Totally lost the desire to ride!

[OakLeaf]

Glad you got out!

And +1 on looking for a hybrid that fits you better. Tooling around on my errand bike is a WHOLE different trip than the roadie, and when motivation is low, it's so much less of a production to just hop on it in my street clothes and not feel like I have to be going any particular speed or distance to make all the preparations "worth it." If you live somewhere that it's safe to ride at night, slap some lights on it and cruise the neighborhood ... I just love running around on my hybrid after dark.

[Crankin]

I don't have my hybrid anymore, but I just love slapping the lights on and going for a "dark" ride. I have an appointment for one tomorrow morning at 5 AM. It's not even that dark out now, but I love seeing the town wake up. I have a route where I go into Concord center, up the "other" hill in town and around by Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where famous American authors are buried, and back home. It's about 15 miles. Sometimes, I don't do the other hill and it's 12 miles. I love it.

[Dogmama]

Totally understand about depression and crappy work conditions. Hard to realize when you're in the midst - but this too shall pass. Hang in there!

[jobob]

This is a very interesting thread for me. I experienced a great deal of upheaval in my life over the past year (almost exactly a year now!) and during that time my desire to ride has become pretty much nonexistent. I decided not to stress over it -- heh, I had enough to stress over, I didn't need to add to it! -- and I figured my desire to ride might return eventually. I'm not going to push myself to start riding again until I'm good & ready. In the meantime, I'm hiking a lot, and enjoying the beautiful hiking trails near me that I hardly knew existed until now.

I hope things look up for you, kajero.

[shootingstar]

Since I am car-free, it's a bit different. If I'm less motivated, I simply more robotic when cycling. It's just cycling shorter distances to do stuff when I'm demotivated. I don't think about it much nor analyze it because the bike ride is so short and I have to get groceries, get to work, etc. I have to eat. That's my motivator.

That's great you went for a short spin kajero. Don't look back on what you accomplished as the ultimate benchmark, look forward.

[Bike Writer]

This is a very interesting thread for me. I experienced a great deal of upheaval in my life over the past year (almost exactly a year now!) and during that time my desire to ride has become pretty much nonexistent. I decided not to stress over it -- heh, I had enough to stress over, I didn't need to add to it! -- and I figured my desire to ride might return eventually. I'm not going to push myself to start riding again until I'm good & ready. In the meantime, I'm hiking a lot, and enjoying the beautiful hiking trails near me that I hardly knew existed until now.

I hope things look up for you, kajero.

It's been a very interesting thread for me too as I have also had major changes and upheaval in my career life and am in-between career path currently. I know that affected my whole winter and early spring, desire to ride and a whole host of other things as well. I've detailed a bit more about it in my blog but I find it remarkable and also comforting to know that as others have experienced major life changes it has affected their cycling too. We're all different, but all the same too.

[ny biker]

Extreme stress can be exhausting, and mind-numbing.

Today I seem to be suffering from a more acute form of motivation loss. I'm trying to muster the energy to go out for a spin on yet another gray chilly spring day.