Losing your mojo

Also, what you doing with these bad boys? Go jump some curbs...
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16216101/

Yeah have done a bit of pootling here and there on the mtb but my joy on those bikes comes from jumping / park riding and with my back still being pretty delicate I’ve had to just stick to rolling around and not really doing anything nuts.

I think I just need someone to come round and slap me.

rolling around and not really doing anything nuts.

I have no option when it comes to that stuff. I've always been shithouse off-road and my "airtime" will only ever refer to my oxygen levels and nothing to do with dirt jumps.

How far away are you? I'm a great motivator... just ask my missus. :D

Yeah, could try banging some spds on the hard tail and go for a long slow ride. I’ve never really used mtbs for that (more downhill / jumping) so might be a good change of pace

Have you got the kit out yet? I'm not fucking joking..

Harpenden (Herts). Please feel free to drop by at 6am with a megaphone. Would be greatly appreciated.

No! I’ve got meetings for the next few hours, then the dentist, then pick the kids up, then feed, bath and get them to bed, then do another million hours of work. Shit excuses I know.

The nature of my wife’s job means she’s basically MIA from 8am - 10pm and so I’m trying to do a seriously demanding job myself and do all the childcare.

What work do you do? Just fuck it off for an hour.

Can you get someone to look after kids for a bit? Or are they old enough to lock them in a room with a Nintendo or some shit?

If I was so pressed for time it'd either be early turbo sessions (close to home, easier to manage) or I'd start running (close to home and can do a lot in a short amount of time).

I’m so out of the habit of fitting training into the day that it now seems alien and too much

This plus your back issue is quite familiar to me, minus the kids. I got into something resembling a routing by starting small, really small. We're talking any kind of exercise, however small, whenever I could. 2 minutes between Zoom meetings? few bodyweight squats and some press ups. Just taking advantage of little bits of time wherever I could and just forcing myself to move, in any way, reminded me that I like any kind of exercise, feeling sore muscles and being out of breath, it's good for me and I need it!

Before long I was managing 20 minutes of exercise before jumping in the shower, now I appreciate you'll say 'i don't have 20 mins, kids will be climbing all over me, etc.;' but it's just what got me doing something after a long period of nothingness. The trigger benefits of doing even tiny bits of exercise gave me the kick up the arse to make it a priority.

Be kind to your back, having chronic back issues is an absolute fucker.

I'd start running (close to home and can do a lot in a short amount of time)

This is what I'm resigned too.

Anyone want to buy some bikes?

I’m trying to do a seriously demanding job myself and do all the childcare.

Sack one of these off or pay someone to look after the children so that you can do things for yourself that you need to do. If your wife is MIA between 8am and 10pm every day she will be earning mega bucks - enough to afford childcare.

If she isn't then you need to start asking some uncomfortable questions about what the two of you are doing.

I hit a slump last year and took up Bicycle Tag of Bike. Short bursts on different roads, chasing a short term target, seeing different areas, bit of a mental challenge.

took up Bicycle Tag of Bike.

Yes, this!

BToB is really the only kind of fun cycling I ever do now. Easily one of my fav bits of the forum.

Maybe you can replicate a similar "mission driven" thing in and around where you live....

Yeah the mission idea is a good one. I wanted to put some races in the diary but I think the pressure of that and how far off race pace I am would make that counterproductive.

Losing the cycling commute has been a huge part of all this I think. Used to be out every day come rain / snow / shine. I think I’ve just become a bit soft and the commute time has just been filled with increasing work demands (as it has for a lot of people as everyone knows you’re at home and ‘available’).

VeloViewer tile bagging can be a good motivator too

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/322846/

@Ottomanotter I'm in a similar boat, but with less family committments.
Lost it with burnout in August, have completely lost it, gained weight, got lazy, no joy from cycling or running or the gym.
Its a shit time to try and regain the love. Here's hoping you get back on it!

As with everything it’s more complicated than that. I’m very much the breadwinner but she sacrificed a fair bit when the kids were born etc so it’s her turn to be career focused and build things back up. The difference is that she was solely looking after the kids back then, whereas I’m now doing that and working.

We had a brilliant nanny for a bit but she went on maternity leave about six months ago which has made life incredibly difficult again.

All first world problems, but ones that I think will put me in an early grave at this rate.

In short, I just want time to ride my bike but my whole world has slowly, almost without me noticing over the last few years, become one where that is the one thing I never have time for.

@lowbrows cheers - good to know I’m not the only one stuck in a rut. Hope you shake yourself out of it too!

Once you get to the point where you haven't ridden for a really long time, you start to wonder why it ever seemed like a good idea in the first place. I saw a roadie out in the pissing rain and cold yesterday and thought 'I am never doing that again'.

Yeah I used to think nothing of going out for hours in the driving rain and cold. I’d like to get back to that mentality though. Just need a kick up the arse and Marry Poppins to come round and sort my shit out at home.

Always. Whatchu got? :)

Become unavailable.

I was doing that in first lockdown. It's not healthy. I've slipped back a bit so I need to try harder to down tools on time. Work life balance innit. You should be working to live not just living to work.