Losing your mojo

I've got to the making promises stage to myself stage, it would seem - I'll start riding and running properly over the Christmas break, and will commit to a proper duathlon plan from the 1st of Jan.

With this shred of commitment to future fitness in place I'm just going commuting at the moment.

I tried commuting by bike again today. Felt ok-ish on the way to work; had a mini-meltdown on the way home and am currently on a train - still wearing my helmet, like my own personal dunce hat of shame.

Maybe I need a cargo bike.

Borrow a mountain bike? I used mine for a bit after a collarbone induced break to get back into things, it worked a treat. Or a Brompton, so if you need to bail and get a train you can look smug and like you planned to be on a train all along.

I may have missed this in the chatter, but why are you putting yourself through this?
The getting over things you're scared of by facing them requires a bit of help from someone who can help you manage the brain response bit.

I haven't ridden my gazelle in... actually I've forgotten how long. Ooh yeah I remember it was 5th Nov cos of all the fireworks when I went to collect stuff from Fox. Since then I've ridden my tank MTB twice, extremely slowly, to the train station. This morning I'm going to walk there instead. I've also seemingly put on a typical season (not the racing/training kind, the, er, seasonal kind) of winter fat already and we've not even got to the usual stay-home-stuff-face bit yet...

Meh.

That's a good idea. We are a 2 brompton household so I could do that, even though I absolutely hate riding them. Last time I borrowed one I ended up with a little crowd of people around me outside my office, amazed at the magic folding bike (how have so many people never seen a brompton before?).

Why? ... I guess I am worried that if I don't keep trying then I will never do it ever again, it will become an actual THING rather than just some stupid irrational worry that I've developed.

Why? ... I guess I am worried that if I don't keep trying then I will never do it ever again, it will become an actual THING rather than just some stupid irrational worry that I've developed.

Also what's worrying me. In my case I seem to have developed this fear over running too, and basic strength training. It scares the shit out of me that I might end up in a situation where these anxieties continue to spill over and out and into all these other areas of my life where they will have a lasting, damaging effect on my mental and physical well-being. Ugh.

I think, and I'm not a clinical psychologist or an expert in those matters, but that worry may be precipitating the other worry. I think, and again I am not a real expert, that it might be beneficial to ride in a park to get back into it. What if you took a brompton on the tube and rode around Hyde Park?
Anyway, I don't want to profess to expertise (or bang on, or sound like superior voice of MALENESS)it just sounds like you might be making it a bit harder for yourself. For whatever reason, it's not fun on the bike at the moment. And forcing it to be fun won't help it be fun.

Though, obviously for me, actually forcing it and trying to do some work on the bike might offset the mince pie transfusion i seem to be undertaking.

I find that only cycling when commuting for a long period of time can get me miffed a bit. It can become just another way to get to work, instead of a fun way to start and end the working day.

This is magnified now because its shit outside. It's not the cold/rain that makes it worse, but it's cycling in the dark constantly that gives me bad vibes.

Dark in the morning, dark at night, five days a week. I'm living a nocturnal life.

My eyes are glued to the road in front of scanning for potholes I cant see any more, meaning I'm spending less time looking around at traffic to reassure my self. I also don't have any time to enjoy the sights, It's harder to judge other peoples speed, it's harder for people to see me/judge my speed and because my brain has to work twice as hard to do all of these things that are easier in daylight, I can be narked some evenings by the time I get home.

It's important for me to get out on the weekend in the daylight and play around a bit to reassure my self. Open it all the way up on a stretch of road my brain would consciously limit me on if it was dark, remind myself that I can have lots of fun on the bike safely.

Maybe going for a casual ride/jog on the weekend would be a good idea instead of doing it to go to work in the dark? Relaxed pace, bring a mate. Make it a thing, give it a destination, so it's not all about the ride, like to an awesome cake shop, or one of those cat cafés (YAY!).

Edit: TL;DR cycling is shitter in the dark but its not always obvious, it can negatively effect you subconsciously.

fatty

Not only am I eating all the pies, I got told off for eating all the mincemeat out the jar spread on all the biscuits... And then she buys a cheese board....

Edit: TL;DR cycling is shitter in the dark but its not always obvious, it can negatively effect you subconsciously.

Heh. I wish it were just that, but I've been this way all through the summer too, and it's just been getting worse over time. This time last year I was coming off a glorious season of centuries every weekend and had been having the time of my life on the bike. Can't even imagine doing that now, even the thought of riding a mile to the shops and back on Sunday morning seems like a major undertaking.

It's hard to tell what's wrong, and I've had 12 months to cast about for reasons - maybe it's from the time I got left-hooked by that woman! Maybe it's because I was ill and spent a month unable to move! Maybe it's because I'm a feeble weakling now and I'm ashamed of myself! I can come up with a new reason almost every time I care to think about the 'why' and it feels like that's exactly what I do. Perhaps in the end it's a combination of all those things, and perhaps they're all just rationalisations on top of something else I haven't dug out yet.

Either way, I wish it'd fuck the fuck off, whatever it is.

I think it's a troughs and crests thing, the passion is always there like it is for music and reading ( for me )but sometimes you don't do either for weeks or months but the passions always there and always comes back. When you scratch that itch - it's really good . I haven't even got a bike at the moment, slike somethings been amputated.

Like the idea of mixing up with different bikes, occasionally I ride the tandem. Which has it's own dangers.

Even had time to kill in central London yesterday and tried to do a few laps of regents park, and discovered that the mix of the dark and stupid cyclists meant I ended up get to my destination early. Even managed to get clipped by motorists that were overtaking me to 'pull in' to get round cars turning right. One Jewish chap was very apologetic and I just asked why he pulled in on me and said he just didn't see me. The other just carried on going. Both on the same stretch of road from Regents park to swiss cottage.

But for a bit I have a two stroke supermoto to use and is a bike I have to wear padded shorts under clothes as the seat is for the mono buttocked. Find that the motorbike helps sharpen up my senses, look at the whole road and not just what is going on infront.

People do hire cargo bikes and they can be quite fun to ride.

Fuck that was lucky, heal up quickly.

Heh. I wish it were just that, but I've been this way all through the summer too, and it's just been getting worse over time.

Ohh, ok :(

I don't know what else to say really.

I hope you fall back in love with the bike sometime.

Thank you. Me too. Also, death to cars!

Haha. When most of us in London (who isn't a tradesperson or delivery driver) realise that we can all get to work a lot quicker if we jumped on a bike, got good at it and left the car at home then cars in the city centre will be a thing of the past.

One day.

Imagine what the calling out thread would be like.

Day off today so went out around town and ran a few errands on the polo bike... Bloody daft bike choice but it was really nice to be out and about on a bike again... Lovely day for it... 9/10

It was so windy in Glasgow that the seagulls were dropping dead in front of me and flying cardboard boxes replaced them in the sky that almost konked me square in the face. Cue much grumbling from the Gruber.

winter cycling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Mojo well and truly lost. Got it back and now the fucking weather is stopping me getting out.

weather today in glasgow has me like