a new city? didn’t know we had any new ones. 😯

surely getting out and exploring new places is part of the appeal of riding mountainbikes, no? and TBH if you can’t enjoy riding a bike on your own I’d look for another activity you do enjoy.

Ok I’ll quit cycling asap and stick the bikes on ebay. Sorry, I’m clearly not good enough.

Thought I would at least get a roadie ride in tonight, however best layed plans don’t always go to plan, the eldest son out with his m8’s so I take my youngest out to a cafe for lunch thinking that the missus will be back by 4 so I can go out, I decided to clean and check the road bike and attach my lights in readiness, then the phone goes saying she’s calling into see her mother before she comes home and we can have a takeaway curry for tea. On the plus side I get a curry and a sneaky pint at my local a few doors up from the takeaway, but I was really looking forward to a ride in the mild conditions today. 🙁

YGM Sue_W

Realman: You’ll never be good enough for this lot, didn’t you realise? 😉

I ride too much…

for the first time in 20 years my next holiday will be sensa bike!!!!

i normaly ride as much as i want
14 mile commute 5 days a week, 1 night ride and 1 ride on a weekend.
but i have not been on my bike for 2 weeks now due to illness and i am missing it very very much…. 🙁

i’ve ridden over 1000 miles more this year than last but i’d like to do more, moving to an area with a few hills and more trails soon and will be able to commute by bike more easily so that’ll add up to 100 miles a week more to the total 🙂

No where near – work is all dominating in my life atm.

yup, on the bike seven days a week and clock up around 85miles, plenty enough for me.

Kev

I get out quite a bit – 2 nights a week for 3hrs, then 4hrs Sat and Sun at the moment. I also commute 4 days a week for 1hr a day. Then there’s a gym session 1 night a week.

Job is a teacher, so I can leave at a reasonable time then do marking/planning when I get home. Fits in well. No kids either. 500m from my house and I’m off-road. Great! Road ride is easy too as the N Downs are nearby too.

GB

Only in my mind – currently stuck on the floor recovering from an L5/S1 discectomy. No riding til after xmas!

My stepson’s Type 1 diabetes has taken over my life completely at the moment so I don’t get to ride as much as I’d like to. My Spesh Enduro is on commuter duties and gets the most mileage, my brand new Wolf Ridge hasn’t been ridden in over a month…

If there is such thing as God, tomorrow would be dry, unseasonably warm and that the local trails will be free from ramblers.

Ain’t gonna happen though, I’m off to hospital where stepson is being kept for the next few days.

No.

epicyclo’s first pic is a the ruined Castle Gurich. And here are some of the worse places to ride… Again from Dingwall…




I hate the tranquility!

Yup, it’s hard up here. Jeez, I wished I lived in a city… 🙂

For those who don’t have enough time to do the things you want, I suggest you read “In Praise of Savagery” by Warwick Cairns.

(It was a free download from iTunes Store.)

Do you ride as much as you want to?
What, when working the crappy shift patterns the prison service provide us with? F***ing hardly!
If I didn’t work for this lot I’d also be instantly 2st lighter. & a whole lot less stressed.

If riding was the whole point of my life (and often I think / wish it was), then NO.

However on balance, in the context of things which are really MUCH more important – i.e. family – then a resounding YES.

When my own family life first began for me, to some degree I resented the lack of time to spend riding bikes as and when I chose.
I found it very hard to spend a lovely sunny summer weekend day with my family when I could be out on the hills.
I now acknowledge this was wrong on a number of levels.

Wrong because it is selfish to want to have the sunny summers day all to myself.

Wrong because instead of enjoying the sunny summer day with my family I was resenting it and wishing to be out on the trails instead.

Wrong because in my life I have and will have may opportunities to go out into the hills (which will always be there), but only a finite time in which to enjoy being with my family in the stage of life we are at. Kids change ever so fast – the 4 and 1 year old boys I know now will be gone in the blink of an eye to be replaced by older versions of themselves. This will be repeated until the children I have now are just memories.

I am lucky in that I can console myself with commuting every day, which is extended a couple of times a week onto the (not world class, but very good really) variety of local trails on offer, and also probably a local night ride a week too. Maybe also 6 days’ riding or so on non-local stuff too.
I have learnt to fit riding around my family, which is really the proper order of precedence?

You just have to be inventive and identify the opportunities which are available to you.

Ps. I’m also fitter / handling a bike better than I ever have been in 20+ yrs of riding – so I must be getting out a reasonable amount!

Realman,

It’s a shame you don’t like riding alone as many of us do, I am highly satisfied with the amounts I do which is a minimum of 15 hours per week and up to 25/30 hours sometimes, this is always possible because I don’t have to make arrangements with others, some of us love that feeling of isolation but it’s not for everyone.

Perhaps you could research some of the local riding clubs, see which (perhaps more than 1 even) will fit in with your life on a weekly basis, then you might be able to increase matters tenfold.

Good luck with a solution, it would be crying shame not to feed your passion to the fullest possible.

Thanks MM, I already have been looking into local clubs, and getting rides in whenever I can. 3 times a week if I’m lucky, but still not satisfied..

Working as a cycling instructor, I sometimes feel a little jaded. Yesterday I was at work so it was 5 hours on my bike riding slowly with groups of adult learners.

And if I’m feeling like that I usually do my hobby. I go out for a bike ride; most of the training I do is on roads and cycle paths. So I go for a mountainous biycle ride 😀

I do enjoy riding on my tod, but I prefer a good laugh and some companionship.

Got 2 real core mates, the three of us have similar outlooks to type and speed of riding ( as well as on the constant progression of kit, almost as important:-) ), then a load of other guys from triathletes to Sunday morning newbies. I love being with pals in so,e amazing scenery, picking up the pieces after a good off, enjoying teh view or whooping through a forest. Brilliant!

But, only really one good ride a week. We are all dads, all either full time work or full time housemen, and have competing prritites, but over the last year the Sunday morning ride has become a big fixture, something we all look forward to, with occasional cheeky evening rides ( even more of a blast now with lights. Weehee!).

Ride to commute every day also.

Long answer short – just about right in terms of normal riding, but would love to do some more big weekend epics through the year.

Kev

NO! i have been riding for over 15 years and in the bike trade for 11 years and i bought an FSR and i hate it, cant wait till feb when my Ride 2 Work is up and i can get shot of it, i dont even care about the 25% final payment, its got to go so i can get something i will ride, like a zesty,

I’ve been out 3 times………..this year 😯

I turbo quite a bit, which is more than sad 🙁

It’s 98% my fault for studying…AGAIN!