Psychic pain.

[nscrbug]

None of the geek stuff about cycling will ever thrill me. I am thankful I can afford a nice bike, with good components, and even that is relatively low key for me. I like the computer for telling me how far I've gone, but that's it.
Getting ready, is well, getting ready. You have to do it, but that's what made me start running last year; unfortunately my body doesn't like running so much, but now I will go fitness walking or hike, do yoga, lift. For me, variety is the spice of life. My next plan is to get a touring bike, so we can do more vacations, on our own, with bikes, and have a bike to ride around town, that is more comfortable than my Coda. I actually look forward to the winter, because I discovered I love being outside then, too. The x country ski/snow shoe season is very short here and often involves traveling; I ride 9 months or so out of the year and I thoroughly enjoy the break because of the winter sports I do. It also makes me look forward to riding in March.
I have been exercising for 30 years in some way or other. If I just focused on riding my bike, I would have got bored long ago. Because, when I am 75 years old (doesn't seem so far away now) I want to still be riding and believe me, it's not going to be about how fast I can go up a hill in a hard gear.

X2! I could have written this exact same post, Crankin! I absolutely MUST have variety in my exercise routine. I've been exercising on a nearly daily basis for the last 27 years. If all I did was ride my bike, I would have given it up a long time ago out of sheer boredom! I look forward to the 4 month break from riding once the snow starts flyin'. It gives me something to gear up for, come March. During the warm months, I do several different activities besides cycling. I run, swim, spin, stretch, plus put in time at the gym with lifting. It's funny...whenever my DH and I see older folks riding their cruiser bikes, we joke to each other about how "that will be us in a few years". I sure hope that I'm still able to ride a bike, well into my 70's.

[shootingstar]

How could I not avoid chiming in on this topic, especially when cycling for many years and living without a car for quarter of a century?

There have been times, where I wondered if I would be perpetually hunched over my panniers, putting groceries, etc. after multiple trips in 1 day on bike.. and constant locking/unlocking of bike, yadda-da-yadda.

But then I stop myself..for people who drive around for awhile to find parking at several pit stops for shopping variety in 1 day.

Then, I remember the freedom and route flexibility that cycling gives to me, despite some preliminary preparations.

I actually think for myself, cycling gives me immense variety in terms of constantly changing scenery (at a faster pace than jogging, no matter how slow I go), changes in weather conditions, etc. 'Course I don't cycle/spin indoors at all. Now THAT would bore the heck of me vs. some varied pilates/yoga exercises indoors.

Given our cycling-dominant lifestyle since we are car-free, I would have less patience to deal with clipless and yet another need to change into walkable shoes just to do shopping, errands /see people.

Before cycling, I simply walked around alot and took public transit more often: so cycling to me, IS faster or more flexible way of travel for me now.