Motivate me!

neilo23

How do you guys motivate youselves to train? When I started I used to motivate myself imagining (and believing: I was young) that I was going to win the Tour. As soon as I realised that wasn't going to happen and that even being a pro was a distant dream, I lost a lot of interest and stopped riding for a few years. When I resumed I simply enjoyed riding my bike and set myself the goal of riding all of the mountains near to where I lived. The problem is that I also enjoy going out, partying too much until I stop this and have a "fit phase", riding all the time until my next "party phase". I would like to have fewer party phases and more fit phases, but I find it hard to motivate myself as I will never be the talented cyclist I used to dream of. Sometimes I just don't see the point of training and would rather be sitting in a beer garden. How can I change this point of view?

Percy Vera

Set goals

Bronzie

I'm too old and boring to have party phases anymore (actually not sure I ever had one :? )

But yes, you need to have an ultimate goal that is not going to be impossible to achieve but is still a worthwhile challenge.

softlad

neilo23 wrote:

Sometimes I just don't see the point of training and would rather be sitting in a beer garden. How can I change this point of view?

there's no point training unless you are training for something. Otherwise, jut ride it when you feel like it.....

neilo23

I tend to go through extremes. It's all or nothing with me. I love riding my bike and am planning to go somewhere nice and warm with the bike next year, probably Italy, and would love to be fit enough to enjoy (enjoy?) suffering in the mountains. I've also told myself that I'm not going to spend money buying my dream bike until I have at least 2 months of good behaviour behind me. These are basically my goals. Problem is that I have a pub and the temptaion to "enjoy" myself is always there. I find the drunks at 4 in the morning intolerable without a bit of what makes them so 'orrible. Basically I want to have my cake and eat it although that can't really work out.

chill123

get yourself entered into a hard race or sportive so you have a goal/target to train for.

when slogging it out on the turbo trainer repeat the following to yourself...

"pain is weakness leaving the body".

rdt

TBH, if you're in your 20s, I'd probably stick to the beer garden and other social stuff. Let's face it, you'll not be pulling much totty on a bike.

Once you start showing signs of wear and tear (and pies and beers) sometime in your 30s, and have maybe settled down a bit, then return to cycling to regain both your freedom and the sight of your (now rarely used) tackle without leaning forward. Until then, adieu!

amaferanga

Why not try some racing? You'll either be competitive in which case you'll find motivation in the fact that you can win or you'll struggle / get dropped, in which case you'll be motivated to train harder so you can stick with the bunch and compete for placings.

Save the partying for winter or just grow up a bit.

Bozman

Push yourself a little bit and over time your drive gets stronger and you find getting out on your bike easier, if you don't like the idea of clubs and sportives. just work out a few routes over different distances or mountains in your case and fit them in to your life, your "goal" will be the clock and your waistband(fitness), and as your times drop your drive will increase.
I started cycling to keep my weight down and fitness up, i ate well, drank loads of fluids during the week and got hammered with my mates at the weekend. I still enjoy a few beers with my mates a couple of times a wk and eat a little crap food when i want it, but i cycle 5 days a wk - some days i cycle just 10 miles, other days 50miles but i do try to average 18-20mph when i do get out.
If you have a beano with your mates on friday, get out on your bike on the saturday or sunday, enjoy cycling but don't let it rule life.

dmch2

I use endomondo.com and set myself the challenge of doing 1000 before christmas (starting late summer). It tracks where i've been, other people joined the challenge and it keeps me going by giving a meaning to each ride.

ut_och_cykla

Perhaps - shock horror - cycling is not for you? Sounds like there is a lot of compulsiveness and winner instict in you - not able to get out
Setting a goal or challenge might help but I bet you'll revert to party mode immediatley afterwards. Racing or soem kind might be teh answer.
Or perhaps you need to think longer term - do you really want your first heart attack or some horrid liver disease before you're 50?
If you let moderate daily exercise become a good habit that you can sustain even in party phase this might be better than current set up. And when you're in exercise phase give it all you've got. teh fact you've posed a question here means you are a bit concerned - experiment a bit and find what really motivates you - perhaps olympic stle power lifting is really your forté (goodness what have I said? )

Steve_F

Just keep cycling when you feel like it for enjoyment and keep enjoying the partying too.

If you keep the fitness up then when you decide the party lifestyle is not as enjoyable any more you'll be ready with the bike.

If you try to change the lifestyle you're currently enjoying you'll just end up resenting the bike.

tlw1

when not earn the beer, ie, for each pint you have to cycle 10 miles. 10 pint night = 100 miles that week

The main thing is to enjoy what you are doing

springtide9

softlad wrote:

there's no point training unless you are training for something. Otherwise, jut ride it when you feel like it.....

As people have stated about setting goals (as well as the above), unless you have a goal in mind then you are just riding for fun.

Riding for fun shouldn't be seen as a problem. And riding to achieve a specific goal shouldn't be seen as a hardship (it should be fun).

It's just about your priorities and how you decide to enjoy life, be it with a specific goal that you want to achieve, riding for fun and not worrying about late nights and beer, or somewhere in between.

neilo23

Thanks for your comments. I've been riding for over 20 years now, including a 2 year period in which I was training for, on average, 4 hours a day. Now that I have a bar I obviously can't do that. I am indeed a time crunched cyclist. By pure coincidence I was chatting to a punter last night. He was born with one leg and was telling me about his love of cycling. Without the influence of alcohol we arranged to meet up and ride together with the ultimate goal of doing the Jeantex Transalp next year, raising money for the part of Africa that he comes from. I told him about this post and he laughed and told me that if that didn't motivate me nothing would.

ride_whenever

race, race everything you see. If there is nothing around race yourself.

Just because you cannot be a pro doesn't mean you can grab yourself a national medal...