How do I get motivated again??

[7rider]

Thanks, guys.
Janice - (Hey there! I haven't "seen" you in a while!) I think that's part of my problem....I have an easy ride on Metro as my alternative - 3 stops, Glenmont to Silver Spring, and I really can't say it's all that bad. I don't even have to deal with parking - DH drops me off at the Kiss-and-Ride on his way to Gaithersburg.
I seem to find that once I cut back on the bike in the Fall, it's hard to start back up again. I do fall out of that "habit". Today's a perfect example: Planned on riding. Last night said...Nahhhh (hence the post).
RE: the neck - thought for about a half second about a 'bent. I'm hoping I can focus on my twice-daily traction and that will suffice in time.

[7rider]

Nuthatch...I like your scale - I may have to incorporate that! But a dark, cold, rainy, windy morning has got to be a MAJOR fun-sucker, as it would all add up to 11!!
(but...oh...maybe that's the point! Time for coffee!)

[Geonz]

I just tell myself on the rotten days "these are the miles that **really** count!!" I don't have Metro, though ... and accidentally on purpose I haven't figured out the bus route here. I imagine how "important" my very existence out ther eon the bike is - everybody who sees me is aware that yes, it can be done! (Some of them don't even think I'm a lunatic for doing it.) It's gotten other people riding. HOpefully it will get my spare tire shrunk

[mimitabby]

for me, it's like a rockpile. The less I ride, the more rocks pile up, and last night a landslide was threatening. I put my every mile on BikeJournal and I noticed that over 1000 people had already posted miles and I hadn't done a thing yet. So against my own will, in the middle of watching a movie with DH,
I went down and pedaled 6 sweaty miles. Now I have something that proves i have "started."
I think a lot about how my health has changed in the last 3 years, and don't want to go back...
This weekend our bike club has 2 different rides planned and I might not do either. But if i don't, i will have to force myself back to the basement. As awful as riding the windtrainer is, it keeps me from sliding too far back when the weather is finally conducive to riding outside.
I like that point scale: -4 rain , -2 dark and hmm, it's been windy too. It'll be a while before i commute to work again.

[Thistle]

dont know if this will help, but in winter when it was hard to motivate myself, i put all my cycling clothes on the floor beside the bed so i literally stepped onto them when i got up

my reasoning... i couldnt leave them on the floor and go to work, and putting them away was more effort than putting them on

and it worked, cos i'm a "get up, visit the bathroom, dress and ride" type of person with all the showering stuff at work....

dont know if it will help, but it worked for me.

[run it, ride it]

I fell off the commuting boat in late November. Brutal cold that left me weak for weeks. So I started taking the bus to school. And then even when I got a little better, I figured, "don't want to risk getting sick again before exams," and the excuses snowballed from there.

Don't ask me how I survived the bus as long as I did. Inhumanely crowded, never on time. What is your metro ride like? Is it as fun as biking?

It takes me less time overall to bike. I don't have to worry about leaving super early to ensure I catch a bus to campus on time, and it's WAY faster to get home on a bike than it is waiting in rush-hour on a crowded bus! How satisfying is that?

I was worried I'd be terribly out of shape after being out of the game for so long, but my fitness level is coming back quickly. It's never as much work as the first time! Remember that!

Commuting to my seasonal summer job is another story--I share a vehicle with my brother, and it was scarcely around when I needed it last season. The commute is 25km round trip--doesn't sound bad, till you factor in the 8 hours hard labour I worked in between! Still, when you're out of options it doesn't matter what your motivation level is!

Good luck--your desire to ride the bicycle will return when it's ready!

[twin]

If you have a bike that allows you to raise your handlebars if they are not already that might help. I think it helps to have some other people that you are in a contest with such as I am in a contest with other teachers some at other schools. We do not win anything it just makes it more fun when you know someone else is going to be out riding in the group. A break is a good thing and before you know it you will be commuting again. Good luck!

[7rider]

Thanks for all the replys.
I was hoping that signing up for the 2500 in 2007 contest on BikeJoural would inspire me. That, and the fact that when I walked out of the office the other day at 5:30, I could see the orange of the setting sun in the western sky (translation: daylight is returning - just last week, it seems, the sky was totally dark at that same time).
I'm not lacking for motivation on the weekends - just commuting. I think I won't sweat it if I finish out January on Metro. It's very easy and beats driving. Sure...I'd love to be biking, but I don't think it's healthy for me to beat myself up for not riding. My neck is still healing and the year is still young.
Somebody slap some sense into me if I'm still whining like this in May!
Thanks everybody!!!

[nuthatch]

Nuthatch...I like your scale - I may have to incorporate that! But a dark, cold, rainy, windy morning has got to be a MAJOR fun-sucker, as it would all add up to 11!!
(but...oh...maybe that's the point! Time for coffee!)

YEAH! Negative 1 rides are actually staying in bed an extra 30 minutes and having two pots of tea (or coffee)!

[Deanna]

Regina,

Your commute can really help you reach the 2500 miles you signed up for. My standard commute is only 4.3 miles each way. I do it 3-4 times a week, with a few longer distances thrown in during the long days of summer. I track my miles on bike journal and the commute miles are also tracked on my clubs website. I ended up with 2300 commute miles - almost half of my total miles for the year! Those little distances add up!

[marybee]

In spite of having lights, I still don't like riding in the dark. You can't see potholes, even with a bright front light, you can't go fast. When daylight savings and the winter rolls around, I just bag the whole idea of commuting. (Of course, here it gets cold too, so that's a factor.)

[Geonz]

My Gazelle's light finds those potholes - and besides, it's my commute route, I kmow where they are already! The addiction has simply taken over and I can no longer use darkness as a reason to refrain from cycling .. and I feel like those miles "count more" because I might have driven them.