New Route Re-kindles My Love for Cycling
 

My regular 26 mile route along the shore is nice but after hundreds of trips it is wearing a little thin.Today I went inland toward Sebago Lake. 40 miles; a few good hills, traffic in places, got lost a few times even though I had mapped it out with Map My Ride. Yet, all in all, a wonderful day! Started out by giving directions to the lighthouse to a pretty little Chinese cyclist on the bridge. Discovered a few places where you can see for miles; chanced upon the Mountain Division Trail which is a rail/trail. Crossed a bridge where children's laughter was heard down on the river at a summer camp, I guess. Got a double scoop of Beal's ice cream on the way home. A few Chicken McNuggets and part of a Power Bar were fuel enough for the day.

It is amazing how much I enjoyed my ride today. Did not realize how much of a rut I had gotten into.

It always amazes me how much me a simple new route or even a bit of a change up can make in the way a ride feels. I have to make myself find new routes or at least change up some of the order or I'll ride myself into that rut you are speaking about. Too much of a creature of habit, I guess.

Bill

I very happy you found a new route to rekindle the pleasure of cycling. Riding new roads is my favorite thing to do on a bike. In my area there are many country roads so that even if I've ridden some of them before it is often a while before I get back to a particular route.

I ride some local county roads after work a couple of days a week and, as you say, the regular old routes can start getting a little old. One "trick" I've used is to do them in reverse (these are all loop rides). It's amazing how seeing the same old route "backwards" makes it seem a little fresher. The routes have the same familiar crossroads and landmarks but I get to see them in a new way.

Nice! No pix of the pretty little Chinese cyclist? :p

Exploring new areas with a bike is what drew my interest to riding town to town when I was a little kid. Seeing what is up around the next corner, over the next hill and generally forgetting all cares in life is the magic of cycling.

Sounds like the perfect sort of ride - especially the ice cream :thumb:

Variety is the spice of life.

I dropped my camera one time too many so now am sans photographs. Would not have
used the opportunity anyway. It was just a case of helping a "damsel in distress". Hope she got
where she was going okay.

Yes, that's it exactly. Felt young again. Amazing how timid one can get if not leaving one's comfort zone. "Okay, you can go out and play but don't cross the street!" Sound familiar?

I crossed the bridge.

I love exploring new places on a bike. Lucky for me, we have the Oregon and California Railroad lands (no railroad, just forest, tree farms, creeks and rivers in the coast range) relatively close to where I live. There's oodles of unpaved logging roads and plenty of paved roads to explore. It's even fun to grind up a hill only to find a dead end. I don't know how many centuries and double centuries I have ridden out there, often with plans for the former but changes leading to the latter, but it's been a lot.

Two nights ago a neighbor came a-knockin' on my door around 9:00 PM. He was heading out to ride up a butte in town that I had never been up. he invited my family and I to join him. It was great fun and there was even a cemetery with many familiar names on the headstones at the top. I have always enjoyed cemeteries. Maybe I'll settle down in one some day.

I too have a 20 mile llop that I can ride in either direction. The only problem is one hill that I am not able to climb when I go from west to east. On the other hand going est to west is fun as I fly down the same hill

Indubitably. :lol:

A new route can be fun. Sometimes, just riding the same old route in the opposite direction is good also.

There's something to be said for the old, too familiar 25 mi route - base miles for cardio continuity and longevity. But really nice to jump outta the rut. Good story.

Being able to explore new roads, places, etc. is what first attracted me to bicycles as a kid. Still feel the same way about it today. Adventure is good.

I really enjoy doing loop rides in different directions according to the wind direction and my frame of mind. It really helps to mix things up. I also sometimes go exploring with no real plan, get lost, and then find my way home. I have had some of the best rides that way but have gone over the intended distance by as much as 10 miles because I was lost.

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.

I particularly seek novelty on my long Saturday rides. On last Saturday's ride (8/22/14) I pondered my routes:

*I post to the Regional Discussion thread, “Metro Boston: Good ride today?,” and since Boston has been nicknamed “Hub of the Universe.” I like to call the myriad of riding possibilities the “Metroverse,” and posted a ”Cyclist’s Guide to the Metroverse.”

One other whimsical technique on familiar roads is to imagine I'm riding with a certain fellow BF subscriber from the Midwest I enjoy reading, and I'm showing him around on my route. I particularly enjoy having visitors to Boston and take them on tours, as rtool (not my imaginary friend) commented on this year’s Sixth Annual Fifty-Plus Ride:

I can relate to the change in scenery. I've found I need to do different venues just to keep from getting stale. I even had to resort to buy a new bike along the way as well. Any new bikes in the plans**********?

Whenever I get stuck in a rut, I'll do a familiar loop 'backwards'. It's amazing how hard, or easy, a hills on a route can be when approached from a different direction.
Meeting a cyclist that is not from your area is always nice. I once met a Englishman that was near the end of his third cross USA trip. He too needed a confirmation on his directions. It was nice to chat with him. He told me that the roads I ride all the time, and have become a little boring to me, are great road for riding. Made me pause and realize that, yeah, they are great for riding.