What Keeps You From Riding More?
#51
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 39,222
Mentioned: 211 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18404 Post(s)
Liked 15,496 Times
in
7,318 Posts
Not mentioned yet is that old October-November bugaboo, at least for many of us here.... The annual cleanup of leaves. Despite living on a narrow urban lot, I get about eleven billion leaves each season and I'll be picking them up until December. It's harder work than bike riding and it sure is time consuming!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...l/10461351002/
#52
Full Member
Was all set to increase my biking miles after sorting out all the issues with my bike. I love my bike. I just screwed myself for the increases in riding and will even decrease my riding for a while. I just bought a 42' cruising trawler and the present bike is not that compatible with the boat. Ugh. The apple cart is temporarily overturned.
#55
Tragically Ignorant
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: New England
Posts: 15,613
Bikes: Serotta Atlanta; 1994 Specialized Allez Pro; Giant OCR A1; SOMA Double Cross Disc; 2022 Allez Elite mit der SRAM
Mentioned: 62 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 8186 Post(s)
Liked 9,098 Times
in
5,054 Posts
I don't find enough dumpster vodka while cycling.
#56
Newbie
Well, was setting aside Sunday as my riding day while I was working, being recently retired and living here in FL - I now have no excuses to getting out more.
Likes For Broctoon:
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: SW Fl.
Posts: 5,615
Bikes: Day6 Semi Recumbent "FIREBALL", 1981 Custom Touring Paramount, 1983 Road Paramount, 2013 Giant Propel Advanced SL3, 2018 Specialized Red Roubaix Expert mech., 2002 Magna 7sp hybrid, 1976 Bassett Racing 45sp Cruiser
Mentioned: 18 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1068 Post(s)
Liked 780 Times
in
502 Posts
Did manage to get out at 2:44AM this morning for a VERY SLOW 28.81 miles where a few years ago it would have been more like 50+ miles. Just a bunch of crap-ola piling up until I -----
Likes For OldTryGuy:
#59
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 7,851
Mentioned: 38 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6945 Post(s)
Liked 10,945 Times
in
4,677 Posts
#60
Sock Puppet
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 1,701
Bikes: 2014 Cannondale Synapse Carbon, 2017 Jamis Renegade Exploit and too many others to mention.
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1031 Post(s)
Liked 863 Times
in
573 Posts
Here's an issue that has not been mentioned, though indyfabz and I have alluded to it: plenty of posters have noted that their jobs keep them from riding as much as they want to...And this is on a forum with plenty of members who also regularly discuss their newest uber-expensive bikes. I'm guessing that some people with such machines might also be into swanky autos, boats, etc -- in fact, sometimes, when people post pics of their bikes, you can see their sports cars in the background. There is a push-pull between buying the gear (which requires working) and finding the time to actually use it. I am sometimes amazed to read posts from people who've been riding a short time and have already bought more bikes than I've purchased in twenty years of fairly serious riding. I could've bought more bikes, and more expensive bikes, but living a relatively modest material lifestyle has helped me to drop to <1/2 time work at 54 and full retirement at 59. I'm now happier than I've been in decades -- even riding on my twenty-year old LeMond with 9 speed components.
Granted, along with those choices, I had some other advantages -- most notably, a much younger wife who is a good earner and carries me (at no cost to us) on her work health insurance. But lifestyle choices have played a role.
Life is about tradeoffs, and I'd rather have less cool stuff and more time to enjoy the stuff I do have before I'm too old.
Granted, along with those choices, I had some other advantages -- most notably, a much younger wife who is a good earner and carries me (at no cost to us) on her work health insurance. But lifestyle choices have played a role.
Life is about tradeoffs, and I'd rather have less cool stuff and more time to enjoy the stuff I do have before I'm too old.
#61
Sock Puppet
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 1,701
Bikes: 2014 Cannondale Synapse Carbon, 2017 Jamis Renegade Exploit and too many others to mention.
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1031 Post(s)
Liked 863 Times
in
573 Posts
Hey tomato coupe , good to see you around these parts!
#62
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Fredericksburg, Va
Posts: 9,579
Bikes: '65 Frejus TDF, '73 Bottecchia Giro d'Italia, '83 Colnago Superissimo, '84 Trek 610, '84 Trek 760, '88 Pinarello Veneto, '88 De Rosa Pro, '89 Pinarello Montello, '94 Burley Duet, 97 Specialized RockHopper, 2010 Langster, Tern Link D8
Mentioned: 73 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1607 Post(s)
Liked 2,214 Times
in
1,103 Posts
for me it is often the weather
Lately health, sinus infection is exhausting.
then there are the bike projects,
and home maintenance.
Since I am now 100% telework. It gets highest priority but does not interfere with riding opportunities. My organization expects me to exercise 3.5 hours a week on the clock.
the worst is motivation. I hate the traffic around here even with a Garmin Varia. No shoulders on many of the rural roads.
Lately health, sinus infection is exhausting.
then there are the bike projects,
and home maintenance.
Since I am now 100% telework. It gets highest priority but does not interfere with riding opportunities. My organization expects me to exercise 3.5 hours a week on the clock.
the worst is motivation. I hate the traffic around here even with a Garmin Varia. No shoulders on many of the rural roads.
__________________
Bikes don't stand alone. They are two tired.
Bikes don't stand alone. They are two tired.
#63
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: SW Fl.
Posts: 5,615
Bikes: Day6 Semi Recumbent "FIREBALL", 1981 Custom Touring Paramount, 1983 Road Paramount, 2013 Giant Propel Advanced SL3, 2018 Specialized Red Roubaix Expert mech., 2002 Magna 7sp hybrid, 1976 Bassett Racing 45sp Cruiser
Mentioned: 18 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1068 Post(s)
Liked 780 Times
in
502 Posts
#64
Cheerfully low end
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,971
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 644 Post(s)
Liked 1,044 Times
in
667 Posts
Otto
#65
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 918
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 445 Post(s)
Liked 1,042 Times
in
441 Posts
I try and ride about 3 days a week, but I'm limited to a 1-2 hour window and the rest of my day is spent working at home and being a parent with lots of activities including sports, dance, tutoring, etc. Though I also do about 3 days of strength training at the gym covering the basic powerlifts and body workouts, so that's about 6 days of fitness for me. Living in SoCal allows me to ride year-round and there's always group rides practically on a daily basis if I look, though I mostly ride solo. My only limitation though are doing all-day group rides (usually 3-6 hours).
#66
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 7,851
Mentioned: 38 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6945 Post(s)
Liked 10,945 Times
in
4,677 Posts
#67
Grupetto Bob
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Seattle-ish
Posts: 6,192
Bikes: Bikey McBike Face
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2571 Post(s)
Liked 5,605 Times
in
2,909 Posts
Good on you! I was a dedicated runner until I injured my back and developed a neuroma on one foot. I liked the ability to get in a good workout in a short amount of time, relative to cycling. I still do weights, pushups, planks and other core exercises and stretches. Also enjoy hiking in the mountains but need to get my foot operated on and healed first. Then there’s X-co and alpine skiing in the winter…..
__________________
Road 🚴🏾♂️ & Mountain 🚵🏾♂️
Road 🚴🏾♂️ & Mountain 🚵🏾♂️
#68
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Redmond, WA & Bangkok, Thailand
Posts: 565
Bikes: 1999 Giant ATX MTB, 2002 Lemond Zurich, 2018 Fuji Transonic 2.3, 2019 Specialized Tarmac Disc Expert
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 170 Post(s)
Liked 391 Times
in
226 Posts
Wet, cold, and too much dark this time of year which gives me less time out on the bike. That's life in the upper left corner of the US.
#70
just another gosling
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Everett, WA
Posts: 19,528
Bikes: CoMo Speedster 2003, Trek 5200, CAAD 9, Fred 2004
Mentioned: 115 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3885 Post(s)
Liked 1,938 Times
in
1,383 Posts
For me it's always been "how much can I take?" That's less now that it was, even last year. I try to walk the knife edge between enough and too much. I can ride as much as I want because I'm never bored riding. I have a set of resistance rollers out in the shop, which can be heated in winter. I can do anything on them that's good for winter training. I don't ride outside more than once a week in winter because it's usually raining and I hate spending time cleaning a bike which I could instead be riding on my rollers. I don't have any trouble getting in 8-12 hours/week between riding, gym, and other cross-training, and that's plenty. I got the same hours in back when I was working full time. No kids!
I do other things which I have to do to be able to ride as much as I can, namely hiking and strength training. Just riding never worked for me. It's too limited w/r to range of motion and muscles involved. Over time stuff you don't use on the bike gets weaker and stiffer and sooner or later you get injured, and then you're off the bike and doing rehab for who knows how long. Trying to figure out how to balance that has been a focus of mine. Plus I like the feeling of "I can do anything I want." Well, I don't rock climb anymore. That's gone and it's not coming back, but then I'm done with that anyway, so no loss. I can hike, backpack, snowshoe, XC ski, Alpine ski, walk, run, gym, and that's all I really ever wanted to do. Biking is still the main event because it's so much fun, it's generally a low body stress thing, and one can't ski in the summer. I keep the non-biking activities down to a level where they add to, rather than subtract from, my ability to ride. So far, everything still works, though I'm probably looking at getting a pacemaker this winter..
I do other things which I have to do to be able to ride as much as I can, namely hiking and strength training. Just riding never worked for me. It's too limited w/r to range of motion and muscles involved. Over time stuff you don't use on the bike gets weaker and stiffer and sooner or later you get injured, and then you're off the bike and doing rehab for who knows how long. Trying to figure out how to balance that has been a focus of mine. Plus I like the feeling of "I can do anything I want." Well, I don't rock climb anymore. That's gone and it's not coming back, but then I'm done with that anyway, so no loss. I can hike, backpack, snowshoe, XC ski, Alpine ski, walk, run, gym, and that's all I really ever wanted to do. Biking is still the main event because it's so much fun, it's generally a low body stress thing, and one can't ski in the summer. I keep the non-biking activities down to a level where they add to, rather than subtract from, my ability to ride. So far, everything still works, though I'm probably looking at getting a pacemaker this winter..
__________________
Results matter
Results matter
Likes For Carbonfiberboy:
#71
Grupetto Bob
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Seattle-ish
Posts: 6,192
Bikes: Bikey McBike Face
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2571 Post(s)
Liked 5,605 Times
in
2,909 Posts
For me it's always been "how much can I take?" That's less now that it was, even last year. I try to walk the knife edge between enough and too much. I can ride as much as I want because I'm never bored riding. I have a set of resistance rollers out in the shop, which can be heated in winter. I can do anything on them that's good for winter training. I don't ride outside more than once a week in winter because it's usually raining and I hate spending time cleaning a bike which I could instead be riding on my rollers. I don't have any trouble getting in 8-12 hours/week between riding, gym, and other cross-training, and that's plenty. I got the same hours in back when I was working full time. No kids!
I do other things which I have to do to be able to ride as much as I can, namely hiking and strength training. Just riding never worked for me. It's too limited w/r to range of motion and muscles involved. Over time stuff you don't use on the bike gets weaker and stiffer and sooner or later you get injured, and then you're off the bike and doing rehab for who knows how long. Trying to figure out how to balance that has been a focus of mine. Plus I like the feeling of "I can do anything I want." Well, I don't rock climb anymore. That's gone and it's not coming back, but then I'm done with that anyway, so no loss. I can hike, backpack, snowshoe, XC ski, Alpine ski, walk, run, gym, and that's all I really ever wanted to do. Biking is still the main event because it's so much fun, it's generally a low body stress thing, and one can't ski in the summer. I keep the non-biking activities down to a level where they add to, rather than subtract from, my ability to ride. So far, everything still works, though I'm probably looking at getting a pacemaker this winter..
I do other things which I have to do to be able to ride as much as I can, namely hiking and strength training. Just riding never worked for me. It's too limited w/r to range of motion and muscles involved. Over time stuff you don't use on the bike gets weaker and stiffer and sooner or later you get injured, and then you're off the bike and doing rehab for who knows how long. Trying to figure out how to balance that has been a focus of mine. Plus I like the feeling of "I can do anything I want." Well, I don't rock climb anymore. That's gone and it's not coming back, but then I'm done with that anyway, so no loss. I can hike, backpack, snowshoe, XC ski, Alpine ski, walk, run, gym, and that's all I really ever wanted to do. Biking is still the main event because it's so much fun, it's generally a low body stress thing, and one can't ski in the summer. I keep the non-biking activities down to a level where they add to, rather than subtract from, my ability to ride. So far, everything still works, though I'm probably looking at getting a pacemaker this winter..
__________________
Road 🚴🏾♂️ & Mountain 🚵🏾♂️
Road 🚴🏾♂️ & Mountain 🚵🏾♂️
Likes For rsbob:
#72
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 2,888
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1346 Post(s)
Liked 3,270 Times
in
1,439 Posts
Other than injury, nothing stops me. I live in the southern US, so I ride every single day that I want to.
#73
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2021
Posts: 8,381
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4388 Post(s)
Liked 4,828 Times
in
2,984 Posts
Here's an issue that has not been mentioned, though indyfabz and I have alluded to it: plenty of posters have noted that their jobs keep them from riding as much as they want to...And this is on a forum with plenty of members who also regularly discuss their newest uber-expensive bikes. I'm guessing that some people with such machines might also be into swanky autos, boats, etc -- in fact, sometimes, when people post pics of their bikes, you can see their sports cars in the background. There is a push-pull between buying the gear (which requires working) and finding the time to actually use it. I am sometimes amazed to read posts from people who've been riding a short time and have already bought more bikes than I've purchased in twenty years of fairly serious riding. I could've bought more bikes, and more expensive bikes, but living a relatively modest material lifestyle has helped me to drop to <1/2 time work at 54 and full retirement at 59. I'm now happier than I've been in decades -- even riding on my twenty-year old LeMond with 9 speed components.
Granted, along with those choices, I had some other advantages -- most notably, a much younger wife who is a good earner and carries me (at no cost to us) on her work health insurance. But lifestyle choices have played a role.
Life is about tradeoffs, and I'd rather have less cool stuff and more time to enjoy the stuff I do have before I'm too old.
Granted, along with those choices, I had some other advantages -- most notably, a much younger wife who is a good earner and carries me (at no cost to us) on her work health insurance. But lifestyle choices have played a role.
Life is about tradeoffs, and I'd rather have less cool stuff and more time to enjoy the stuff I do have before I'm too old.
For me family commitments have always been far more limiting than any amount of work. I haven't even had time to hold down a job in the last decade!
#74
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 4,083
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2333 Post(s)
Liked 2,097 Times
in
1,314 Posts
So, all dogs should have had the foresight to marry and mouch off of a young, beautiful, high earning wife?
I do think some people are into gear for reasons I do not understand. It is like a collecting fetish with nothing to do with their job or hours worked. Their bikes seem rarely ridden and a little scratch sends them to back to therapy. Even when I traveled extensively, I found time and ways to train. It only takes 4-6 hours per week to have a pretty high level of fitness. There are plenty who race successfully on such short hours.
I do think some people are into gear for reasons I do not understand. It is like a collecting fetish with nothing to do with their job or hours worked. Their bikes seem rarely ridden and a little scratch sends them to back to therapy. Even when I traveled extensively, I found time and ways to train. It only takes 4-6 hours per week to have a pretty high level of fitness. There are plenty who race successfully on such short hours.
Likes For GhostRider62:
#75
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2021
Posts: 8,381
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4388 Post(s)
Liked 4,828 Times
in
2,984 Posts
So, all dogs should have had the foresight to marry and mouch off of a young, beautiful, high earning wife?
I do think some people are into gear for reasons I do not understand. It is like a collecting fetish with nothing to do with their job or hours worked. Their bikes seem rarely ridden and a little scratch sends them to back to therapy. Even when I traveled extensively, I found time and ways to train. It only takes 4-6 hours per week to have a pretty high level of fitness. There are plenty who race successfully on such short hours.
I do think some people are into gear for reasons I do not understand. It is like a collecting fetish with nothing to do with their job or hours worked. Their bikes seem rarely ridden and a little scratch sends them to back to therapy. Even when I traveled extensively, I found time and ways to train. It only takes 4-6 hours per week to have a pretty high level of fitness. There are plenty who race successfully on such short hours.