acaurora

So I have ridden my road bike for the past year, and don't get me wrong, I have loved (almost) every minute of it - through the crashes, the falls, the "OH S%@T" moments, I still enjoyed riding. However as of the past few months it has become less of a hobby and more of a chore. It became less of "wohoo! x miles w/ y ft climbing yes!" to "... /sigh...". I ride with different people at different paces, but it's just that I have not really truly enjoyed a ride lately. It's not that I'm bored of the people that I ride with, it's more that I haven't been on a great ride recently... ? From what I have heard from people when I present this dilemma to, they say I just have been riding too much, which is possible. I have done a few centuries (including the Death Ride), and average between 200-300 miles a week.

I have tried taking a week long break, but it didn't seem to help. Has anyone else experienced this kind of "rut" ? I'm not meaning to say that I'm bored, per se, just in need of a change of scenery perhaps? Maybe I should do more solo rides (I have only ridden by myself once this past year... hah)?

Discuss.

umd

There's no point to doing it if you don't enjoy it. Take a month off, do some other stuff. Circle the date you will get back on your bike, and mark off the days on your calendar. Let the hunger for riding again grow so that you can't wait for that circled day to arrive. If you get near the end and you aren't eagerly awaiting the day you can ride again, you may want to rethink cycling at all.

acaurora

Sounds like a good plan, thanks umd.

I have been meaning to look into doing triathlons, so I may start doing running/swimming and then add cycling after the month break. It has been getting too hot (for me, at least) here in the central valley, to ride also.

umd

That's probably a good idea to keep some fitness. When you get back on it will be a shock to your system (probably more so than when you first started riding, because you will expect more), but it will come back quickly.

acaurora

Heh, yeah I am expecting that. Just like when I was in between bikes (had sold my old one, and waiting on the new one to come in), I tried running and it was definitely hard.

tagaproject6

Bring your bike to Denio's...I'll take it off your hands





Go ride up in Lake Tahoe and get away from that Sac Town heat.

Erzulis Boat 

I was super busy with work, and just got totally burned out 2+ years ago.

The year before I stopped, I had no real riding goals, and wasn't racing, so it was just a chore.

Needless to say, I got fat. I went hiking, and I freedive, but it is not the same as cycling.....................plus, I drank too much beer.

Anyway, I am now back on the bike. I took a month of racking up some miles, and now am back in training mode for 2 weeks now.

Besides the 20 pounds of fat, I feel like a kid with my first bike. My speed came back quick, cardio is coming back surprisingly fast too.

It took that long to get my fire back, and it is back with a vengeance.

It might take more than a month-



EDIT- The solo ride thing might be something, I solo 80% of the time, not that it helped 2 years ago, but might be the ticket for you, put yourself in charge, and then ride hard. Extremely satisfying.

colombo357

Try mountain biking for a change of scenery.

7bmwm3gtr

It is almost August so yeah it's common.

paste_me

A new bike should fix everything.

tanguy frame

if you're riding for fun and it's not fun find another hobby. Your bike will be there when you want to get back on it.

JoelS

I agree with UMD. Take time off. You need a break. Classic case of burn-out.

acaurora

MTB kind of scares me actually, although I am sure it would help with my road bike handling skills. Just something about riding around sharp rocks, cliffs, and such...

Hehe, I hope so. The summer heat is a big downer.

Haha, if only I had the income for one.

It's good to hear that taking time off worked for you. Hopefully it'll work likewise for me.

Random question - Would an Edge 500 be useful in mapping/tracking runs? Times like these I wish I had bought a Forerunner instead??

DScott

I'm in the same boat. It helped me to take some time off, and to re-think my reasons for riding. I had to remember that I ride because I like it, that it feels good. While it's great to get stronger, or faster, and to be better able to keep up with the your buddies, that's really not why I ride my bike.

What made it worse was that I don't race, but had gotten focused on completing a specific series of organized events. While that goal was helpful in structuring my riding, it also began to feel like a job. Something I had to do, and it became much less enjoyable over time.

So when riding became all about training, instead of enjoyment, I got burned out. Not everybody feels that way, I'm sure.

For me, though, I'm getting back to just riding, often by myself, and enjoying it more. No event goals or reasons to ride other than it feels good.

acaurora

Indeed. I believe another reason for getting so burnt out was that I had been riding a lot especially lately in preparation for the Death Ride, and now that it's over I feel like "okay... now what?". That kind of ambiguity is what probably is the reason for me needing to take time off. There is the Napa century coming up, but I feel that I'm all "century'd out", haha. It would be fun to try to do a 4 hour century though... a friend of mine has done it. Fastest I've ever done one was 5 (Chico Wildflower).

ericm979

Ah. Post-goal burnout. Take some time off, you have earned it. Ride if you feel like it, and don't set any objectives for those rides other than having fun. Ride with friends you don't normally ride with. Go ride somewhere new. Take care of stuff around the house that didn't get done while you were training.