Losing your mojo

Aww, that's made me smile :)

I tend to find that going out without setting any sort of target can get things moving in this situation. Go on one of those adventures, leave the Garmin behind, sit up, take in the view, maybe try to have a destination for the ride rather than just a loop where you don't stop until you're back home.

If you're anything like me, that was the sort of ride which made you enjoy cycling and decide to formally train and get fitter, eventually leading to racing as motivation for training, and then racing as an end in itself. I find now, approaching my third season time trailing, and having had some success last season that the pressure seems great, which is silly because I / we got into this because we enjoyed it.

I would advise stripping it all back, forget training - I always say training is riding minus joy, and just go for a 20 miler. If you're feeling depressed about it then obviously that is easier said than done, but if you can get yourself out of the door it will almost certainly remind you why you like cycling and you'll likely pick the training up again. Hope this is some motivation.

Edit; What Skully said!

/\This/\ I had a day off the other week and bought a copy of Lost Lanes in the hope it'd inspire me to go for an afternoon adventure/explore. It arrived on Friday, went for one of the rides on Sunday. A short train journey to God knows where in Essex. Saw hardly any other cyclist, hardly any cars. Even with the evil headwind it was great being out away from everything for an afternoon and just taking my time. Took a flask of tea, some sandwiches and stopped a lot. Haven't been on the bike since but started to get the fun / freedom feeling back.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Lanes-Glorious-Southern-South-East/dp/0957157312

Lost my mojo quite a bit in the past few months, need to get it back!

Working night shift through the winter has been a real killer, along with no sleeping routine and generally eating junk and aches all over, i could barely walk properly for weeks on end, let alone ride efficiently, but started to get some better rest, the time off the bike has actually meant i can work on my bikes and they definitely have been more reliable than i have, having some nicer bikes to ride always helps

Exploring more and finding new routes usually makes me want to go out and ride again soon, i often don't plan a route other than a destination, i found riding with the cycling club was like riding with robots and just sucked all the fun out of it, so i mostly ride alone now and that's fine, finding some good music really helps to, Fat Freddies Drop is a current favorite to zone out to

i also let road rage slide now, a lot more chilled out about the whole thing as the driver is probably a complete moron and doesn't know any better, just ride around the morons

Go on a long ride that has a destination. Visit a garden or gallery or view or whatever it is that you like that's nothing to do with cycling. Go there on a bike. Ride it in whatever way takes your fancy. Fast, slow, low heart rate, walk up the hills whatever. Take sandwiches. Carry a lock. Leave your bike and do something nice. Then go home on your bike. Stop at a pub if you feel like it.

word, bro

Been doing one or two rides recently with the objective of riding a fucking long way and getting the train back home. It's kind of nice in that you don't have that inevitable 10 miles schlep back into London, and obviously that once you get more than 50km out you're on roads less familiar to your normal loops.
Another fun thing to do is book a plane to somewhere warm. Go do some early Spring mountains. Andalusia is rather lovely and is about as cheap to stay inland as anywhere.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm forcing myself to schlep to the road circuit at lea valley tonight for an hour or two, but have a long weekend off to ride next weekend so will try to go somewhere nice, bivvy in a bush and remember why I like riding.

Not enough use of "schlep" around here. Thank you.

Without meaning to quash your plans, there's nothing wrong with taking a break, especially if you've been hard at it which is what it sounds like. For me it's never such a bad thing if I can minimise my on-bike time for a week or two, since by the end of it I'll really be gagging for a ride in the sticks.

I stopped riding in about October, the dark and constant rain just didn't make me feel like riding after work. Took my summer bike apart and started collecting bits to build a winter bike to encourage me to get out there again, it never happened. I finally got a bike built this week and turned up at my usual club ride, "Mellow" pace was cancelled because not enough people turn up in winter so I went with the Mediums, struggled, realised how unfit I've got and decided to peel off and head home after less than 10 miles.
I suck! I'm now back at home feeling sorry for myself.

Struggling to get any motivation together to train for something that really doesn't matter. Had a good racing season last year, but feeling now like so what

My mojo has been gone for a year or more, due to no commuting, little time or energy left after all day parenting and just getting older and shit.

I also got my fixed bike nicked last autumn by being a dozy twat, leaving me with an uninspiring utility bike for carrying kids around and a lean mean carbon fibre machine that never got a look in. No fun bike for doing errands or little rides. Bah. Welcome to Mojo Zero.

But, I recently decided to give up drinking alcohol and have been using it as a springboard to get back into riding a bike. I bought a 2016 charge Plug (in beautiful bright pink) for just shy of £300. 'That's less than two month's booze...' thought I.

Took it out for my first ride last night and I think my mojo is rearing up and getting ready to roar. The bike fit me beautifully and was just loads of fun to ride. I need to shove a fixed sprocket on it at some point, but for now I'm riding not fettling.

Just in time for ThNRC season

ThNRC

Absolutely.

I clicked on that.

You cunt.

;)

My commute is now 5 miles, which I've decided is runnable.
I can't remember when I was on a bike properly last, ping me a text if you want to go out in Kent at night. And if you want to ride a bike as well.

Rep

Crikey, I remember when @dogsballs was the only guy on here who ran. Now everyone is at it.

Come and ride ThNRC sometime, @Chalfie. I'll be up for Roydon I think.

Desperately need my mojo back.

Had an off a couple of months back where a car pulled across me and I separated a shoulder, and all I seem to have seen since is stories of people killed/injured/assaulted whilst riding which I think has affected me. This, when combined with me getting fat and unfit hasn't helped my cycling. Work has moved from an office with showers and lockers and secure bike storage to an office with no showers or lockers and insecure bike storage. Somehow I need to get it back

In a total mojo black hole at the moment. I’ve had a really bad run since Easter where a year or so of lockdowns and looking after three young kids during the day then working all night (no more than four hours’ sleep) finally took its toll. Had a series of illnesses (basically just pure exhaustion / burnout) then a serious back injury (getting one of the little ones out of the bath, but caused by crouching over kitchen table on a little laptop for hundreds of hours a month during the lockdowns).

I’ve gone from being a competitive time triallist and FTPing around 360 to barely being able to turn a pedal and being 15kg heavier.

I know I just need to get back on the bike and start again, but I can’t seem to do it. I’ve been so consistently on the bike for so many years that I’ve always been building or tapering, but now I’ve got such a mountain to climb I can’t seem to just start. I’m so out of the habit of fitting training into the day that it now seems alien and too much (on top of kids / work etc).

Anyone got any tips that have helped for just shaking yourself out of this kind of slump? Not being on the bike is ruining my mental health, but I just can’t seem to put my kit on and get the fuck on with it.

Buy a mountain/gravel bike. If you've been fast on the road before it sucks to be slow, but going offroad gives you an excuse to be slow (and it's more fun).

When do you have time to ride? Get your kit out now and do 20min on a turbo at lunch time.

No, not later. Get it out now.

Don't make me come over there..

You could also try something different. TTs are almost dead to me now and so is riding in London so I really only do turbo now and then fuck off out of town to ride. You could just try going for a walk without the kids initially - claim back a period of time for yourself. Maybe a goal will pop into your head that will give you a spark to get training again.