Is it time to just ride?

[ancker]

Know the feeling. I started getting interested in wheels - especially how you build them yourself. So many exciting aspekts of this.

1) you will aquire knowlidge that very few have, wheelbuilding is a lost art/craft
2) you will be able to build wheels to your own exact needs and looks and weight
3) you will be able to fix wheels without having to go to LBS
4) all of the above will save you a great deal of money
5) you will be able to build wheels out of other People’s binned parts like hubs or rims
6) sourcing parts and Reading reviews about the noumerous parts out there will keep you busy for a long time
7) finally you will feel a great satisfaction with riding stuff you built yourself

I have sold all my factory wheels. I only ride wheels, that I’ve built myself, and I have wheels for all purposes - i little how girls have shoes for all purposes

I've kind of done this. Spent a few days building up Boyd Altamonts with DT hubs. Wife asked why I was building a wheelset, I said because it wash cheaper and I've done literally everything else you can do to a bike and needed a new challenge. Kinda jonesing to build a deep carbon disc wheelset, but I hate stressing over whether I'm buying the right length spokes, etc. TBH, I'm still a little terrified that the wheels I just built are going to explode under me...

[LionelB]

At some point it got out of hands for me with 16 bikes, 3 or 4 of them being ridden regularly and the others hardly ever. Ridiculous really, but well, it happened. I am down to 7 (including 2 MTB) and without any steel bike left.... (Even sold the Sachs, which I think I will regret but that happened too),

I am certainly at the point where I know exactly what I like and want and most of the new "innovation" is of no interest. Still getting 12s EPS asap because 53/39 and 11-32 will actually be useful for what I do.

[Campervan]

sometimes it's nice to just go and ride. I have a steel frame/carbon fork bike, full carbon both with mechanical gears, rim brakes, I also have an aero bike with discs and di2. Sometimes I love to just go out and enjoy the nice weather and a nice ride.

[ancker]

I hit this hard last year. I built three bikes in the span of like 18 months. Light Cannondale SS Evo, Fast Aero Allez Sprint, and a fun Chinese Gravel Bike. All have eTap, all have decent parts. I'm kind of itching to build a aero disc road bike, but I keep talking myself out of it. I even bought a truing stand and built my first wheelset (see above post). Anyway, when it came time for Christmas/Birthday I couldn't come up with a single thing I needed or even wanted. I have it all. It was sort of a weird feeling to have. There was literally nothing that would spark joy or get me excited.

Fast forward a couple months. I sat starting at my Training Peaks calendar. I had a 12 week training plan set perfectly to have me tapering into our spring training camp but I just wasn't feeling it. Intervals were no fun. Riding at all wasn't fun. Not in the "not fun because it hurts" kind of way either. I decided to re-evaluate everything. I deleted the training plan and made my own with just lots of base and some VO2 stuff sprinkled in. I committed to not browsing bike parts, I hid the Facebook Swapmeet groups, I just focussed on completing each workout. Looking at my diet as well, but that's always more difficult. I decided to just ride (with some structure) and see what happened.

Fast forward 4 weeks. I'm killing my workouts, even riding 10 hours a week (all on the trainer right now), which is 3-4 more than I was doing before. I'm excited to get on each day. I have some fun targets I'm loosely shooting for. X hours/week for Y weeks. Biggest TSS/month ever. Mini-camps where I ride a _lot_ over a couple days, then rest day. The biggest thing is that it's making me feel stronger, which in turn helps with motivation, which helps with enjoying things bike related.

I'm not sure I have point in all of this. Just a confirmation that what you're feeling happens. So yeah, go 'just ride' for a while and see how it goes.

[AJS914]

Buying, collecting, constantly shopping is some kind of sickness. I'm not sure if there is an actual name. I've seen friends do it with cars, guns, baseball cards, you name it.

One thing that broke me of it with regards to bikes was when I finally was able to afford a fully top of the line bike - 20 years ago. It was a Litespeed Ti with full Record carbon 10 speed. That was it. There was nothing more to lust for or upgrade.

The other thing that broke this was that I raced for 7 years. I found my genetic limit. I was never going to be a cat 1 or a pro. Now at 52 years old I'm seriously training again and trying to be as fast as I can be but I know that a new $10K aero bike or the fanciest $2K wheelset won't really help me much.

Since that Litespeed, of course, I've bought new bikes but I'm not so crazy about it. I still like looking at new parts but I usually apply a deep value filter to my purchases. For example, I just don't think any wheelset is worth $2000. The benefit, if any, over a $600 chinese wheelset or an $1000 budget wheelset is almost non-existent for me.

[none]

Right tool for the right job..
My daily commute involve getting the bike onto commuter trains, so I ride a compact folding bike for my daily commute.

On the weekend I enjoy different types of riding, motorized and human powered, road, time trial, centuries, mountain, downhill, recumbent, observed trials or just in the neighborhood cruising, each need a different type of bicycle or motorcycle.

My wife knows that cycling is a big part of my life when we were dating.
She doesn't even ask how many bikes I have, just comes along when she feels like it.
Happy wife, happy life.

[bilwit]

Now i just feel it is up to me to ride and keep getting stronger. And that is ok, because that is what i enjoy most... but... the bike nerd in me is a bit sad. The learning part of the hobby is dying a bit... or is at least out of the “everything is new and awesome, look at this cool data” honeymoon phase.

Kit is one thing, fitness is another. If you are truly data-driven/inspired, then getting into structured interval training and obsessing over your power profile is the obvious next step.

[RocketRacing]

Kit is one thing, fitness is another. If you are truly data-driven/inspired, then getting into structured interval training and obsessing over your power profile is the obvious next step.

That is 100% where i am now. It is all about riding more to increase ftp. When those gains start to plateau, i will train for more power. But right now my training is more “fun”. There are always low intensity social rides, combined with more intensive solo rides. Currently every thursday i do an all out climb up the zwift alps, pushing my ftp.

To address other coments, agree on varied riding. I have a fatbike with studded tires for snow/ice riding, a cx bike for gravel, and a xc bike for mountain. Plus a dedicated trainer for bad weather and days when i am short on time. Tt or aero of some form is next.

[silvalis]

Haha. My buddy just did. Singlespeed also. (In his credit he has always been a singlespeed guy)

I think it goes like this:

1. Get affordable bike
2. Learn a crap ton. Upgrade to midrange bike. Discover strava segments. Feel like a biking god.
3. Get a “throw the credit card out the window” bike. Spend too much reading about gear online.
4. Realize you are a small fish, and you have the perfect bike.
5. Just ride bikes
6. Get a retro style steel bike to feel young/hip again (paying top dollar for a bike not much better/faster than your first bike... but now you are cool)
7. Resist all progress in bike tech from this point on. (Example: people who still think campy 10 speed is the best groupo ever... and use it till death).

I think you missed a few between 6 and 7
- Get a vintage lugged steel bike. Dress it up in modern stuff then realise it's a bit bendy.
- Decide that you want a modern steel bike. Get a midrange bike (which happens to cost double your previous 'midrange' bike)
- Delve into the world of custom steel bikes. Spend $10k on a frame.
- Rinse and repeat for titanium

[bikeboy1tr]

I got into cycling because when racing dirt bikes at the time everyone was doing some form of crosstraining. I started with mountain then to road and finally the moto took a backseat for racing and my focus was roadracing the bici. I know I will never be a cat 1 or 2 for that matter but I still enjoy specific training on the bici even though I give up racing 7 years ago. I have 5 high end bikes, one is a winter beater but has trickle down parts on it. I just purchased the V2R and have put some nice parts on it and its just about complete but rideable now. At heart I am a tech weenie and still learning and searching for info.
One of the biggest motivators for me is having good fitness and keeping weight off. I have Hypothyroidism and when I ride and train on the bici I feel instant ly refreshed afterwards and for the rest of the day. All my brothers and sister abused alcohol and drugs but my brothers kicked it and have hobbies too but my sisters didnt and one passed away and the other still struggles. I dont do drugs and I drink casually. Whenever I think to myself, why do I do this to myself I always remember, I feel better, I like being fit, it keeps me off drugs, and I will always be a two wheel fanatic. Its not often I look at my bikes and think I need something different because I am happy with what I have. Now if only the snow would go so I can put away the winter beater and ride my new bike dammit.

[RocketRacing]

I started cycling for fitness racing cars. It was a huge help in the car. Then i crashed, got injured... but i have continued the cycling.

[bikeboy1tr]

Its amazing how many athletes use cycling as crosstraining for thier sport. Many of the Moto GP, Moto Cross and Supercross riders use it as training tool.

[robertbb]

I'm one of those people that think 2015+ Campy C/R/SR 11 is the perfect groupset and will use it till death.

[peted76]

What you're doing is 'striving' for the next best, biggest, baddest, improvement, be that your bikes or now yourself. But striving IMO can be finite, you can't keep it up forever, soon enough you'll get tired of striving to increase your ftp, it'll crush you when you see it plateau or go down and once that happens you chip away at the enjoyment aspect of what you're doing. Having goals keeps your 'strive motivation' strong. Having a perspective of why you're 'really' doing something will help keep things fun.
But hey, unless you're planning a career as a pro-cyclist, it sounds like it is just time for you to 'just ride'.. get out there, do something different and reconnect with what it's like to be free on a bike.

[RocketRacing]

Being type a, cycling was a tool for fitness for another persuit (car racing), but it wnded up being fun in it’s own right. It was also social, and good for health. And it tickled a “gear head/engineer” interest.

As the novelty of the gear wears off, the type a focus switches to self improvement. That will plateau and eventually start to decline.

then the rider is in a steady state hobby. They know what they want (for gear), they accept their limits, and they do it because they enjoy it.

I am still in the self improvement phase.