I have a problem
 

Hello,

Firstly I'd like to state that this article is true. It's the story of my life. The reason I am posting this is I'm hoping to find a like soul that has brought their addiction under control.

I'm addicted to bicycles. No, really I am.

Today I walked into my LBS for an innertube. I walked out with the innertube, a new Giant Bowery, and I put a Kona Jake the Snake on lay away. Not to mention other assorted bike paraphenalia. This type of thing happens a lot. I purchase 5 to 8 new bikes a year for the last 3 years. Not cheap ones either. New, quality bikes from a LBS. I live to ride and collect bicycles. Average day I will log 50 miles on a bike commuting around and running errands. Weekends I will ride until my body gives out.

My apartment is a cheap dump with very little furniture to accomodate bike storage and to cut down expenses for bikes and bike stuff. I'm perpetually cutting out things like cable, heat, entertainment, and the like to make room in the budget for bike spending. I wear bike clothes to work because that makes up the bulk of my wardrobe. My lovely wife of 6 years left me and divorced me a year ago. This is because I took an extended unpaid leave of absence from my job to ride the Lewis and Clark trail. Since she left I haven't seen my daughter. They moved in with her parents, 890 miles away. Other than the monthly child support checks I have no contact with them.

For some reason I can't control myself when it comes to bikes and bike riding. This is a serious addiction. It's costing me everything and I can't just stop. Riding has become my life. It's all I want to do anymore. Heck I don't even think about dating. I'd rather ride a bike. It's an all consuming obsession.

Has anyone else experienced this? For the past 3 years bicycling has steadily become the focal point of my existence at the cost of everything else. I used to have a nice house, a wonderful family life, friends, and all that. Now it's all about two wheels.

What do I do?

If your story is true, seek professional help (not free Internet advice from strangers) for mitigating the problems that are wrecking your life.

If it is not true, you should also seek professional help for your compulsion to lie or poor sense of humor.

Ok, where do I get this professional help? What kind of service specializes in helping people like me control their obsessions? Yes, my story is true by the way. Sad, but true.

Bicycling is just as addicting as drugs but usually a healthy addiction and much less expensive. It generally keeps you out of trouble unless taken to extreme.

This sounds more like obscessive compulsive behavior or very poor humor. If the former get professional help. If the latter, fill in the blank.

Psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors.

I used to weight lift a lot. Spent 4 to 5 hours a day at the gym pumping iron. Then I sprung my back and took up biking. Now I lift 4 to 5 hours a week. For some reason I've always been fitness oriented. However this is the first time I have lost control. Is this something every "athlete" goes through at sometime in their life?

I wouldn't say much less expensive, slightly maybe...

Spending like that may be a sign of mania, go visit a psychiatrist. They have come a long way in the last decade and are generally much more helpful than some in the past. In the long run it sounds like they will save you a bundle of cash.

I agree -- the problem isn't the cycling, it's the obsessive behavior. It's the kind of thing a good therapist can work with a good psychiatrist to get you over. This is something you can beat with the right help.

Isn't it obvious by now?

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/5777/trollwebmr2.jpg

^^^^LOL!

If you aren't putting us on, then you have triggered an OCD episode through some psychological trauma that the cycling is the focus of self-medicating salvation. Can you remember the time this all began? What signs of the very first time you couldn't stop obsessing?
And yes, your condition is not an exclusive one. Others have suffered such OCDs. Usually accountable to situations that was a shock to their system. ie. Loss of self-esteem through divorce, abuse, unemployment, sudden deaths, bankruptcy, etc. Depression and anxiety is the basis. You turned to cycling...others can grasp onto a host of areas. How do you think we get 'born again Christians'.
;)
Your obsession can be part of a larger behavorial pattern....any other obsessions/compulsions? ie. sleep/eating disorders, excessive internet usage, gambling, substance abuse?
Basically, you must seek help.

I don't think you have a problem.