I need help

hfidgen

I need help! I simply cannot cycle for pleasure any more. Every time I get on the road, as soon as I see other cyclists I start racing them (in my head).

No matter what I'm wearing, and on what bike, I'll put in whatever effort it takes to try and overtake and scalp them even if it means I end up soaking in sweat and with a crying scared child in the seat behind me.

Even relaxed potters on a Boris bike lead to all out spinning duels with other Boris bikes.

This aint right, where has the pleasure and fun gone from just being in the wind and sunshine? :shock:

EKE_38BPM

You're FCN 4. Its always 'not a race'. That is the fun.

MTFU and accept it.

hfidgen

I've seen Victoria Pendleton on the Sky Rides volutarily letting people get in front of her. If she can do it - why can't SCRs

Even the times where I state to myself "Don't race, the sun is out, just get there and enjoy it" some guy ends up jumping a light and I can't help it. It's a bit like a cat with a piece of string or a greyhound faced with a electric rabbit..

veronese68

I'd be extremely averse to passing Victoria Pendleton. Maybe she lets them pass because she can hear them drooling.

t4tomo

Its a hard urge to resist. I had to really go for it last night to stop a roadie latching onto my brompton slip stream on the short incline from the station back to home. I managed to keep him at a distance of 5-10 yard until I swung off home, but I couldn't completely drop the beggar.

raymondo60

I have that bug too - its a sub-concious thing. I don't outwardly feel like I have to compete with everyone - but if someone goes past me, or even tails me, on the road, I'm off!, Even when commuting! Recently I dragged raced a guy from Morden one-way system all the way down the A24 to the Ewell Bypass; just could not shake him off. It's not the first time its happened either. I do manage to ride for 'pleasure' only, but that's usually on a towpath/country path ride. On the road, it has to be serious!

UndercoverElephant

You're in the wrong place if you want help with that one, sonny. :roll:

clarkey cat

with a electric rabbit..

go on....

Wrath Rob

Ride with a club. You'll ride with a bunch of people at the same pace for a few hours, no racing (unless you do the training ride) and then when you get back on the road by yourself you can let fly with your legs of steel.

spasypaddy

yeah what rob says, start riding with people that make you blow out your arse just to keep up. you'll soon learn to potter to work to save your energy!

Rich158

I'd take it a stage further and go racing.....................on second thoughts try a club run first, they'll soon give you a proper working over

I used to be like you, and to a certain extent still am when I hit Jamaica road, then I started racing at Hillingdon/Crystal Palace/Hogg Hill and soon learnt what dishing out pain was all about, especially when you're on the receiving end

spasypaddy

haha poor Rich. hes faster than he lets on.

sketchley

You should try racing all the people in the spin class at the gym because your bike is broken, doesn't matter how hard I tried I could get passed any of them.

fallingoff

hfidgen wrote:

I need help! I simply cannot cycle for pleasure any more. Every time I get on the road, as soon as I see other cyclists I start racing them (in my head).

:shock:

Same... :oops: I found that if I took a "slower" friend out who was just starting out then I didn't "need" to prove anything and I don't care who passes me/us,the same when I take my daughter out..I still get tempted on my own but I find that at a constant pace other riders are far and few between on or off road anyway..btw I'm no speed demon.. :oops:

Confusedboy

It's a culural, Brit, thing. We are so competitive and insecure (the two things are in a co-dependent relationship) that we feel our manhood threatened by anyone who is faster than us. This would never happen in Holland where everyone rides at 8 mph on neanderthal bikes hewn from collapsed stars if thier weight is anything to go by.

Do you, you ask yourself, want your speed and effort to be determined by some knuckle dragger who is going faster than you. And it knowses the answer, doesn't it, my precious, oh yes, it knowses.....