[Closed] have you ever lost your riding mojo?

I got back into cycling in 2000 & started off road MTB riding in 2006. I loved every minute of it getting out as much as I could. A year or so back I completely lost my riding mojo for no apparent reason, I just couldn't seem to find the motovation to go out riding always finding excuses too cold, too windy too wet etc. My lowest point was getting up one Saturday & putting all my riding kit on, sorting the bike out in the garage & just as I was about to set off the Mrs came home & I prompty put the bike away & stayed in.

I then had a serious talk with myself as to whether to continue riding or not, then I went out for a short blast with a mate & bang I found my biking mojo again & why I love riding off road.

I've recently got some lights & I'm now night riding too - ain't night riding superb I love it 🙂

i just posted my answer to the poll!
its just a question not a how good or bad you can make someone feel

Yep. My back's foooked from combination of bad posture with laptop on train, sat at a desk all day and 6 rides in two weeks on my new hardtail. Even if osteopath hadn't banned riding for a week, I wouldn't have gone out tonight. that must mean I lost my mojo.

Lost what little mojo i had on the last day of a great week with Ciclo Montana. For some reason i was riding like a complete pillock, couldn't keep a line/make a turn etc. All came to a head on the Elephants Tail descent when my vertigo got its claws in me and gave me the wobblies all the way down the cliff-side descent 😥

Not ridden off road since due to decorating but i'm out this weekend!

Mmmm, not really sure. I've always had a rest about October time right back from the days when I was racing seriously, travelling the country doing NPS, Mountain Mayhem etc and finally getting to the end of the season and just being able to chill out really helped.

I'm not MTB racing these days and a combination of things has meant I haven't ridden a MTB in months. Road riding and racing, training for the Three Peaks CX, getting back into winter track racing now, the weather being shite, the BB on the MTB being shagged has all contributed.

When I'm actually riding, I almost always love it; sure there are days when I'm rubbish and can't ride off a kerb but there are days when it all flows, the trails are dry, the weather is good and it all comes together.

Tony, this reminds me of one of my favourite Steve Bell cartoons. Don't know how to link it but it's [url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2011/apr/06/william-hague-muammar-gaddafi ]here[/url]

Sadly lost mine ATM. Buggered my back in Feb and spiralled down for a bit.

Can't seem to find motivation...

just a cold and frosty ride down some treelined singlatoo is all thats required for you metalheart.

Nobeerinthefridge - Member

I'm 36 now, and the amount of guys who I ride with who are in there 50's, coupled with some people on the likes of here and other forums who are still doing proper riding even older than that, I know I'll be riding for decades to come.

So lesson learned, find somebody to bully

Not lost my mojo but seem to have lost my legs. Had a major blow up riding about 3 weeks ago and just can't get my hill climbing going again (going uphill has always been my better direction 😕 ). It's happened before...and there were signs tonight that they might be coming back. Can't help but enjoy this warm night riding though.

Lost it after dislocating my shoulder. Dislocated it a second time and now I don't think I'll ever get it back. Especially now I only get to mountain bike every now and then 🙁 Will keep on trying though.

had a right nightmare on wednesday night left my inhaler on the kitchen table had to go back to get it everyone i was with was very cool about but from then on in couldn't find my mojo every bump was a mountain all muddy puddles were about a foot deep and sucked down my wheel all in all a nightmare but off out on sunday so i hope my mojo is waiting by the back door as normal 😀 😉

just a cold and frosty ride down some treelined singlatoo is all thats required for you metalheart.

That just might do it! As long as I don't fall off on the blue again 😳

Some dusty treelined single track in the warm sunshine (preferably in the high mountains of CO) would be even better though 😀

My mojo is fine and dandy, but my opportunities to ride are miniscule. I'm currently dragging my heavy 29er with big fat tyres the 28 mile round trip to work just to have a little play in the woods on the way home. Day four on the trot and my legs are losing their mojo!

That said a muddy uplift weekend a couple of years ago at Caersws DH kicked the ship out of my mojo. Mud is ok to a point, but when it gets that bad I would rather be warm, dry and safe at home on the sofa.

Opportunity for a cross bike purchase there Bagstard 🙂

I did consider a cross bike, have dabbled with various hybrid options, but I'm only really happy on a mountain bike. I'm used to wide bars and slack angles, so getting weight off my now rigid 29er is the way for me. I currently have a boardman hybrid with land cruisers on, but my fun route home is too much for it.

Never. I just can't find enough time to ride, sadly.

Motivation yes, mojo no.

motivation no, mojo.. yes

a couple of rides this year have been very hard work, awkward, clumsy and full of defensive manouveres.. I've been plagued with injury and health problems all year though..

time constraints have also contributed to a very erratic riding schedule so I've not been getting anywhere near enough time on the bike..

this has all left me almost obsessively hungry for more.. 😈

All came to a head on the Elephants Tail descent when my vertigo got its claws in me and gave me the wobblies all the way down the cliff-side descent

Don't beat yourself up about that , It scared me $hittless the first and the last time I rode it. 🙂

Never my biking mojo 😛

But somehow I lost my skiing mojo 😥

After having such a dry year and some fantastic riding both local and further away, my mojo is changing at the moment, but I think its down to the weather and shorter daylight hours.

I find getting ready and getting out, the hard bit at this time of year, but once out I love it and when I get home I feel so different and that I had to go out, if that makes sense?? Plus I get cranky if I dont get out in one way or another! 😉

BUT I am changing my riding habits a bit, the surface I ride on, when I go, what I do etc, also I have re-discovered my love of hill walking too, its all good stuff.........outside in the fresh air, exercise...

I see it as a positive thing to take a step back from riding and do something else (but only for a short while for me).

Its a 'mental' thing for me.....may be that's 'motivation'.

It waxes & wanes, but I never lose it 😀

My Mojo has gone a bit recently, mainly due to a bit of frustration at my own lack of bottle and loss of confidence. I've never lost my motivation through, so I have a plan to get it back and a great ride last Sunday really helped, so now I'm champing at the bit to get out there again and try some more stuff. I have my eye on a nice gap jump too so when I clear that I'll feel much better about my riding I hope. I need to MTFU a bit.

xcneil - Member

yeah went out for a zone 2 session on tue based on hrt rate zone avg watts was 228 happy with that but...

went out today same zone 2 session avg watts 212 so i'm down 16 watts at the same zone 2 session and duration (oh and yes power meter had been calibrated ) so being down wattage with a cx race on sun is not good for my mental well being

no, never, not even through injury.

al seems vulnerable today, the split from TJ and Druidh's love triangle must be taking it's toll. 😆

Yes, but its all relative as most of my friends my age (still no that old yet) look at any MTB riding in amazement. Seem to be just another bike rider now with little or no speed! Had twenty years+ without a major injury built up MOJO, built up the speed and where appropriate the height.

Then after three broken collar bones in two years, one of those falls had me in intensive for a week. So in all: too much time off work, too much impact on income, my physical state and family life - I now pootle about, mostly on a SS or 29ner. My wheels seem to cling to the ground, no drifting 🙁 and last week on a gravel to fist size stones longish dh green lane (one I used to scream down) I pick my way down maybe up to and including moments of 15mph!. I am even cautious cornering my road bike in the dry. As a courier years and years ago I slid and drifted - lent at all angles used all bits of road etc

Maybe an age thing. My reactions are slower, I definitely do not see as well or as fast (I am the only one where the lack of speed of my focus change is a factor in slowing me down?), dim light is grim -used to be fun.

Building a new bike, my third Soul (to put Soul back into my riding) and a big Troutie light and planning time with Tony so might pull a bit back.......

Still love going out but currently feels dangerously close to bike path/family trail riding.

Jedi

For a brief moment, I thought you had lost yours!!!! Nooooooooooo!

For me, no. I reckon that despite the turn to winter, I'm even more psyched for the biking. A few big mountain rides recently have opened up a whole world of possibilities for exploring that I just hadn't got round to before. Winter evenings that aren't night rides or family time are spent researching new routes on the likes of Geograph and Wlakhighlands or planning forign jaunts. Geograph is brilliant for seeing if trails that look sweet on the map are as good as I hope they will be.

Cynic- Al

Cheer up old fellow. Your legendarily cheap efforts at bodging engineering solutions always keep me amused. 😀

Sanny

After a week in the alps this summer I found it incredibly difficult to get enthusiastic about riding here

The crap summer weather didn't help

sanny, seems too long since we rolled on 26's together 🙁

The last technical thing i did on a bike was negotiate a big pothole.
It's weeks since i rode a mountain bike.

I have spells of not riding offroad which usually coincide with assignments being due at uni.

Currently miles are mostly clocking up on the pompino... and it sounds as if it's going to spit its dummy..

As for my mates..They're all slowing down/mellowing.
The big long travel bikes have been sold, the sensible xc bikes have been bought and built.
And it's a more sudate sensible one silly bike in the stable sort of affair.

So mojo.?
erm it's kinda gone to the back of the toy cupboard.

skills wise it's normally after coming off. takes half an hour if it's a tumble or a ride or two if it's a big(ish) off.

motivation i find that sometimes my drive to get out diminishes - often i want to get out but life gets in the way... 🙁

went out last night - first night ride for a month and i'm the happiest i've been in ages. 😀

Yes a little, down to working all hours and the little one (first one) meaning I have been so tired just need to sleep when I get home.
However now she's a little older it's all getting back to normal and the number of bikes is growing rapidly too 😀

Just been out again, it was warm and windy and it didnt rain. Result. I've got my riding mojo back after nearly 4 days off the bike. Thanks Jedi.

Haven't ridden my MTB in over a year...

But them I am in fairly central London, and it's become a pain (of the more time travelling than riding sort).

I do ride most days though 😉

Nope not me sometimes I think **** it and go the pub instead, but I feel great the minute I get on a bike I get depressed when off the bike for more than a week

🙂 mixing the pub and riding is a winner

Too much life happening and not enough time, left me stopping riding for about a year, where as before that I'd ride two-three times a week.Even now I've no where near the compulsion to ride as much, and it can be a real effort to motivate to get out and ride, which is a shame as when it all comes together I still love it.
Mind you when the new Grizedale Black opens that might help.............

It happens (shrugs shoulders) but comes back.

Seven weeks with no riding so far and not due to loss of mojo. 😥

Nope.

When it wasn't bikes it was skateboards.

When I'm injured, now, I just work extra hard to get back on the bike asap... one more weekend of road and I'll be back on dirt... soon enough I'll own what claimed me.

Haven't read all of the thread, but yes it's been gone for a while. Recently resurrected by finally learning to ride my Lidl uni, and enjoying riding that off-road so much that I've just splashed out on a far more expensive proper off-road muni (3" tyre and all!) Suddenly all the uninteresting bits which even a crosser couldn't make into a challenge are exciting again (just riding across a flat field is quite a challenge).

high5 southern yeti 🙂