[Cory]

It's midwinter around here, 35 degrees or lower, dark by 5:30 (I know that's nothing to you Midwesterners, but it's cold for me). I try to grind out enough miles, between the gym and the road, that I won't be at a dead stop in April, and I wait for spring.
But last weekend I was down in California and it was 67 degrees and sunny, and I just got on the bike and went for a random ride for a couple of hours. I didn't think about intensity or my pulse rate or intervals or whether I should climb the hill instead of going around and stopping at the coffee place to read the Sunday paper, and it was GREAT.
I know I've blown the whole season, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

 

[bill]

every Friday, my club does a mellow hour, hour and a half ride. we do it in the early am (6:30), so we sometimes face dark and a little bit of chill (here in Northern Virginia), but we ride easy, and talk, and it's great. my favorite ride of the week.
some guys squeeze in a couple of jumps, if they're racing the next day, but the point is mostly to have a nice ride and watch the sun come up over the Potomac.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope you at least wore a helmet.

 

[Steve-O]

Not too bad right now...

It's midwinter around here, 35 degrees or lower, dark by 5:30 (I know that's nothing to you Midwesterners, but it's cold for me). I try to grind out enough miles, between the gym and the road, that I won't be at a dead stop in April, and I wait for spring.
But last weekend I was down in California and it was 67 degrees and sunny, and I just got on the bike and went for a random ride for a couple of hours. I didn't think about intensity or my pulse rate or intervals or whether I should climb the hill instead of going around and stopping at the coffee place to read the Sunday paper, and it was GREAT.
I know I've blown the whole season, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

Cory... The weather is all perception... With the right clothes riding isn't so bad right now. I'm up to about 150 miles outside in Reno for the month but all of that is riding to work. Probably the most fun I've had for the month was bombing through the snow THIS MORNING... Broke out the MTB and had a ball riding some trails and back roads to work (Bartley Ranch area)...

 

[rwbadley]

It's midwinter around here, 35 degrees or lower, dark by 5:30 (I know that's nothing to you Midwesterners, but it's cold for me). I try to grind out enough miles, between the gym and the road, that I won't be at a dead stop in April, and I wait for spring.
But last weekend I was down in California and it was 67 degrees and sunny, and I just got on the bike and went for a random ride for a couple of hours. I didn't think about intensity or my pulse rate or intervals or whether I should climb the hill instead of going around and stopping at the coffee place to read the Sunday paper, and it was GREAT.
I know I've blown the whole season, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

Ride for fun? what a foreign concept ;-)

ps: I'm really looking forward to riding for fun sometime soon when my workload clears out, SD oughtta be great....

 

[Oldteen]

It's midwinter around here, 35 degrees or lower, dark by 5:30 (I know that's nothing to you Midwesterners, but it's cold for me). I try to grind out enough miles, between the gym and the road, that I won't be at a dead stop in April, and I wait for spring.
But last weekend I was down in California and it was 67 degrees and sunny, and I just got on the bike and went for a random ride for a couple of hours. I didn't think about intensity or my pulse rate or intervals or whether I should climb the hill instead of going around and stopping at the coffee place to read the Sunday paper, and it was GREAT.
I know I've blown the whole season, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

I did the same thing while visiting relatives in Phoenix a couple years ago. Borrowed a relative's hybrid one afternoon & just took off riding. Enjoying the scenery. Unfortunately, I blew a tire on one of the canal access roads. No spare tube. Had a 3+ mile hike-a-bike home. Still enjoyed that afternoon WAY more than alot of rides.

Best thing to take on any ride is a smile!!!

 

[CNY rider]

This thread reminds me of a frustrating conversation I had a on a club ride in October.

First a little background: I ride about 3000 miles a year, some commuting, mostly solo riding. We've had a local club trying to get off the ground for the past year, without much success.
For the amount of riding I do, I'm pretty slow. It's all hills here, and on a 40 mile ride (solo) I'll average maybe 16 mph.

The club is *supposed* to have fast rides on Tuesday, and a more casual ride on Thursdays. We don't have many experienced leaders though, so Thursday often would end up as this never-ending accelerating paceline, as all us novices would get up front and just ride harder and harder, with the stronger members eventually blowing everyone apart. The leaders seemed unable or uninterested in taking control and holding the pace down. So what happened? Many riders stopped coming, uncomfortable with the pace, and absolutely NO new riders would come. For a club that was trying to take flight, that was death. The club really fell apart. A couple of guys kept an email list going and would still send out an occasional email for a group ride.

I went on a ride in October after getting a mail that said something like "25 mile ride, moderate casual pace." Sure. Next thing I know we're riding 24 mph into a 20 mph headwind and as usual I am flailing to stay with the group. So I tried talking to one of the leaders, suggesting this was the sort of thing that really killed the club. His response was, well, if we don't ride this fast and hard, how will we keep up our training, or some such nonsense. When I brought up the idea that some people might want to join just for fun, it was like an idea from Mars. He then said we could do rides targeting a certain % of max heart rate, if that's what I wanted. No, I again explained, we want to cultivate fun, especially for new riders. Completely blank response.

Oh well.. Hope you guy and gals keep having fun out there!

 

[Oldteen]

I've been on those kind of "casual" rides! Most of the time I can find a few other like-minded cyclists who form a slower pack & let the hammerheads break away. Funny thing is, in urban areas the slower pack often catches them at the next stoplight.

 

[Howzitbroke]

Is there another reason? I mean get real folks. I we were going to compete at any serious level we would have been blowing people away "playing" in high school.
Shawn Alexander played football in my neighborhood and it was obvious he was from another planet. 300 yard 4 TD Friday nights were normal. I ran in high school and college on sheer hard work and very little talent. We had a kid in high school who in his first 5k cross contry race (The freshman regional chamionship) finished second wearing soccer cleats after falling off a wooden bridge in the rain. His first day of track the next year he broke an 8 year old school record for the 400m by 3 seconds running a 50.2 in practice. Over the next two years he got that down to 48 and won state. It really didn't take much effort for him. Her ran a 1:51 half mile too. I could be psychotically serious yet still power less against real talent. I ran a 55 and 1:58 in college. (I was better at 5k) Fact of life, I guess it taught me to have fun and not beat myself up because I was putting in as many quality miles as any guy I ever ran against.

 

[terry b]

I only ride for fun. If I started training, I'd stop riding. No interest in a structured approach, miles and mind-clearing is all that I require from riding.

 

[Dave Hickey]

I only ride for fun. If I started training, I'd stop riding. No interest in a structured approach, miles and mind-clearing is all that I require from riding.

Ditto. Once I started riding for fun, my yearly mileage increased too... I am happy on my bike.

 

[Jared]

I agree with TB and Dhickey , I tried training and it takes the fun out cycling. Racing is not for me.

 

[rogger]

Yes, IMO cycling *is* for fun, let's just unload the stress and sometimes that means riding hard and sometimes it's going wherever the road takes you. Leave the stress at the workplace.

 

[Oldteen]

I do a little MTB racing & train on my road bike to make that club racing more enjoyable. As long as I finish a bit off the bottom- I'm happy. Training also lets the road take me a little farther when I'm touring.
Pedal time- It's all good!

 

[CarbonFrame]

Envious of those out in the cold??

Well, My riding has been non exsistent for the last few months. I have been a slave of the treadmill and stairmaster...like a mouse in his wheel. I was taking my daughters to basketball this morning and came upon a group ride. It was 22 degrees outside.( I usually quit when the temps get to about 30). I must say they it sure looked like they were enjoying themselves. I wished I were riding too...even @ 22 degrees. April is near...Maybe March!!

 

[stevee]

Sitting bolt upright on a three speed with full fenders. Don't get off the saddle or u might break something...Thats what fun is!

 

[mikeman]

It's midwinter around here, 35 degrees or lower, dark by 5:30 (I know that's nothing to you Midwesterners, but it's cold for me). I try to grind out enough miles, between the gym and the road, that I won't be at a dead stop in April, and I wait for spring.
But last weekend I was down in California and it was 67 degrees and sunny, and I just got on the bike and went for a random ride for a couple of hours. I didn't think about intensity or my pulse rate or intervals or whether I should climb the hill instead of going around and stopping at the coffee place to read the Sunday paper, and it was GREAT.
I know I've blown the whole season, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

Einstein's Theory of Cycling = if you ain't having fun riding then you must be doing something wrong. Always ride for fun. If you don't, you soon won't be riding at all. If it's not fun what's the point. It reminds me of the guys who talk about the best place to ride while on a ride. It is always somewhere other than where we are at the time of the discussion. My personal theory is the best place to ride is where I happen to be at the moment, because last time I checked I can only ride in one place at a time. Some may pine away for greener pastures, as for me in the immortal words of Tom Simpson "put me back on my bike".

 

[Dinosaur]

That's the way it should be..

I'm retired and cycling is more-less a life style. I started to ride again after I retired, 7 years ago. I used to log everything in after my rides. Time/distance/average speed and so on. It got to be a grind. Now I just get on my bike and go out with no real plans in my head, I try to put in at least a certain distance every day. What happened is my mileage went up when I took the fun approach.

Right now I am recovering from a hip fracture and I will be off my bike for about 5 or 6 months. I found that life goes on without cycling, but it is very hard. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that sooner or later I will be back out there again (and having fun while doing it)......

 

[KonaMan]

30+ straight days of rain in the NW

Well, My riding has been non exsistent for the last few months. I have been a slave of the treadmill and stairmaster...like a mouse in his wheel. I was taking my daughters to basketball this morning and came upon a group ride. It was 22 degrees outside.( I usually quit when the temps get to about 30). I must say they it sure looked like they were enjoying themselves. I wished I were riding too...even @ 22 degrees. April is near...Maybe March!!

I just look out the windows at work and from home thinking maybe tomorrow it won't be monsooning when I want to try and ride. My indoor trainer is getting one hell of a workout this year though...