if you had done a sport for years, and loved it to bits for the enjoyment and freedom it gave you,
then through illness, you were unable to do it without some form of assistance.

would you feel wrong/guilty carrying on doing the sport/pastime?

No and neither should you.

What a strange question

Why would you feel guilty?

*awaits fish pie*

+1 for glupton1976

No, get cracking ton. In fact, I’d feel guilty if I didn’t try and keep doing it.

Are you trying to justify that electric fat bike to yourself? 😉

Have you got your crack seen to yet ? Warranty job ?

after being a competative sports man for years and finding some pride being able to ride a bike quite well for a big bloke, i am just finding it very hard to accept my lot now.

Luke…..it would be fun.
muke, frame is getting swapped through warrenty.

Nope! Keep at it it’s not like it’s being dishonest it’s a credit to you, you love it and keep at it nothing wrong there!

definitely keep on doing what you love.nothing to feel guilty about 🙂

Anyway ton, what about all these downhillers- they are fit and healthy and still get a bus to the top! Keeping going on an electric bike makes you, if anything, a credit to cycling.

Its a cup half full half empty thing but at least you still have the cup.
you loose the part of you doing it and the exercise.
you keep the days out , the crack with the mates and keep the joy of still cycling.
Even 10 years ago you would have had to stop as there was no electric bikes so it could be much worse.
Dont feel guilty enjoy it as you are still a cyclist and that is all that matters

You’re still riding to the best of your physical abilities, if you’re enjoying it keep doing it 😀

Remember that picture of the Paralympic track cyclist with one arm & one leg?

There’s your answer. More power to you for carrying on.

No, and neither should you Tony…

Get out and enjoy it fella…

cheers boys.

Course not. Well, actually, I suppose guilt is often pretty irrational so maybe I would, a little, but obviously you shouldn’t. Brains are unhelpful sometimes.

it is still competitive for you, your current goals are different though.

keep going and keep enjoying.

Can’t imagine feeling guilty.

Chin up you always have the STW massive at least. 🙂

Have you gone all metrosexual ton?

I ask because I can see the answer to your question from those sweary fellas you hang about with being ‘Give over and get your round in, you big girls blouse’.

Or, if you went drinking with FDR:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. Now get your round in you big girls blouse”

crikey…………that made me smile, cheers mate. 😆

If I’m honest yes i probably would. But i would just see it as one of the many feelings i would be having adapting to such a big change. Keep at it fella and good luck!

No worries fella.

The day will come to all of us, the day when we can’t do the things that we want to in the way that we want to do them. We all see ourselves as immortal, because life can’t really be lived any other way. I see people at work who will never do the things I have done, people who have to settle for second best, people who will never even know the things they are missing. Keep on keeping on, do it as long as you can and when you stop, when you can’t do it anymore, look back with fondness, not regret.

All the best 😀

Not for a millisecond. Time spent on bikes is never wasted. I count riding to the shops on the 20 kilo dutch roadster as part of that. When I need electrical help, then so be it. And based on that bike, I needed it this afternoon!

Wet blanket time …… what about your family? Putting your body under stress in search of enjoyment could be seen as being selfish when you have family and dependants.

OTOH you also have to consider your mental health and how you would be if you were prevented from participating in an activity you love so much.

Just saying – it’s not black and white. For me, cycling is a replacement for backpacking and trekking. I had to accept that I could no longer do these things and found something else.

No idea what the story is here, but no. To think otherwise (and then carry the logic to an end) would mean that people who can’t use their legs say shouldn’t use wheelchairs. Or crutches or whatever. Which is clearly ludicrous.

Don’t you live in Little Missenden, Ton?

I’d feel guilty if I didn’t try and keep doing it.

This. I’d do whatever I could to carry on. We think you should too.

you also have to consider your mental health and how you would be if you were prevented from participating in an activity you love so much.

And this is why.

Wet blanket time …… what about your family? Putting your body under stress in search of enjoyment could be seen as being selfish when you have family and dependants.

conversely, and especially in your condition, I would see it as see it as somewhat selfish and abnormal if your family and dependents did not want you to search out some enjoyment, even if it puts your body under some stress.

Quality of life, and all that.

If you restrict your activities thinking you are being selfish, it may actually be the other way round as you will be suffering detrimental effects in other ways, getting more depressed, possibly helping bring on dementia earlier, who know?

You should just ensure that you do a healthy and beneficial amount of exercise and just ensure that you do not expose yourself to too much risk or too much exertion, which could effect your health. Patience is key (Tutu the fawn, etc).

Take away your goals and things will start to collapse in on you…

Guilty? Why the hell would I?

If I were in your situation though I would always be researching and questioning the doctors. That may not be appropriate for everyone though.

Ton – what’s your situation?

I spent 18months unable to ride and back about 12 months ago I thought I’d never ride a bike again and had a very serious headf**k as a result. That was all due to a illness / condition.

No need for guilt.

Regardless of your health you should continue to do what you enjoy and to challenge yourself as often as possible.

As you get older or as health conditions become apparent the scale of the challenges may seem small by the standards set by the younger, healthier you but the mental and physical effort may well be greater then anything you’ve done before once you take your current physical ability into account.

If you continue to compare your current self to your younger/fitter self its rarely going to flatter. But try taking a look around at your peers, other fellas of a similar age or with a similar condition to yourself and I’d bet a penny to a pound that you’re far more able then you give yourself credit for.

Bushwacked
got a problem with my heart, which has severly limited my exercise regime.
had 4 procedures to try and fix it, all have failed, and i have been told by my cardiologist/consultant that there is no more they can do for me.
thing is, i feel fine until i try and exercise, then it kicks in and i am fubar.
bought a electric assist mtb to enable me to keep riding proper offroad, which it has done.
but after nearly 40 years of competative sport, i am finding it very hard to come to terms with not being able to do everything under my own steam.

Ton – I had Chronic Fatigue and you speak to Docs and they tell you there ain’t no hope of recovery – luckily I’ve proved them wrong.

At the time finding I couldn’t even cycle along the road for 10mins without feeling like shit for 5 days was a tough pill to swallow. I even cycled up a hill – nothing major and ended up with chest pains for a week after. Anyway, when I thought I was likely to never recover I started to get seriously down – it was like a grieving process. MTBing has been my life and passion and to have that taken away was like my life was over. However, after I’d got my head around the fact that this may be the case I took positive action and started looking at how I could get involved in the sport in different ways – I bought a camera so I could get out and film people riding, I started looking at how I can encourage younger generations into the sport and now I’m on a committee working to bring a BMX track to our town. I also tried uplift days or just rolling down hills but I found that too much but serious fun.

I’m not saying do these exact things but have a think about what you can do without risking ill effects. Combine other passions or things you’ve always wanted to try but cycling got in the way and give them a go.