Originally Posted by
BobL
I know a couple of guys who have lost over 100 and say that they felt so much better, they wanted to get out and do things again. You almost couldn't stop them. I was gaining while I was riding but didn't ride at my max weight. When I got closer to my desired weight, I started wanting to get out. That has stayed with me.
There's what feels like a big gap between "I have to go for a ride" and "I want to go for a ride". Sorry if I've got this wrong, but you sound more like you're thinking you really should ride more than just that you really want to ride. I'm with tyrion here, don't think of it as a chore - or shouldn't be. Sure, everyone has crappy days. Break downs, flats, nasty dogs, you name it, but the fun should be the emphasis.
When I'm on an indoor bike, it's all I can do to make myself go 40 or 45 minutes. When I'm outside, I'm likely to say "I wonder what's down that road" and go look, never even noticing the time. Since I haven't ridden in so long, every block has aspects that are new or it's completely new.
Part of the issue with getting from "I have to go for a ride" to "
I want to go for a ride" is confidence. This confidence is often cemented after just one or 2 rides. Think of yourself as a creature of habit. You are out of practice! Do what you have to do to make it out the door and actually
embarking on some kind of adventure. For me, I do better if I leave on rides from home. With that arrangement, I can roll my bike out into the driveway, do my final tire inflation, maybe wipe down the brake pads or lube the chain. Then get dressed in attire that is appropriate for the outdoor temperatures, get your shoes, helmet, gloves water bottles, clif bars, apple, cell phone and anything else you need. I start my app on my phone and start my Fitbit too. I don't use Strava but instead use Endomondo. It works very well to capture my time and distance and ascending and descending and is a good motivational tool to credit yourself towards you annual total miles and maybe monitor your average ride speeds progress. You might join a club and just plan on attending group rides for your skill level once or twice a week. If you are not quite ready for this, you can still aspire to get there and continue working on your own in order to "rehab" yourself. Your actual performance on the road will be a bit of a moving target as we get better as the season progresses (so long as we stay consistent).
Good luck to you in 2019.