in time, my needing to deal with my elderly parent is putting some demands on my time. Other than that, the usual things, in no particular order.

-Job responsibilities. I'm still years away from retirement, so I do what I must.

-Weather, including but not limited to: Severe cold, Snow, freezing rain, etc. For those not in the Northeast, freezing rain/ice storms generally occurs in late winter, early spring. It's when it rains in liquid form, but the rain freezes on surfaces such as roadways, walkways, cars, railings, tree limbs, power lines, and pretty much everything else. I'd rather have two feet of dry, powdery snow than a freezing rain/ice storm.

Hey, BD!

There's a guy in the SE regional asking about the Kaolin Festival ride. I looked at the metric century and it looked good to me but I think he might want some input on the organization.

No, BUT I can recommend you modify some gloves. Trim/cut the back off as much as possible. I did this with work gloves for yard work as all I was trying to do was prevent blisters. Made the gloves much more comfortable during the heat & humidity of the summer.

Wife, kids, church, work. I'm only managing 50 to 100 miles a week at this point. Youngest heads to college next year so that will take one item off my plate and hopefully allow me to get back to consistently riding 100 miles a week. It will also help if I can get my wife's mileage back up (she's needing to spend a lot of time caring for her mom so riding isn't a big priority for her right now even though she knows she needs it).

Comfort. The saddle is too narrow for me fat arse. And the economy has actually made me poor. I am barely getting by and can't even find a ***** job. About a half an hour and I'm numb in places where it's bad and hurting in others. It's gotten a little better with some adjustments but a decent wider saddle would definitely improve it a lot. Sucks because I' actually enjoy riding more than I am currently. Help is on the way. The guy on the 6 o'clock news said the recession was over June 2009.

Yeah, I saw that too. Just goes to show...

Let's talk about your saddle.

I know that when I've been of the bike for an extended period of time I have to reacquaint my self with the saddle.

If this isn't the case, finding a real deal on a cheap, wider saddle is very possible. I've been in LBSs that have a bin full of OEM saddles that were rejected for an up grade. Often they can be a little wider at the sit bones. Or have more foam.

I can assure you that for me riding helps clear the angst of ever more limited work opportunities. It seems in America HR hates gray hair with a passion.

Yeah on the gray hair thing. I simply have no cash. Savings are gone,income is virtually zip. I don't lead an extravagant lifestyle by any means and it's still a struggle. I have a lot to say about all that but being as this is a bike forum we'll let it go at that. Thanks.

Length of bike ride is currently limited by butt discomfort at 40 miles. Was up to 50 miles last year. Would love to ride a century some day; but motivation is over ruled by butt. This year the number of rides is down due to need to work on old house to ready it for sale. Although again motivation is just not there once I moved into new house. Hard to fix up something I'm not going to use any more. Hopefully by next year I'll be riding as much as my little old heart desires.

Well, I have a couple of unused wider cushy saddles sitting in my closet. I'll send them to you for free, if you like.

work and family

Weather and time. I live on a ridge in eastern CT and the wind takes a lot of the fun out of riding. We've also had some ungodly hot days and days of deluge. I'd ride with my club but they go out on a Saturday and/or Sunday and ride for 4-5 hours. I just don't want to devote that much time to cycling on a weekend. I end up doing 3 rides a week in the form of a 15 mi. TT, a slow 25 mi. ride with my gf and then third ride however I'm feeling at the time. Sometimes that's a hard 20 mi. ride and sometimes a "brisk" 35 mi. ride.

I have just started riding with intent this year. I am also a clyde trying to loose weight.

sore butt has been my biggest issue. I have a new saddle that has relieved pressure but put more pressure on my sit bones. I am thinking about a recumbant but they do not meet the weight requriments for me yet.

I would like to be able to train to the point of doing 100 miller every month. at this point the best i can do is metric century. With bike and camelbak i am 315 lbs.

ambient temp above 85. ( I like cool dry air for riding)
Heat index above body temp.
sore butt
no car to drive to an area with hills for training.
can't average more that 10 mph for two hours at this time ( Basic math, if i ride faster i can ride further in the time available)

I have no one to call, during the week, if i bonk or have a mechanical issue.
the one time i did take the car to ride a 100 miles I needed the county sherriff to haul me the last twenty miles back to the car. because it was dark and i had no lights

Motorcycle related injuries at the moment. No short term goals, long drive to pavement, etc,etc.

Work does, I guess, although with me averaging 140 miles a week this year, I'm not sure how many more miles my body could recover from than that.

If you'll pardon the four-letter word, WORK. I frequently joke that if I had to quit one thing I do to make time for other things, it'd be my job. (Only half joking.) I'm one of those nut cases who'd ride his bike everywhere, all the time if he could.

SP
Bend, OR

My health (varies from day to day, I have Lupus) and my saddle on my new road bike. I'm still fortunate, most weeks weather permitting I ride over 100 miles. I love riding the new road bike (I've had it 4 weeks and have over 450 miles on it) but around 20 miles is about all I can stand on the stock saddle. I guess I'm going to have to start putting back a few dollars and start searching for the right saddle. From what I've read so far it might be easier to win the lottery LOL.

From these responses I think y'all are dedicated cyclists. You have taken cycling from the Noodle Around the Neighborhood on bikes as toys to using them for recreation and transport. That is wonderful.

There are a couple recurring themes in the posts here. First, that discomfort, especially seat discomfort, is a common limiting factor. That squares with what I have been told by local cyclists. The other factor is that most have a healthy attitude in that cycling is important but not the most important part of life.

Interesting what MWS says about saddles. When, in another thread, I maintained the postion that finding the right saddle was a matter of chance I was accused of being negative. As of this post I think all the evidence supports the idea that for the recreational cyclist finding a comfortable saddle is a matter of chance. Finding one is not a sure fire thing. Many never find a comfortable saddle. Instead they develop coping strategies.

On the other hand I think the competition cyclist, whether pro or serious amateur, with a bit of experimentation is almost always able to find a comfortable saddle. I believe the reason lies in how the saddle is used by the two groups. We sit on the saddle for extended periods as if it were a stool or car seat. The competetion rider has so much weight on the pedals the saddle is more of a place to stabilize the body than to actually put weight. This idea was reinforced the other day when a person told me that as he has gotten stronger and more competitive he has found his saddle to be more comfortable mainly because he is putting much less weight on it. Other posts have stated similar themes.

Not enough other idiots out there on the roads. The number of riders I see does effect how motivated I feel about riding.

The coastline.

Work, and I own the place. Someone has to pay the bills, literally.

I guess my "SEAT" is numb from all the booty kicking by the economy. Decent shorts, @$30. a pair and an old Selle Royal keep me rolling. The only discomfort I suffer is my left hand falling asleep and my left elbow popping. The elbow has me concerned.