Or do you think the enjoyment will wear off at some point? I am seriously condsidering jacking it all in after 10 years of riding, the buzz has completely gone. I guess other folk have gone through a similar situation, what did you do? I guess if you are still on STW you managed to rekindle the love affair somehow?

i hope so…. although i’ve just got to the ten year mark of having dreadlocks and i think i might cut them off tonight, so who knows!

i will most likely be in a wheelchair in 10 years, that might be a problem 🙁 but i’ll get one of those wheelchair type bikes and then people will feel guilty about mocking my un-awesome skilllzz

unless physical disability prevents it then yes.

depends what type of riding you do now, maybe start doing something different to keep it fresh.

10years? You noob! 😛

by all means pack it in if you’re not enjoying it but I’d suggest holding onto your bike til next summer as you never know 😉

getting a buzz again is pretty straightforward, learn a new skill, push your boundaries or try new riding spots (having a good bunch of mates to ride with will help too)

I’m not a cyclist, they’re fit, drink energy drinks and talk cycling. I ride my bikes for pleasure, not to save the world.
I’ve done it since I was 5, 36 now, no need to stop. Unless I physically can’t.

The village vicar still rides a bike aged 85. He’s as fit as a fiddle. I intend to do the same.

That’s because you didn’t come out riding last weekend Mark!

It’s difficult when you work with bikes too I reckon, that can spoil your enjoyment. If you don’t want to ride, don’t force yourself, it’s unlikely to help. Don’t go selling all your kit though, wait until there’s a nice day and you’re really in the mood.

I have been MTB’ing since I was 11 and when I went to college/uni I had a couple of years out on the sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll bus but without the sex 🙁

And I started mountain biking again in 2002 and never looked back. And to this day I still say MTB saved my life, I was to off the rails at one point and ended up in hospital. I had just stared going MTBing again and was enjoying it I just gave up the bad crap and was happy again and thing was on the up (and still are)

Saying that I did have a couple of weeks a while back where i lost my mojo, but it just come back on a nice sunny day when I was riding on my own.

Now I am planning some great adventures. My advice would be go and ride somewhere different…

Faded away from biking – mountain biking in particular – for about 10 years. Got into other things – kayaking, dogs, photography, motorbikes, getting married – but my trusty Klein stayed in the shed and I dusted it down 3 years ago and got back into it in a big way.

Now more passionate about it than ever. No doubt it will fade again when something else comes along but I know it will always be there.

We were going through some photo’s last night as it is my parents 50th anniversary. Came across me as a teenager in a full skin suit ready to do my first time trial.

Over the 30+ intervening years I have always been a cyclist – sometimes not riding much, sometimes riding loads. I am 46 now would look very silly in a skin suit but in my heart I know that in another 30 years I will still be a cyclist.

You either are or you’re not – simple.

One day if I can no longer stand the rigours of mountain biking I will go back to sitting on a chair at the river fishing. I’ll always have a bike but it’s mountain biking that does it for me and not other types of riding.

Does being a cyclist mean you actually ride a bicyle? I reckon that even if you can’t physically ride a bike anymore you can still be a cyclist if you still have that desire for all things cycling. In which case my answer to your question is probaly Yes.

My interest in MTBing does go up and down a bit but the 3 times a week pre work cycles and usual weekend blast help keep the enthusiasm going.

We did a year in London in 2004/5 – didn’t use our bikes once. Just felt it was too risky (we were in the Docklands) both for safety and theft. Moved to Bristol and used them every day.

As soon as I can afford a car – the bike is going to the tip

peasant transport, that’s all it is

Worked in a bike shop when I left school and an ex headmaster used to pop in everyday on his 30/40 mile ride for a brew and a chat.

He was aged 75 and still loved looking at all the new kit and discussing the local race scene etc and was fit as a fiddle, he is my inspiration mind I have lost my mojo at the moment but planning on a ride this Sunday

Yes, I do. But only time will tell.

I hope so,though sometimes it can be hard to get motivated.
Although when I’ve had time off t’bike I didn’t even lurk on singletrack.
Now i loath losing what little fitness I have, so that also spurs me on.
You know that feeling when you’re climbing a hill after 3 months off the bike? – horrible.

Have a couple of weeks off.
Then go somewhere you love riding.
ride with different/some people
Don’t sell your bike.

Hope so, I commute, do a bit of off road and some road racing; and enjoy them all in their own way. Cycling fits in well with my life overall, and I think it helps that I am so sad, that I can even walk past my ratty commuter in my hall and think ‘mmmmm, lovely bikes!’ 😳

I’ve have always ridden/owned bikes throughout my life, can’t see that changing unless my legs fall off

Have been riding mtbs in some shape or form since the early 90s. I used to live and breathe it, raced etc….

Took a job in the trade and to be honest working with bikes all the time kinda killed the ‘buzz’ for me. I now ride maybe twice a month as opposed to the 4-5 times a week I was doing 5 years ago. I’m happy with that, and would never sell my bike but rather than a mountainbiker I now sort of see myself as more of an outdoors type of person, with climbing and walking taking up a fair bit of the time that bikes used to occupy.

I’d like to think that I’ll always ride a bike, but then again ten years ago I’d have thought I’d never give up racing.

Maybe you need MORE BIKES.

Seriously though, either have a bit of time off (new pastime for a bit?) or get yourself out in some new hills.

I think I’ll always be a cyclist, but it definitely ebbs and flows. This year i’ve done hardly any cycling apart from the daily commute, and I imagine the next year or so may be similar, but at some stage the itch will come back and need to be scratched again.

At 33 ive been obsessed with bikes since about 13 when i got my 1st real mtb, The red Kona cindercone. Had a couple of years out when i passed my driving test then got back in to it again. In the last 10 years ive had a go at most disciplines and now just have the Mtb and cross bike. Nowadays though i just commute daily and maybe the odd mtb ride every other month. Still love buying new bits though and i am doing up an old kona lava dome to Singlespeed.
At the moment i tend to run for fun and Weekends are spent doing running races be it fast road stuff or hard fell or just long runs for training and getting out.
I think i will always own a bike. Although i consider myself more of a runner than a cyclist at the moment, but that could change again tomorrow!

I hope so, mtb really turned my health around. Getting really sick of cycling on the roads though, too many cars.

My eyesight precludes me from driving so the bicycle is my primary means of transport. I’ve not ridden for fun much in the past few years after becoming a dad twice and not having the time, energy or money to spend on myself. I’ve kept commuting by bike however and it’s kept me in the loop so to speak. I don’t anticipate ever stopping riding in one form or other.

Now things are calmer on the home front and the money/time thing is swinging back my way I’ll be back on it in a big way. The enforced layoff made me realise how much I need to ride, and especially for pleasure.

Bikes are such a massive part of my life that I hope I will be one of those wizened old buggers in their 80’s you see pottering about every Sunday on a club run. Not long to go now then…

I’ll always be a mountain biker in my head. I was forced to have 3 years off the bike, and even then every time I saw a trail/path/rocky outcrop/etc/etc I would be imagining riding down it.
Couldn’t wait to get out again.

The area helps – living on the edge of the Peak District makes it easy to find fun trails.

Commuted for 23 years, enthusiasm for the other stuff does come and go a bit.

Yes.

Depends how this thread goes I guess

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/getting-back-on-the-bike-after-injury-break

Mark, last time you said this you came for a ride in the peaks and the passion was reignited! Maybe some new trails again?

You’ll have to prise my bike from my cold dead hands/feet.

I find toning it down or even just giving yourself a year’s break helps.

I got rather disillusioned with cycling about 4 years ago and totally shifted my focus to become a more casual cyclist- I commuted, but I rarely rode for pleasure. I did this for about a year and came back really invigorated and I’ve cycled more in the last 3 1/2 years alone than in the preceding 10 years.

You are right Pook. Was that really 8 months ago?

I’ll stop when I grow up.