I just want to love to ride again.

[lph]

This is a great thread. I happen to love riding fast, and am at my most competitive (which isn't very) on a bike, but your thoughts on being a Slow Rider are just the way I feel about kayak paddling at the moment. I know plenty of people who paddle fast, are technically very experienced and can teach me a lot... but I don't want to. I adore sliding silently through the water close to shore, suddenly realizing I can see pale rocks on the bottom glowing through clear water, noticing the amazing colour of those flowers growing right down by the edge, trying to capture the reflection with my camera before my waves disturb it, watching a scruffy gull chick eeping with a beady-eyed parent bird watching me. I like being a Slow Paddler, and have no desire to speed up and lose all this. I don't paddle as much as I just slide around in a kayak, seeing things I would never see otherwise.

So my only tip would be bring a camera, a thermos flask of coffee and some cookies, and go out for a ride to take pictures and drink coffee someplace completely new, with the bike just as a means to get there.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Great post, LPH! I love to kayak-glide too, and contemplate the rocks under the surface and the reeds growing on the shore.
My favorite kayak moment was paddling out to the middle of a mirror-still Adirondack lake years ago during a very difficult time in my life. I paddled out there in the middle of nowhere on the still water with fog creeping over the surface. I just sat motionless in the kayak, soaking in the peacefulness. A loon surfaced near me and began to call, and a single feather came off him and floated over to me, like a gift. I cried for a long time there, partly feeling sad for myself, and partly crying at the beauty and spirituality of that moment. I felt hope and closure when I returned to the shore.

[Selkie]

Hermit -- I ride alone, too, for many reasons. I can go at my own pace, wherever I want, for as long/short as I want, etc. That's true freedom. In addition, it's the one part of my day when I'm truly by myself and I have time to meditate/think.
By nature, I'm an introvert and enjoy my own company. I like people, but I also need that private time.

[sundial]

I'm a soloist as well and like MickChick I prefer to enjoy nature and go at my pace.

I bought a bike this year that has a very distinct personality. It doesn't want to go fast. It just wants to enjoy a nice, slow, leisurely pace that allows me to enjoy the small pleasures of life. I wanted to get back to cycling where I enjoy the ride moreso than tracking performance.

Perhaps your older bike serves as a reminder of what you would rather forget. Maybe it's time to start a new chapter with a different bike.

[Yen]

Yep, burn-out. Burn-out can require a long recovery. When you've recovered, you'll know it.

One danger that leads to burn-out is not staying true to our own ways. If you prefer solo riding, or recreational riding, but you pushed yourself beyond your true desires, it's natural you lost your taste for something you otherwise loved.

You might try easing back into it a little at a time. Focus on the parts that you LOVE about it -- the wind in your face, feeling like a kid again -- and do it only when you want to, not forcing yourself to go out or feeling guilty when you don't. You may need to take some small bites that you really enjoy to develop your taste for riding again.

[shootingstar]

I've never had any goal for cycling in upcoming seasons after each winter when I start cycling lots again. When I "re-improve', only because I am cycling alot again, it's like falling in love all over again.

And that's the way I hope it will always be. It's worked for me for past 17 yrs. since rediscovering cycling and part of why it works, is that a large chunk of my cycling is solo, at least 40%.

But it also helps when I cycle with another person, it usually is for each other's company, though we don't necessarily say much at all. My partner and I, unlike some cycling couples ,don't say much to one another when we cycle together. Often it's like a journey meditation together, even though we usually aren't cycling side by side most of the time. Yes, we can go for 50 kms. and probably have said less than 10 sentences to one another, but it's pure zen to us.

And oh, since we live car-free for many years now, bike is just part of us. So it's not always something I think about as I "have to" bike. It just IS for us.

[solobiker]

This has been great to read. I struggled for a while when I couldn't be as fast I used to when I was alpine climbing with a heavy pack. In my early 30s I could easily blow past men and women while I was carrying a 30-40 pound pack with climbing gear. well, I have gotten older and have nerve issues in my feet that don't allow me to do that anymore. I now take my time both on my hikes and bike rides to look at anything that may catch my eye.

There is so much beauty out there it is amazing.