suggestions for fun training?

1) Join a cycling club, or at least find some other people to ride with. It's tougher to skip a ride if you know people are going to give you a hard time about it later. Even just having someone to talk to makes long rides go by more quickly.

2) Find some reasons to ride other than just riding. I used to ride with a group that would plan many of its routes around points of historical interest and good places to get pancakes. Having some kind of destination will keep you from wondering why you just spent four hours riding in a circle.

artmichalek said:

1) Join a cycling club, or at least find some other people to ride with. It's tougher to skip a ride if you know people are going to give you a hard time about it later. Even just having someone to talk to makes long rides go by more quickly.

2) Find some reasons to ride other than just riding. I used to ride with a group that would plan many of its routes around points of historical interest and good places to get pancakes. Having some kind of destination will keep you from wondering why you just spent four hours riding in a circle.

Those are both great ideas and I will try to work with them! Thanks! I keep thinking that I should start riding to places (like class and work), but still haven't figured out how to carry all of my stuff or lock up my bike! But as gas prices rise there is greater economical pressure since filling up my trucks tank is costing $60/week.

serendipity said:

Has anyone ever heard of Sarah Reinertsen? She was the 1st femal amputee to finish the Kona Ironman last year. Anyway, I am a female amputee as well and know that if she can do it, so can I. However, my cycling times are horrendous. I am a runner at heart. And I can swim decently. But I have a hard time with the bike portion of the race. I get bored. Is that normal? I just can't get motivated to go out for long rides. Does anyone have suggestions for some fun training programs? I know that I just need to get out on my bike more! If you've got ideas I'd love to hear them! When I finish Kona I'll be thanking you!! I know, big incentive to post! lol 🙂

Honestly, don't think of it as training. I race a lot, but I view my training as my break/out from the world. It gives me time to just be by myself and test myself. Or, if you are with some friends, working together for a common goal. Also, as childish as this sounds, play out scenarios in your head. Pretend you are in a break away group. Pretend it's a sprint to the finish etc etc. Plus, once you start getting in better shape on the bike, you enjoy it more.

Yes, training takes tremendous dedication and motivation, but, most importantly, you want to have fun with it. As sick as it sounds, I love hurting myself up hills and sprinting until I can't feel anything. It's fun!

As long as your prove something to yourself, it's amazing. (Sorry last remark is a little off topic, but it's true and I'm in a awesome mood)

suggestions for fun training?

are you mad?

training isnt meant to be fun, its like Mathematics and Classical Music, its boring for a reason..

i dont know what that reason is but i aint Einstien or Mozart, thats for sure...

MountainPro said:

suggestions for fun training?

are you mad?

training isnt meant to be fun, its like Mathematics and Classical Music, its boring for a reason..

i dont know what that reason is but i aint Einstien or Mozart, thats for sure...

I always knew I was wierd but I love maths, I look forward to doing my training rides and I listen to classical music more than any other type of music!

Apparently I was a freak when I was a baby. Maybe there was some lasting damage.

MichaelB said:

I always knew I was wierd but I love maths, I look forward to doing my training rides and I listen to classical music more than any other type of music!

Apparently I was a freak when I was a baby. Maybe there was some lasting damage.

man, you're weird....maths are you sure..?

now the image in your avatar is finally making sense...😄

i remember i picked up a book that was entitled 'maths is fun'
i thought finnnnallly, a book that combines excessive drinking or [censored] or football with maths..

man, was i about to be disappointed!

instead of adding numbers like 123, it added bananas and giraffes.

no no no no no NO NO NO!!!

this isnt fun, so i took it back to the shop and complained..

the [censored] said it was aged 4+
i said, thats fine....i'm 34

no she said, its basically for 4 and 5 year olds...

now, correct me if i am wrong, but how many 4 and 5 years old wants to learn maths? i mean, when was the last time your kid said 'daddy, whats the transfer coefficient function for that partial differential equation where x = 5 and y = -3' ?

eh? never i bet..

so let that be a lesson to us all...you'll save £4.99

nah, maths isnt fun....naperian logatithms isnt fun, trust me....statistics isnt fun and nether is calculus...not unless your maths teacher was Kylie.

MountainPro said:

i remember i picked up a book that was entitled 'maths is fun'
i thought finnnnallly, a book that combines excessive drinking or [censored] or football with maths..

man, was i about to be disappointed!

You were disappointed because you weren't drinking excessively enough. Adding up bananas is only entertaining when you're listening to Motorhead and slugging bourbon out of the bottle. Back to the topic of training, Motorhead helps, but the whiskey is best saved for post ride recovery.

serendipity,
On the days that I feel like going out to eat or organizing my rock collection instead of riding...I take a look at my bike and think of how much cash I have into it. I go in the house and put my bike gear on and I am off. I hav found that if I work out directly after work/school I tend to stick with it longer. If I sit around and eat dinner first I am less likely to go for a ride later in the evening. Maybe try riding in the a.m.?

artmichalek said:

2) Find some reasons to ride other than just riding. I used to ride with a group that would plan many of its routes around points of historical interest and good places to get pancakes. Having some kind of destination will keep you from wondering why you just spent four hours riding in a circle.

this is good, maths aside, i like a bit of photography. i like to get up into the hills to take photos of the remote and wild landscapes. This is great for getting me out of my bed on a lazy sunday morning to caputre the sunrise.

serendipity said:

Has anyone ever heard of Sarah Reinertsen? She was the 1st femal amputee to finish the Kona Ironman last year. Anyway, I am a female amputee as well and know that if she can do it, so can I. However, my cycling times are horrendous. I am a runner at heart. And I can swim decently. But I have a hard time with the bike portion of the race. I get bored. Is that normal? I just can't get motivated to go out for long rides. Does anyone have suggestions for some fun training programs? I know that I just need to get out on my bike more! If you've got ideas I'd love to hear them! When I finish Kona I'll be thanking you!! I know, big incentive to post! lol 🙂

You should try long hill climbs. The pain of climbing lets you forget how long you've been on your bike. Plus you can keep your heart rate at 80% of your max without even trying. Good luck.

fury4 said:

serendipity,
On the days that I feel like going out to eat or organizing my rock collection instead of riding...I take a look at my bike and think of how much cash I have into it. I go in the house and put my bike gear on and I am off. I hav found that if I work out directly after work/school I tend to stick with it longer. If I sit around and eat dinner first I am less likely to go for a ride later in the evening. Maybe try riding in the a.m.?

lucky for me, i dont have a rock collection to get distracted by and as for going out to eat...i don't have the money. So I have no excuses or distractions and my bike is probably the most expensive that I own. I'll keep that in mind on the days that I don't want to ride; especially on rainy, cloudy days. Those are the worst! The best feeling is coming back from a long ride though. So that settles it. In order to come back I have to go out! I think I'll start once a week and go from there!

BIKE&ME said:

You should try long hill climbs. The pain of climbing lets you forget how long you've been on your bike. Plus you can keep your heart rate at 80% of your max without even trying. Good luck.

That sounds absolutely awful.

But thanks.

Maybe one day down the road when I'm up for extreme punishment I'll try it out. And then plan to not run, ride or walk for about a week. 🙂

MountainPro said:

suggestions for fun training?

are you mad?

training isnt meant to be fun, its like Mathematics and Classical Music, its boring for a reason..

i dont know what that reason is but i aint Einstien or Mozart, thats for sure...

🙂

Maybe you're right. The training's not fun, but the results are! I can outlift and outrun most of the guys that go to my gym. Wait, I go to Duke. Maybe that doesn't mean all that much anyway!

i am just fooling around...training is worth all the effort as you say..

serendipity said:

🙂

Maybe you're right. The training's not fun, but the results are! I can outlift and outrun most of the guys that go to my gym. Wait, I go to Duke. Maybe that doesn't mean all that much anyway!

MountainPro said:

this isnt fun...

True adding stuff up is not fun. However figuring out how stuff works by modelling it mathematically is fascinating. Its a shame you have to learn the dull adding stuff up bit first.

Working through a maths problem and getting it right is quite satisfying though.

MichaelB said:

True adding stuff up is not fun. However figuring out how stuff works by modelling it mathematically is fascinating. Its a shame you have to learn the dull adding stuff up bit first.

Working through a maths problem and getting it right is quite satisfying though.

maybe the problem is that i never get the right answer.

or i just find more fun things to do. like going out. or for a run. or even for a bike. because a bike ride sounds like more fun than doing math.

🙂