When does the "is it worth it" feeling disappear ?

Mikey23

The downside of spending so much time on the drops is I now have a kind of frozen wrist which means changing gear is quite tricky... I'm just a big wuss

VTech

I've struggled with my knees hitting my belly when on the drops.

cougie

If you have two bad rides in a row - take a break - you may be overdoing things.

Two stone should be easy to lose - just watch what you eat. If your portions are too big then you'll never lose weight.

navrig

For me, the issue is avoiding taking too long a break from exercise whether that be cycling or running or something else. I thrive on the endorphins exercising generates.

If I take too long a break then that "is it worth it" feeling comes and I talk myself out of doing anything.

Again for me, the trick seems to be to keep doing, avoid injury, avoid the cold (eat well, lots of vit C, lots of water) and find people to exercise with and committ to dates/times.

marylogic

If you want to go for a group ride but are bothered about pace Audax have 50 and 60 km rides and the minimum pace is 15kph usually. The other option would be to see if there are any CTC groups nearby. A ctc membership is a good idea for the insurance and campaigning they do and the groups go at a more human pace. You can then get used to riding in a group and enjoy the cycling without worrying about the speed.

I found the sportives that I have entered slightly stressful because of worries about keeping my speed up. Even though my husband was completely broken on sunday during our audax, we still managed to limp home in time and it was much more enjoyable because of this.

marcusjb

TakeTurns wrote:

The mind gives up long before the body.

Unless you're an audaxer......

No, we all have those days when it just doesn't feel worth it. It's been a long hard winter weatherwise, so personally, I have had many "is it worth it" moments. But, now the summer is coming (certainly felt like it this weekend!), it is worth it. There's nothing better than riding a bike through fantastic countryside when the weather's great.

As many others said, don't worry about speed - just keep at it. It does get easier, and you do get faster.

Camcycle1974

VTech wrote:

I'm gonna try and get out tommorow then it's spin class Wednesday so I'm not giving up just yet

Can you commute on the bike? 3 days a week commute on an empty stomach should help get the weight down. Fasting in the morning is a great way of shedding weight and keeping it off. Dinner night before, ride to work. no breakfast then a good (but healthy) lunch will see the weight disappear very quickly. Don't give up, you will find it much easier if you drop the weight though. Good luck.

goonz

Try imagining waking up on a Monday morning, dark grey skies and rain pelting down and cold and knowing that you need to get on the bike and cycle through that to work.

That's a 'Is it worth it' moment. Not this.

VTech

goonz wrote:

Try imagining waking up on a Monday morning, dark grey skies and rain pelting down and cold and knowing that you need to get on the bike and cycle through that to work.

That's a 'Is it worth it' moment. Not this.

Id jump in the car or take the helicopter.

keef66

Well I returned to riding a road bike nearly 6 years ago at the age of 50. Only recently did I get the feeling that I was getting somewhere. Not in terms of average speed; that reached a plateau at 14.6 mph quite soon, so I've stopped checking. More in terms of knowing I can do 40 miles at a brisk pace with just a bottle of water or squash, and still be up for an afternoon gardening and a long dog walk. Or on those rare occasions I get out for the day that I can manage 70 or 80 miles in a more leisurely fashion, and feel no discomfort the day after. 5 years ago 20 miles was an achievement!

Don't rely solely on cycling for serious weight loss unless you commute a reasonable distance daily. 2 or 3 rides a week will make little difference if you're still eating too much of the wrong stuff. Serious fork control is the answer!

DavidJB

We all have crap rides every now and then mate.

I train 15 hours a week + commuting I'd say 5% of rides are horrible over a year. Just get back on the bike the next day. Makes you appreciate the good days even more.

the playing mantis

who cares about speed. speed is dangerous! just take things long and slow, its always the best. use cycling to explore new places if you lack motivation, you see so much more of places you nthought you knew when cycling rather than driving. put in a bit of effort till your out of puff on the inclines, but take it at a comfortbale pace for the rest of the ride. fitness itself will come. speed is a misnomer. put the hours in, not worrying about time/speed and the rest will fall into place in time. i am reconsidering my approach, as i cannot keep upright...i have been blinded by pb's and av speeds over my courses...its pointless, as mentioned by someone else it detracts from the joy of riding a bike out in the countryside (plus for me its dangerous!!)...im just going to take it easy and enjoy it for what it is, especially as the weather become more clement.

VTech

Just to be clear, im not looking at speed because I long to be much quicker, it was just to be able to be on a par with friends who I could then ride with making the whole cycling scenario more pleasurable.

the playing mantis

thats surely one and the same. its a paradox, you have to have one to acheive the other. its abit occams razor. to go fast you must get fit. to have joy you have to get fast. to get fit to must go faster. fundamentally there is a simple hypothesis.

its tricky. you want to cycle to lose weight, but dont enjoy it. to enjoy it more you would like to ride with friends. bt to ride with friends you must ride more to get up to speed. but you dont like riding on your own much.

can you not find someone more you pace to ride with, get another out of shape friend to join u until you get up to speed with ur other m8s?, or maybe if you have kids, get them involved as they may be more your pace?

VTech

I go to spin class wih a mate and am eagerly trying to get him to cycle with me.
I do enjoy it more than when I started. I'm sure once fitness progresses ill be much happier.