Completely unmotivated to ride!!
 

It's quite chilly out there ... about -10C with a windchill factor of -14C ... so I'm not motivated to spend half an hour dressing for a ride, or riding in that. Also, the roads aren't in great condition because it snowed last night.

I'm also completely unmotivated to ride inside. I spent the last two weeks of February cycling outside in Australia, and then the weekend after I got back (last weekend) the weather was really nice (about +10C), and I was able to get my March century in very comfortably. Once I've had a taste of cycling outside, it is so hard to go back inside again. Do any of you experience that too??



I couldn't convince myself to ride inside yesterday, when it was snowing ... and I think I've talked myself out of riding inside today too.

I'm long to hit the road again ... another long ride, another tour ... but these will have to wait until it warms up just a bit. I'm looking forward to warm, green, summer days.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure what to do about my complete lack of desire to ride inside.

I hear you, but cheer up, it's only a couple days off and the warm weather is coming! :D

I have no desire to ride inside either. I'm fortunate to live in the near-tropical region of SW Connecticut. I've been able to do enough outside riding to leave my brand new trainer in the box !!

I think we all tire of winter riding at some point, regardless of our preparation, dedication or desire. Deep down inside we all want and prefer to ride on warm sunny day and miss it after awhile. I too am ready for season to turn.

Matcha, move to Vancouver.

We did a nice 80K ride with about 3k feet climbing as a warmup for the Pacific Populaire in a week or two. Only had to wear a base, jersey, and wind vest. And we've dressed like that the last month :)

I sort of thought that spending 2 weeks in "summer" and returning just as things were starting to warm up a little bit would make this last month or 6 weeks of winter more tolerable ... if anything it has made it less tolerable. I want it to be summer now!

I would love to, but I can barely afford to live in Alberta let alone the Vancouver area!

My wife and had a chance to try out the new local rail-trail back in January with 40°F temps. Those twenty-five miles did more to ruin my winter training regimen than any amount of ice cream and potato chips could ever do.

then do what i do when i'm not motivated to ride: don't.

Well, I've got that one covered. That's exactly what I've done this weekend.

I don't understand?

It was no picnick here yesterday! 50mi in over 90F weather, had to stop and fill my water bottles. It was brutal.

I rode briefly today and it started snowing outside a bit. I don't ride inside. Can't stand it so can relate :) Yes, I lose a lot of base conditioning in the winter time. I try to vacation south and do a fair amount of rollerblading and distance swimming. Temps are starting to break a bit and won't be long now.
But riding inside? No thanks. Its good to have other interests to get away from riding once in a while anyway.

This site may help you out with some of those tricky words: http://www.merriam-webster.com/

And what's MY excuse? I live in San Diego.

Try installing some new bar tape. Sometimes that's all it takes.

You need a new challenge to look toward...



I am signing up for another hillclimb on Monday...

Although the race is in June, the fear of embarrassing myself keeps me on the bike...

I was doing really well up till mid-February. I was cycling at the gym 4 days during the week (and also rowing 2 days), and then cycling on my trainer at home on Saturdays and Sundays. And I'm very glad I did because it made cycling over the Australian hills with a loaded touring bicycle so much easier than if I had not done anything over the winter. But now ... I have no desire to cycle or row at the gym anymore, and no desire to ride my trainer.

One of my gym days is a spinning class and I'm paid up till the beginning of April, so I'm going to keep going to that, at least. But I hope that next weekend is nice enough to ride outside!!

I hear ya. I have been doing that all Winter. I have about 1/2 the miles I did last year cause I have had no interest in riding in temps below 55. :p

Sometimes a break is a good thing. After a little while, you'll get sick of NOT riding and be ready to go again. Take a bit of time off, but don't let it mess with your head - no need to feel guilty. Go for walks or take up some short term not athletic activity .... read a book you've been meaning to .... fix some stuff around the house ... volunteer at some local place that needs help ....

I walk 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week ... commuting. And would a "short term not athletic activity" include writing 5 research papers and studying for 4 finals over the next 6 weeks? :D

Its been so windy here, Ive had no desire to get on my roadbikes. I bought a mountain bike tho and have been riding that. That might not be possible for you with all the snow but its easier to dress for and the wind isnt nearly as much of a factor.

today i completely forced myself onto the bike, but once i was on it felt great. this despite the fact that our roads are presently on par with roads in, say, rural Pakistan.

March is the cruelest month in a temperate zone (extend that to include April in a "subarctic" zone like Alberta). You get tantalizing glimpses of spring, but no real extended warm weather yet.

Ah well, I've learned to enjoy riding down to -5 degrees (20 Fahrenheit, I think). I just turned the corner on 1,000 kms for the year so far, which I can't complain about considering how godawfully long this winter has been.

I don't mind riding down to -5C too much, that's relatively warm, as long as the roads are good. Around the middle of last week, they were predicting a high of 0C for today, and there wasn't any snow in the forecast, so I was planning to ride. But then they changed the forecast ... to match the actual conditions.

I've actually been able to get out relatively frequently so far this year too ... I'm at 1013 kms right now ... way up on previous years ... so I'm probably not drastically losing fitness by taking a weekend off.

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As for the idea of riding a mtn bike, I have done that in past years ... snowbiking! :) However, the mtn bike I have here is in bad shape right now. I need to decide what I want to do with it.