I want my cycling mojo back!

[Catrin]

I admit it, I, Catrin, have lost my cycling mojo. She ran away from home at the end of summer and I want her to come home.

I think it was about injuries, and there have been quite a few in my 3 seasons of riding. Overuse injuries, major whiplash (mtb), and this last year I just went from one injury to another on the mountain bike trail. No wonder it became more attractive to lift heavy things and do wild stuff at the gym! Perhaps it isn't a surprise that ANYTHING this winter has been more attractive than the trainer. I guess it was just time to get off the bike for a time.

I am starting to watch riders, even in this cold weather, with a bit of longing. I probably need to approach riding differently this year, and plan events of different types - NOT just those that revolve around wheels. Balance is a good thing I really, really, really want to be able to ride through at least one season without preventable injury. Both PT and doctor are strongly hinting that the whiplash may not improve more than it has, at least not for a long time - so my mountain biking days may simply be over I guess that I just wasn't cut out for it, as much as I loved it. So perhaps the balance is to do my wild gym workouts and just focus on having fun on the bike - whatever that looks like!

So I need to entice my cycling mojo to return home... I wonder if she likes really good dark chocolate????

[Owlie]

((Catrin))

I wonder if yours is wherever mine is. Like yours, I think mine left due to injuries. Hard to get excited about cycling when you know that any ride more than 18-19 miles is going to hurt. And then I think not riding becomes a habit. This time last year I was enthusiastic about the trainer...or as enthusiastic about the trainer as one can get. I've been using it as a repair stand more than as a trainer this year.

[indysteel]

Don't force it. For many of us, it comes and goes. Come the first nice days of spring, my guess is that the urge to ride will kick back in, but if you're otherwise active (and you are) and enjoying yourself, I wouldn't sweat it. I, personally, really like taking a long break over the winter from riding. By spring, I'll likely be ready for break from running.

[Becky]

It happens to all of us... I took a multi-year break from cycling a few years ago and played soccer instead. I was swimming a lot last year, but haven't been in the pool in 6 months. C'est la vie...

You've certainly had a lot to deal with injury-wise, and I can understand why you'd want a break. Listen to your body and your heart, and the bike will be there when you're ready. You're still active, and that, IMO, is more important than the actual activity.

[ny biker]

I found myself forcing myself to ride my bike last fall. I think it was mostly due to being given a traffic citation during a ride when I was not actually doing anything illegal, and then having to wait almost 2 months for my court date to fight the ticket. Getting caught out in a severe thunderstorm during a ride a week after getting the ticket didn't help, and then being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes that left me with more than 35 huge itchy welts while helping at a century rest stop the day after the storm just added insult to injury.

But whatever. I spent $300 on maintenance at the LBS a few weeks ago knowing that when the warm weather comes I'll be back on my bike. I also bought a nice short sleeve jersey with matching arm warmers. This weekend I'll be back at the LBS spending the $70 in coupons that I earned by paying for the maintenance and jersey during their annual "bike shop bucks" promotion wherein you earn coupons for purchases Jan 1-15 and then redeem them Jan 16-30. So I get to have fun shopping. I'm also looking forward to the bike club annual meeting and potluck dinner in early March. I think I'll bake cookies for that. And I'm looking forward to the annual Ride to End Hunger in Calvert County in late April, which is a great ride in a beautiful part of southern Maryland.

In the meantime I'll probably put the bike on the indoor trainer this weekend. Or maybe I'll go for a walk instead if it's not too cold. Variety is good.

So really, just do what you enjoy doing and keep things simple to try to avoid injuries. Stop and enjoy the scenery along the way.

(BTW the citation was for "impeding traffic while riding two abreast" and the verdict was not guilty. The officer who issued the citation didn't show up for the trial. If he had, I would have argued that I was not impeding traffic because (a) the lane was a substandard width so I was not required to stay as far to the right as practicable because a motor vehicle would have had to cross the yellow line to pass me with 3 feet of clearance and (b) there were no vehicles on the road behind me at the time and you cannot impede theoretical traffic.)

[Bike Writer]

(b) there were no vehicles on the road behind me at the time and you cannot impede theoretical traffic.)

I love how you think!

[Bike Writer]

Catrin,

I think it happens to everybody in any sport at one time or another, certainly injuries play a role. I recall looking at my bike in disdain after a nasty fall last year, but fell in love with it all over again after I was healed up and some time had passed.

[OakLeaf]

Oh boy, do I hear you. I wish I had advice - just lots of sympathy, because I'm in the same place right now. It *is* way easier emotionally to just cut something out, than to cut it back and find different ways of doing it. Do take advantage of the enforced break of the winter weather ... put out some feelers for less challenging rides, fire roads, etc., where you might be able to ride with less risk of falling. January isn't the time to be stressing about what might happen in May (yeah, okay, I'm stressing about what might happen in April, but that's DIFFERENT. ). Use this time to heal, re-group, find other ways to get inside your head (or outside it, whichever it is that the trails bring you). Hang in there.

[Crankin]

I have been there and I have sort of experienced a small bout of this during the fall. It's usually related to illness or injury for me, but sometimes the whole "thought" of getting ready for a ride seems like too much. I'll be fine going out for a walk, a hike, or even a run, so it's not like I'm not exercising.
I am excited for the season to start, too, but I am long past setting high expectations or goals. I just want to enjoy it. I didn't ride as much as the 2 years previous last season, due to a lot of reasons... I only went on one group ride, my riding partner, Hirakukibou was off touring, and I didn't do hardly any errand rides. DH and I also took a vacation that wasn't entirely focused on cycling, too. And, I am going to boot camp twice a week.
Some of my excitement stems from the fact that I'll be looking for a job closer to home once I get fully licensed in my field, and this should be sometime in August. I hopefully, will be A) able to commute some of the time, and B) working less. My goal is 2-2.5 days a week. My current 80% time has a lot of free time during the day, but there seems to always be something I have to do, or I have to be somewhere later in the day, which precludes a longer ride. I want to start doing more farm stand runs. During the year or two I was regaining my fitness back, I probably did 5-700 miles a year on this.
My take on this is that it's a normal cycle of things, and we all need to step back once in awhile. For me, when cycling becomes something I "have" to do, or I am trying to meet some goal (miles, speed) it just ruins it for me. This is why I don't compete in anything, even though I do have a little bit of a competitive streak. I just don't have the mental toughness to maintain that level of training.

[Catrin]

I greatly appreciate all of the comments, and it does help to know that this is just part of things sometimes. I DO feel guilty passing by my Gunnar on the trainer, right now she is a large room decoration that is somewhat in the way - but I WILL get on her at some point. Perhaps tomorrow evening - today is a rest day and my shoulders are demanding it be a real one

As much as I love riding, I think there has always been something of the "MUST-HAVE-GOAL" mindset related to it. I think as I get back to it that I need to somehow remove that from the equation. I can do that for my gym work - while I've goals there it is much easier for me to leave them in the background and focus on the task at hand. Then again, I couldn't DO many of the tasks of I wasn't focusing 100% on what I am doing. Riding puts me in a different place - and I need to find someway of disconnecting that goal-oriented/somewhat OCD portion of my brain when I am riding.

[indysteel]

I can tell you how I achieved that--by taking my cycling computer off my bike and othewise not tracking miles, speed or etc. Sometimes I miss having a big mileage goal (and meeting it), tracking my progress, etc., but it was something I ended up trading off for a bit of extra sanity. Granted, some of the things that forced that change have, themselves, since changed, and it might be time to for me to revisit more specific goals and the means by which to track them, but I don't regret taking a big step back at the time. Bodies change, lives change, interests change, goals change. In my mind, strong are the flexible.

So, go with what feels good, body mind and spirit. God knows you're kicking butt with your current routine. I see no reason for you to rock that boat unless and until you're ready to.

[ny biker]

As much as I love riding, I think there has always been something of the "MUST-HAVE-GOAL" mindset related to it.

For me a goal is to ride through Lower Marlboro and stop to enjoy the scenery of the Patuxent River near that cute old customs house at least twice this year.

Another goal is to ride again down that lovely lane in Thurmont that I discovered last October. The one that ran alongside the creek.

[tealtreak]

This thread is very interesting in light of a recent conversation I had about coaching track. "In my day" the first two weeks of practice were horror- because we did not do year round conditioning. Now, the kids condition year round and often choose one sport early. Some do fabulously well, but many lose their fire, or get burnt out entirely...... A break from anything (for whatever reason) may be a good thing!

[Catrin]

I can tell you how I achieved that--by taking my cycling computer off my bike and othewise not tracking miles, speed or etc. Sometimes I miss having a big mileage goal (and meeting it), tracking my progress, etc., but it was something I ended up trading off for a bit of extra sanity. Granted, some of the things that forced that change have, themselves, since changed, and it might be time to for me to revisit more specific goals and the means by which to track them, but I don't regret taking a big step back at the time. Bodies change, lives change, interests change, goals change. In my mind, strong are the flexible.

So, go with what feels good, body mind and spirit. God knows you're kicking butt with your current routine. I see no reason for you to rock that boat unless and until you're ready to.

Good advice Indy, and that is exactly what I've been trying to do. I started the wild gym work as a way to take care of imbalances and to hopefully help prevent future bike injuries, but it became something else along the way. I WILL ride this summer, but in a different way than I've tried before. I like the idea of just simply removing my bike computer and heart rate monitor. That in and of itself changes the focus. Part of me says that I need the computer to have an idea of speed and cadence - but quite frankly I don't use it for shifting as some do. It is a way of keeping track...and probably helps to keep me in that part of my head that I need to get out of. I was pretty successful in doing that during my first riding season when I was trying to ride 10,000 miles in my first year

For me a goal is to ride through Lower Marlboro and stop to enjoy the scenery of the Patuxent River near that cute old customs house at least twice this year.

Another goal is to ride again down that lovely lane in Thurmont that I discovered last October. The one that ran alongside the creek.

Ooooh NY Biker, I LIKE your goals. Nothing wrong with changing the nature of goals

[Blueberry]

On the computer issue - I like to track mileage for lots of reasons (maintenance) and heartrate (to see how I'm doing, generally). It's often the case that I don't want to see those things on a ride, though - on those days, I put my computer somewhere I can't see it. I forget it's there 'til later, but I still have my data. Works for me, but might not work for everyone (if you're the type of person who couldn't "not look").

Just an idea!

My motivation is lesser right now too. I'm trying to build back up fitness now that my thyroid levels are some better and I feel some better. That's a very long term, discouraging thing to do - exercise just isn't fun right now at the levels I push myself to.