I fell out of love with my bike

[Cassandra_Cain]

Oh yes, what they said....it seems biking isn't the problem, but the bikers were!

Riding with a group like that sounds like many things, but fun is definitely not one of them~

I have to think a different group would suit you soooo much better. Oodles more.

For a while I tried to find people and/or clubs to ride with. Overwhelmingly, the results have been very negative while at the same time, I've come to just enjoy riding on my own.

Everyone is different, but I enjoy being 100% focused on myself during a ride, especially a difficult one. I don't really want to worry about speeding up or slowing down for someone, or having to ride a route I don't care for.

So with the notable exception of a fellow TE'r who I sometimes share the afternoon commute with, I ride on my own all the time, happily too.

[DDH]

I agree with everyone else. I am a newbie since July. I did ride years ago and hung up the bike because of life issues, child got to big to pull anymore but to little to keep up or ride on the roads, work with different shifts, no time, all the normal life things that we let stop us from doing things.
Anyway, I am back into it now, and there is no way I would ride with someone that much better than me because of the very thing that is happening with you. Nothing against those folks but it is very frustrating and self esteem destructive to have someone so far ahead all the time and struggling to keep up. Go back to what you were doing and loved. Find someone to ride with more your speed. If you want to be fast like those folks then I am no expert but I believe that takes a lot of training time and effort to get to that point. I just want to go out and ride and have fun.
Good luck to you, I hope you choose to get back on and get back your love!

[pkq]

I ride for me. Sometimes I want to push, other times I am a genuine slacker. However, even when I want to push, there are always others who can beat me to a pulp.

If I don't feel like riding, I don't. If I feel like doing something else or nothing, that is what I do. I believe our minds and bodies tell us what we need so I listen.

When you ride for yourself, it doesn't seem like a chore.

I have friends who don't view "freddish commuters" as real cyclists. I do just as I would view them as a motorist, if they were driving, or a walker, if they were walking. Live and let live.

[CyclChyk]

I have friends who don't view "freddish commuters" as real cyclists. I do just as I would view them as a motorist, if they were driving, or a walker, if they were walking. Live and let live.

..um.... what is a "freddish commuter"????

[Veronica]

..um.... what is a "freddish commuter"????

Someone who rides a non racing type bike. Commuters are fredlike because they have bags, fenders, etc.

I mean look at this bike, fenders with an extender on the front, a bell, reflectors in the spokes. Look at that bag, it's huge. And the pedals... they're doublesided. What kind of dork rides flat pedals, ever? And don't even get me started on those non integrated shifters. A Brooks leather saddle, that's gotta weigh 10 -15 pounds by itself. Really, who rides 27 mmm tires? AND look at how many spokes there are on those wheels! No real cyclist would be caught dead on this bike.


V.




PS In case you haven't figured out, that's my bike. It looks a little different now and I have a commuter bike so I don't have the bag and rack on it anymore.

[emily_in_nc]

V.,

You are a treasure.

~Emily
(who rides her Bike Friday with rack and panniers, bar-end shifters, air-horn, Halt holder, 1.35" tires - but no Brooks saddle - to the markets every Saturday, smiling all the way )

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey does this make me a Freddiesque Dork too?
Attachment 1645
Hey we even put our bells in the same place too!

[xeney]

Ha! I just bought my husband one of those Rivendell bells, because he is commuting on a MUP these days and he hates saying 'on your left' every couple of minutes, and I laughed at him when he mounted it on the stem last night. Shows what I know.