I was recently talking to a friend of mine and we were discussing addiction and how cycling plays an interesting role in feeding it. You know the feeling - the weather is beautiful, you’re a little tired but you have this internal argument with yourself all day whether or not to go riding because if you don’t, the day just feels wasted. As much as I love cycling and the (euro) sensations it brings, I find the addiction comes and goes throughout the year. If I’m back home in the winter, it’s so easy to break the habit of riding all day to doing nothing. It might be a weather dependant decision since riding here is not super enjoyable in the winter - wasting 30 minutes getting ready to go out for an hour and come back not being able to feel your hands and feet isn’t my idea of a good time. I found myself doing colder rides when I first started riding but I’ve grown increasingly lazy over the years.
The other thing is consistency - we can get a foot of snow overnight and then it’s all dry in a few days. I know all the advancements with Zwift and smart trainers but I’ve tried that stuff and I even went as far as getting rollers to mix it up but I just can’t find myself doing that anymore. I don’t consider it cycling - to me, it’s exercising and that becomes a chore. I recently got my sister a wahoo snap and set it all up for Zwift and she loves it - I wish I had her enthusiasm for indoor riding. Motivation plays a big part in maintaining fitness but mine has always been guided from on the bike sensations which have been severely lacking these past few months. Once i start riding with people again and getting dropped, I'm sure it'll come back. I am starting to miss the bike as I saw it in the garage the other day and it looked rather lonely.
I’ve been back for just under 2 months and I’m proud to say I’ve done about 3 bike rides outside and a handful of very embarrassingly paced runs I put as private on Strava. This is the least active I’ve been in a long time and I don’t mind. If being locked up in Spain taught me anything, its that even if you’re eating and literally laying in bed for 48 days straight it will only take you about a month of riding to get back into somewhat decent fitness. You’re back to normal by July, you enjoy about 2 months of being lean and like most things in life, you don't appreciate it until it's gone.
The other thing is consistency - we can get a foot of snow overnight and then it’s all dry in a few days. I know all the advancements with Zwift and smart trainers but I’ve tried that stuff and I even went as far as getting rollers to mix it up but I just can’t find myself doing that anymore. I don’t consider it cycling - to me, it’s exercising and that becomes a chore. I recently got my sister a wahoo snap and set it all up for Zwift and she loves it - I wish I had her enthusiasm for indoor riding. Motivation plays a big part in maintaining fitness but mine has always been guided from on the bike sensations which have been severely lacking these past few months. Once i start riding with people again and getting dropped, I'm sure it'll come back. I am starting to miss the bike as I saw it in the garage the other day and it looked rather lonely.
I’ve been back for just under 2 months and I’m proud to say I’ve done about 3 bike rides outside and a handful of very embarrassingly paced runs I put as private on Strava. This is the least active I’ve been in a long time and I don’t mind. If being locked up in Spain taught me anything, its that even if you’re eating and literally laying in bed for 48 days straight it will only take you about a month of riding to get back into somewhat decent fitness. You’re back to normal by July, you enjoy about 2 months of being lean and like most things in life, you don't appreciate it until it's gone.
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