Motivation to ride

[hcjg1]

At the moment I seem to be looking for any little excuses not to ride although once I ma on the bike everything is fine. Its not a physical and its not the bike but it feels more like my mind. I recently bought a new helmet and rucksack which match my riding shorts and it felt good for a while but now I'm back to that feeling. I usually commute through the Winter as it gives me a chance to test my hardiness and impress my work colleagues so its not that either. I think one of the things for me is that I don't have a commuting buddy so there were times when I have felt lonely doing the journey. I did try making friends along my route but in my 7 years no one really seems interested in teaming up and only want to compete.
I am interested in finding out what do other people do to keep their motivation up or pick themselves up when that drops.

[nfmisso]

Bike commuting for me is easy motivation - driving around here is AWFUL.

I am a loaner by nature, so riding along alone suits me fine. I do say 'hi' to people I meet on the bike trail.

Sorry, I don't have anything helpful for you.

[elmore leonard]

How many minutes is your commute and what kind of traffic are you running into? I'm sure it is not as enjoyable as recreational riding. I try to ride 25 minutes a day for fitness, but more then 7/8 of my ride is off road on a dike and a short trail. So I am not getting stressed from traffic like you maybe are? Before I retired I always drove back and forth to work or took public transit as the traffic were I live is extremely busy. I'm just not comfortable riding in traffic with people talking and texting on their phones and others maybe having too much to drink or too high from smoking.

[hcjg1]

(01-13-2015, 10:44 PM)elmore leonard Wrote:  How many minutes is your commute and what kind of traffic are you running into? I'm sure it is not as enjoyable as recreational riding. I try to ride 25 minutes a day for fitness, but more then 7/8 of my ride is off road on a dike and a short trail. So I am not getting stressed from traffic like you maybe are? Before I retired I always drove back and forth to work or took public transit as the traffic were I live is extremely busy. I'm just not comfortable riding in traffic with people talking and texting on their phones and others maybe having too much to drink or too high from smoking.

My commute takes about 50 to 60 minutes depending on how fast I have to negotiate traffic each way especially since I do 9-5 so I get the full brunt of the traffic. Concentration has to be 100% and any switching off of the brain could be fatal as I agree you see drivers on their phones and even reading newspapers. The commute is enjoyable in an adrenaline boosting kind of way as I tend to ride pretty fast on my single speed bikes. I dont find my fellow commuters very friendly and I always try to be. I've decided that I'm gonna cut down on the commute and do some more long rides. I rode to Cambridge (65 miles one way) a few times last Summer with 2 mates and we took the train back and I really enjoyed that as we found some very quiet country roads which really allowed us to enjoy the bike.

[fishboy316]

Sounds like you found your issue. Traffic can take the fun right out of riding! We are always hearing of folks being killed here around Balt-Wash area. Folks in cars that do not ride don't get it. I was the same way until I started riding. I find that I pay more attention to bikes now as I know how scary it can be on the receiving end! When it's not fun we don't do it.

Bill

[nfmisso]

(01-13-2015, 10:44 PM)elmore leonard Wrote:  How many minutes is your commute and what kind of traffic are you running into? I'm sure it is not as enjoyable as recreational riding. I try to ride 25 minutes a day for fitness, but more then 7/8 of my ride is off road on a dike and a short trail. So I am not getting stressed from traffic like you maybe are? Before I retired I always drove back and forth to work or took public transit as the traffic were I live is extremely busy. I'm just not comfortable riding in traffic with people talking and texting on their phones and others maybe having too much to drink or too high from smoking.

Sorry; I did not make myself clear. 80+% of my bicycle commute is on a dedicated paved bike trail with no motor vehicle. The rest is on well marked (and mostly respected by motor vehicles) bike lanes. The motivation for riding my bike is that I hate driving a motor vehicle (Jeep in my case) during commuting hours. Driving it is ~½ hour each way; bike is a bit over an hour each way.

[hcjg1]

(01-14-2015, 01:21 PM)nfmisso Wrote:  

(01-13-2015, 10:44 PM)elmore leonard Wrote:  How many minutes is your commute and what kind of traffic are you running into? I'm sure it is not as enjoyable as recreational riding. I try to ride 25 minutes a day for fitness, but more then 7/8 of my ride is off road on a dike and a short trail. So I am not getting stressed from traffic like you maybe are? Before I retired I always drove back and forth to work or took public transit as the traffic were I live is extremely busy. I'm just not comfortable riding in traffic with people talking and texting on their phones and others maybe having too much to drink or too high from smoking.

Sorry; I did not make myself clear. 80+% of my bicycle commute is on a dedicated paved bike trail with no motor vehicle. The rest is on well marked (and mostly respected by motor vehicles) bike lanes. The motivation for riding my bike is that I hate driving a motor vehicle (Jeep in my case) during commuting hours. Driving it is ~½ hour each way; bike is a bit over an hour each way.

Thanks for the input.