Advice with regaining fitness and having a severe lack of motivation

[bilwit]

My next step now is to imrpove my climbing or my sustainable power, as the ride I signed up for had ALOT of constant double digit gradient climbs, whch I have not ridden on very much, which I think is what finally did me in. It is a totally different experience for me coming from flat as a tack Melbourne, to where I am now.

I am still running standard 53/39 cranks but I opted for a 11-30t cassette which is as big as I could go without changing anything else. Would the next step be to move to a Compact crank or should I try to increase my fitness level first with my current setup? I am not sure how to move forward in the best way.

Just use what you need, when you need it. If it were me, I would have switched to a compact + 11-30 just for the event (or similar special occassions), knowing that it was more about surviving and finishing. For every day use that setup is not necessary. If you're training properly, your gearing is largely irrelevant unless you spend every day in the mountains while being sorely undergeared.

FYI 53/36 11-30 gets you about the same bailout as a 50/34 11-28 so that's something worth considering trying out before shelling out a lot of cash (guys like Bardet and Contador have used this combination on occasion in Grand Tours)

[AeroObsessive]

Long post ahead, just a prior warning!....

To echo others, and add my 2 cents.

Motivation cannot be forced or found. It's there or it's not. When it's not, forcing an activity or training will feel like a chore, and nothing kills a fun activity like cycling more than making it chore.

When motivation is high, training is fun. I pretty much hung up the hoops for 3 years, took a break, did a hike, worked on my BJJ, lifted things etc. Then one morning I woke up and *wanted* to go for a ride at 5am.

I like riding with cold hard data. (Re)starting I knew exactly where I was, not quite rock bottom, but pretty low. But that works for me. I don't need to hide the facts or have my ego stroked. The sharp sting of achievements past either spurn you forwards or cause you to stop. Your choice.

One "new" addition to the mix is Zwift. I didn't think "racing" in simulation would really be anything special, but I have found it an excellent proxy in leiu of real racing. Not too many TTs in my area and Zwift is close enough to keep spurring on further effort.

Find out what you want to *do*, and the rest will follow.

[wheelsONfire]

Wanting to bump this thread up rather than starting a new topic, as I suppose my latest reply is more of an update in a way!
My motivation has increased dramatically and I feel like I have regained what I had lost recently, so thanks for the supportive replies!

I recently had a bright idea of signing up for a one-day ride around my area, you could choose from 5 different lengths, the most difficutl being 230km w/4,200m climbing. I thought it would be interesting to just sign up for the longest length just to have a crack and see how far I get before I implode, as I have not done much climbing training, aside from local climbs that I know I can haul my ass up.

To get to the point, the ride was on Sunday and I royally blew up at the 160km mark and just under 3,000m of climbing. I decided to not make things worse as I had gone further than I thought I would and went home.

My next step now is to imrpove my climbing or my sustainable power, as the ride I signed up for had ALOT of constant double digit gradient climbs, whch I have not ridden on very much, which I think is what finally did me in. It is a totally different experience for me coming from flat as a tack Melbourne, to where I am now.

I am still running standard 53/39 cranks but I opted for a 11-30t cassette which is as big as I could go without changing anything else. Would the next step be to move to a Compact crank or should I try to increase my fitness level first with my current setup? I am not sure how to move forward in the best way.

Best way to quit all "training" is to make it heavy on the head and pressure. If not "fun" is part of your daydream, but instead pressure and oh no, that's too much today, then i think you're killing it!

[tarmackev]

No strava, no computer, no forums. Put all that to one side and just ride. Go old school and see if you actually enjoy it.

If you must recored data then keep the computer in your back pocket.

Do roads and lanes you'd never normally do. Dont even think about speed or looking fast. Set yourself a rough time and explore.

This generally works for me.

[dim]

buy a new bike but make sure that you max your credit card .... even if it means feeding the wife and kids beans on toast for a week

that will make you pedal more and pedal faster

[Leviathan]

buy a new bike but make sure that you max your credit card .... even if it means feeding the wife and kids beans on toast for a week

that will make you pedal more and pedal faster

this. x1000

[fastezzie]

Doing 2 or 3 fun, challenging events spread through the season is what keeps me on my bike year after year. I've done Mountain bike (XC, marathon, 24 hour), Road, Cyclocross, Gravel, a cross country bike packing race, Hill climbs. This year I'm going to try a time trial. If it was just the same events every time I'd have burned out by now. Change is good.
Having said that I think bike commuting is my favorite form of cycling since it actually uses the bike for transportation, and feels great.

[BitGid]

A lot of people are here trying to help you get back into the competition. That's cool, that's great if you do. I just want to add a different perspective, that this coin has another side. What do you get at the end from all this? What do you get if you let it go? We all have different answers to these.
my website

[Patb095]

as winter weather is still hanging around and I am not quite used to it, as it is much different to Melbourne weather.

I completed my first commute to work last week, and loved it. I had to ride in total darkness for about 2 hrs, which I was unfamiliar with, but enjoyed it none-the-less.

Welcome to the North don’t worry about it. The sun time is something we all miss being in a Northern country. You just need to reorganized your bicycling schedule through the year. What you feel is totally normal. All things being equal is that you will be able to catch up on summer as the sun will stay up longer... which is awesome. So find a way to hang in winter and catch up on summer.

Here during winter sun on the shorter days goes down at 3:30 and longest days in summer it is going down at 10pm ( very fun).

The sun is providing you vital vitamins and missing daylight is playing on your mind. (Depression).

You need to embrace winter and find complementary activity you enjoy too.



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