I began riding seriously in my early teens, and did so competitively until I went to university. Then I sold my racing bike in favour of a mountain bike, which I just used on-and-off in a general, go everywhere sort of way until I was working in northern Canada in 2001. Then, after a late night watching coverage of a 24-hour competition, I realised what mountain biking could be, and I bought myself a proper one, started to train again, and fell in love with riding trails.

After that, I was UK-bound, joined MTB-Wales.com, met some guys on there to ride with (which was VERY different to riding in northern Canada!), realised how rubbish I was, started working on my PhD, stopped riding, started again, stopped again and, when I finally finished the PhD, started again in earnest.

But by then, the road had caught my eye and, when I lost my dad in 2015, I bought a road bike and started riding every day.

That lasted for a good few years, I joined a club, and even got to try the track (which I absolutely LOVED!). But then, only a few weeks afterward, on 30 October 2018, I crashed. Bad.

Anyway, the point is, even if I managed to get on the saddle a few times afterward, I haven’t re-discovered anything like my old mojo, and really struggle to even think about cycling. I have a hard time watching professional racing because of the downhill speeds, and have even lost interest in GCN (a channel I probably watched daily for four years). I am getting interested in other physical activity again, but when I say I lost all my fitness and personal motivation, I really did.

So, unless one of you knows of a legal drug I can take that will get me excited about two wheels again, I think I have to admit: My name is SaxonRider, and I am an ex-cyclist.

Ask Ton what got his mojo going again (clue: about 5 inches of soft rubber).

If you’ve heard a 20 stone man giggling with enjoyment as he rides down a track, you’ll know what I mean.

Sad times, but do what is best. Better to have loved and whatever…

Funny enough, Ton is one of the guys off here that came to visit me in hospital! If he has advice, I’ll be all ears.

Cycling seriously is the very worst kind of cycling. Cycle unseriously, it’s much betterer

Get yourself on Zwift and join the race series on here.

My background is very similar to yours (including serious crashes) and Zwift has utterly reignited my passion and enjoyment of road and racing.

To get your mojo going you need the fun factor
So get a fatbike…cycling don’t get more funner than that

You’re allowed to not feel like doing something for a while. Keep a bike for when you wake up one morning and think ‘I fancy going for a spin today’. I sure that day will come.

James, i feel for you mate. i have been very near to calling it a day a few times with health issues. but something inside me just wont give up. dont know what it is.
my heart is out of rhythm again, but even with that i have to keep on going.
cycling just makes me who i am.

Colin is right tho. i hired a fat bike in september, when up in scotland. i went for a ride with him and it was like going for my very first mtb ride all over again.
just fun. nice simple fun. i returned home and bought one within a week.
then my ticker went bad again, and i thought ‘**** it’ i have done. i put the bike up for sale.
but something made me carry on. i kept the bike and have been mostly riding it all the time now. i just love it. is is slow and heavy and noisy. a bit like me.
i have done 800 mile on it since new years day.

i think the newness of it, and the different type of bike has kept it interesting for me.
you had a bad crash. it can take some getting over. riding on the road aint fun, less so has you get older. less so if you are thinking about getting hurt.
get rid of the roadies stuff. try riding something more fun, away from traffic. ride for fun. not for the buzz of speed.

but whatever you decide, i hope it makes you happy mate. and keep well.

I’m in the same boat but less because of a loss of mojo (although I have lost that many times since I started riding seriously around 1986; I always found it again) but more because of time. Riding a bike isn’t exactly an hour in the gym and the suggestion to:

Get yourself on Zwift and join the race series on here.

…is something I tried but there’s another real issue with that and that’s the damage that this can do to your, ahem, genital vascular supply (which at this age isn’t something you really want to be adding to!)

Accept that you’re an ex-cyclist, find your mojo elsewhere and remember that life is too short to feel obliged to do anything you don’t want to do. If you find your mojo again great, if not then give yourself a pass and just be content.

Personally I got bored with cycling for several years and dropped off most other training as well but flipped back to it again. Had a year or so where I preferred road riding to offroad but that has died off.
Preferences change over time. Some disappear entirely and some go quiet and then reemerge.
Sounds like the crash put you off riding road/track seriously so why not try trail riding again but just for amusement rather than racing. Although if you have the sort of personality where you need to compete probably best sacking it off and trying some new sport.

How about a whip round to get him a used smart trainer and we can drag him onto Zwift? I feel like getting a bit more fitness in your legs would help.

My cycling has totally changed with the advent of a decent radio station and bone conducting headphones.
There’s so much leisure/gravel riding around Epsom that I can catch up on my favourite radio shows and do traffic free , non scary bike rides. No dropper post action or air just getting out and enjoying bikes and music at the same time.

I’m not so sure Zwift and indoor cycling really gets one back into love with cycling.
It is frankly boring and imho not very inspiring.

However, as mentioned a fat bike outside is great. I’d go so far as to say wait until it is warm enough to go out and not feel cold stood still, just to take the pressure off ‘needing’ to ride.

I really loved my fat bike, especially when adding a 2X chainring at the front with dinner plate rear cassette. When it is warm and dry, going out and doing 4 or 5 miles just messing about climbing stupid steep silly dirt hills and generally messing about gives a whole new concept to riding.

No real threat of disaster, unless you fall over backwards going up something too steep. I did it once and it was funny but could be scary in the wrong place.

Just a good way to ride a bike, and one regret I have is selling the fat bike.

Maybe an e-mtb could give the same feelings, although the tendency there would be to ride as normal so maybe not the relaxed effort that the low geared fat bike demands.

Your experiences on the road/and track are a small part of cycling. I totally get why you might see riding bikes as wrapped up in a journey to a bad place, and that a revisit to two wheels might seem like an inevitable repetition (I feel the same way about skitouring – not been for 4 years after a regrettable incident) but there’s loads of different ways to pedal.

Biking for me is half for the kicks of messing about, railing turns etc, but the other half is for the opportunity to get some personal space and thinky time. A bit like going for a walk, but going a bit further, seeing a bit more, getting a bit more exercise at the same time. I’ve been bimbling along, lost in thoughts about whatever my brain needs to get into, turned a quick 10 miler into a 25/30 miler with a lie in some bracken and a look at the sky. Sometimes the activity takes over because what you really need is not to think about anything for a bit.

It’s all good, all valuable, no need to turn your back on bicycles – that’d be like being put off a stroll down the river because of a steeplechase accident.

I’m not so sure Zwift and indoor cycling really gets one back into love with cycling.

Yeah I would agree. I do spin stuff over the winter when if I take the bird or whyte out its no fun being axle deep in the mud and I can almost feel the bill tick up as any vulnerable component is taken out by the sandy mud but the only point to it is keeping the fitness up so I dont waste a month or so getting my fitness back.
The crash is problematic but maybe do some mountain bike/trials skills as I do on and off over the winter to keep proper skills in play.
Although that said for someone who enjoyed track and road racing zwift might work.

It’s the middle of bloody February. No wonder people don’t feel like riding a bike. Wait till the days get warmer, the nights get lighter and then come back and tell us what you want to do.

Ok, I’ll admit I’m a bit different. It’s going to blow a gale tomorrow and I’m planning to go windsurfing in a reservoir outside Birmingham. It’ll be freezing, miserable and I’m 68. I’m only going because my mate Dick will be there and he’s 82.
Life’s not about hedonism, it’s about strong experiences.

I’ve been in the slump many times. Prior to spinal surgery I physically couldn’t ride. I then rushed back in with an over inflated sense of ability and had a massive crash at BPW. Something I really struggled to overcome mentally.

I bought a new bike but still wasn’t feeling it. It took going out for a ride with the right people that suddenly flicked a switch that needed resetting. I was now in the right place in my head to enjoy it again. I stopped riding for the wrong reasons and started to do the fun things again. It didn’t matter that I was dead last, the slowest, the lest technical, the crappiest rider that ever graced a bike. I was having fun.

Hang your bike up for a bit. Then if and when you feel like it organise a ride out with some friends that just want to go for a bimble. Nothing big, far, fast, or fancy. Just turn some pedals in a wood whilst making motorbike noises. Enjoy the escape and admire the view. Stop and have a coffee and cake, a pint and a pub lunch.

As Charlie says, “It’s not a bloody race”

A bit glib (even if heartfelt and what I honestly think) and possibly not that much help, but don’t worry about being a cyclist. Just go ride a bike.

Take a friend/partner/kid.
Take a camera.
Take a map.
Take your time.

after a big crash about 15 years ago i get an involuntary, full-body shudder whenever i see a bike crash. i can only imagine how i’d feel if my injuries had been worse.

this,

it was like going for my very first mtb ride all over again. just fun. nice simple fun.

is exactly how i felt the first time i rode my fat bike.

try a fat bike, because

Cycling seriously is the very worst kind of cycling. Cycle unseriously, it’s much betterer

Try a recumbent. And why stop at two wheels? Every ride brings a smile.

Imagine you’re my little lad. His new tyres arrived yesterday (to replace the ones he’s skidded to death). 24×2.6 skinwall – i think he’s in love.
I didn’t have time to fit them with him last night, so he had them in his bedroom to look at.
Then he brought them out to roll them across the house to show me how fast they were.

What i mean is, try to remember how amazing it was when you first rode bikes, and what made it feel so good. We all take things forgranted.

… pretty sure my neighbour had a Saxon BMX when i was about 7.

I crashed badly at BPW, then had two road crashes and another on my return to BPW. I have the fear now, tried BPW again last week, took about five runs to get out of the slump. I took the decision to keep the wheels on the ground and the speed down a bit and just have fun. BPW is great for that, just having fun. Not sure how the road will feel yet. Problem is I’m eating like I’m riding 15 hours a week.
A fat bike and a semi commute off road may we’ll be the way forward.

I agree with Ton and thestabiliser, make it fun. Get a fat bike, a Stooge or something like a Trek Stache and just ride for ridings sake. No Lycra, or Strava or Zwift. Just **** about and act like a child. Cycling should be big, dumb fun

He who has most fun, wins.

I’m fortunate enough to have a few sports. Without a doubt I go through seasons/years when I enjoy one more than the other.

I do what I enjoy – but I do recognise the shared theme in all that I do is outdoors, in nature, physical exercise* and social.

.

.

.

*NOT strava or comparative, purely get the roast on and heart rate up.

You may benefit from seeing a psychologist. I saw someone for a while after breaking my spine in a crash. I doubt how much it helped me, but my wife swears she noticed a big improvement.

I think the above advice is correct; you probably need to redefine what you want to be. I now ride when I want to, don’t get hung up on how fast I’m going. A gravel bike got me off the road much more though I still do ride on the tarmac a bit, but on really quiet routes.

A big accident is pretty sobering. Being told it’s a miracle you aren’t paralyzed is going to make anyone reassess their priorities. But 4 years later I’m enjoying riding almost as much as I did, am plotting an imminent 100 and have a trips to Majorca and the Alps planned for this year.

Wasn’t an easy journey, but for me once I formed the habit again it has been easy to stick with. Only problem is when I feel threatened on the road by some dick driver.

Good luck.

While cycle commuting a few days after turning 40 in 2013, in the spare of the moment I decided plough into a stationary rubbish collection lorry just after a blind bend, on what was a bad weather warning day. I ended up losing four teeth; loads of chipped/cracked teeth; multiple fractures to my palate; fractured metacarpals etc. The hand unit at Salisbury District Hospital did an amazing job of getting my right hand working again and giving me back a lot of movement range in my right wrist, over five weeks of intensive Mon-Fri 9-4 therapy.

I was terrrified of riding my road bike after the accident with my vulnerable head being so forward, while on my hybrid I was paranoid of being hit for some time. I stopped riding in bad weather, usually getting the bus over winter and piled on the weight to ~95Kg by summer 2016.

My Voodoo Wazoo fatbike gave me so much confidence to enjoy riding again, in 2017 I began riding for fitness in addition to commuting and bought a disc braked road bike in May that year. Got down to ~73Kg, sadly back up to ~83Kg these days after covid jab side effects and a prolonged flu in ’21, but cycling is now a bike part of my life in dealing with life stresses that often get to me. In the South Downs lanes during the summer and usually resorting to Zwift over the winter.

From 2nd November (just after flu) I began cycling everyday to try and reach my ’21 of 365 hours having hone ~20 hours behind, which I just about managed, but the daily routine of at least 30mins continued until yesterday… When I slacked off and only did 24mins! 😆

It’s the middle of bloody February.

Very much this. It’s horrid outside, and the idea of cycling (or of it being anything approaching fun) is just not happening for lots of people.

Getting going again when you’ve lost a good chunk of your fitness can be a real barrier to enjoyment. If you’re a rider who was interested in the performance side of things, you’re constantly looking at what you should be capable of and feeling disappointment rather than being in the moment and experiencing the pleasure of the ride as it is now. Easier said than done in February, mind you.

As others have said, try shifting your focus to another part of cycling – maybe something which is already slower like exploring with a loaded bike. The good news is that fitness does come back relatively quickly, although not as quickly as in your 20s and 30s!

I have a hard time watching professional racing because of the downhill speeds,

This obviously suggests you haven’t fully processed what happened in 2018, which will be another barrier to participation. Have you considered chatting to someone about what you’ve been through?

I’m not so sure Zwift and indoor cycling really gets one back into love with cycling.

Without wishing to overanalyse the OP, I think he feels depressed about having lost so much fitness and he doesn’t want to ride at a level so much lower than what he was able to do before, cos he’s quite competitive with himself. I totally get this feeling too. So I think that Zwifting would give him a bit of interest to get some fitness back and feel better about riding outdoors.

@SaxonRider in your post you mention a couple of times joining clubs and riding with other people. An often overlooked aspect of Zwift is the way it connects you with other people – if you just look at the threads on here about the race series, the weekly TTT, group rides and those doing training plans together you’ll get some idea of what I mean.

It is a bit weird at first having ‘virtual friends’, but it’s clear that for lot’s of folk this really helps with both motivation and enjoyment.

I’d give it some thought – it’s not for everyone, but it might be a useful stepping stone to getting a bit of fitness back and enjoying the banter of ‘friends’ as I’m sure you did in the past?

If you did decide to explore this option, you’ll find lots of us on here happy to help out and ride with you.

Take care

Zwift isnt the answer to everything, but I think it very much is the answer to “I used to be really fit and good at bike racing but now I’m scared to go fast in real life because of a terrible crash”

An often overlooked aspect of Zwift is the way it connects you with other people

yep, you can tell that the folk who say “Zwift is pointless/boring/not as good as TrainerRoad” don’t actually get it! Personally it’s been awesome for my motivation during the lockdowns and now (I’m very much a fair-weather cyclist these days 😃) both the events organised via here which have been really good fun, and to a lesser extent the “generic” Zwift events like Tour de Zwift etc (it’s actually pretty cool & motivating to be doing a virtual ride at the same time as literally thousands of others!)

An often overlooked aspect of Zwift is the way it connects you with other people – if you just look at the threads on here about the race series, the weekly TTT, group rides and those doing training plans together you’ll get some idea of what I mean.

Yes, and whilst real life races are full of good riders even at the bottom end, the lower ranks of Zwift really are slow, with people trying to get fit but still enjoying themselves.

I need to get to work and go shopping so I have to cycle.

Perhaps it’s time to be an ex-cyclist who still rides bikes? Ride a bike in normal clothes, to the pub with non cycling mates, use it for shopping or running errands. And when your not using the bike chuck it in the shed and forget about it.

If you find yourself riding that bit further than necessary or eyeing up an upgrade, the bug might be biting again. Or perhaps not, don’t matter

People put an inordinate amount of pressure on themselves to be able to continue enjoying things ad infinitum… Circumstances change, people change! Unless you’re actually making a living from it, in which case it would pay you to find some mojo again, don’t beat yourself up about it… A change, as they say, is as good as a rest!

Cycling seriously is the very worst kind of cycling. Cycle unseriously, it’s much betterer

Couldn’t agree more with this statement though… The people who “fall off the wagon” with cycling are the ones who’ve always taken it too seriously. People who ride purely for fun and don’t take cycling to seriously will wax and wane with it, but would never consider that they are an ex cyclist, merely that they have been less active recently than perhaps they were last year…

As others have stated though, changing things up a bit can help you find the love again… Fat Bikes are fun sure, but also not for everyone. But same could be said for Gravel Bikes, eBikes, Bromptons, Recumbents etc… Don’t go out and buy these without trying them, but by all means, give some of them a test ride first maybe, see if they do it for you.

I don’t get the Zwift thing… But then I have never had a competitive bone in my body when it comes to cycling. I ride bikes for fun… If it’s not fun, then I stop doing it. If your idea of fun is any form of competition, even with a load of randoms on the internet, then give it a go maybe. Not for me though.

Don’t beat yourself up if the answer is another hobby though… That’s perfectly acceptable. I was big into motorbikes in my early 20’s, then something just changed in me, and I stopped. Didn’t ride a motorbike for probably 12-13yrs, then in 2017 the bug bit me hard again, and I haven’t looked back! It’s difficult every Sunday when I have competing groups of friends going out and doing different activities vying for my attention (hence I have barely ridden a road bike in years now, all my cycling is MTB again pretty much), but having something to want to get up for is half the battle so in that respect, I’m winning! 😁

Perhaps it’s time to be an ex-cyclist who still rides bikes? Ride a bike in normal clothes, to the pub with non cycling mates, use it for shopping or running errands. And when your not using the bike chuck it in the shed and forget about it.

Not a bad shout at all… Most people who do this will find themselves purposefully taking the long route to the pub or the shops, sooner than later. The bug will come back eventually!

The people who “fall off the wagon” with cycling are the ones who’ve always taken it too seriously.

That’s exactly why you see so many fat ex-pros and ex-professional athletes in general.

But then I have never had a competitive bone in my body when it comes to cycling. I ride bikes for fun

For some people competition IS fun!

Also, part of our problem in Cardiff is that all the local riding that’s not in town is quite hilly, so not being fit can make it quite a chore.