[Closed] Do you ride as much as you want to?

No, but because of work and a lack of riding on my doorstep. Quite happy to ride alone. Woe is me. Night lights might sort it though!

no. not ridden a bike for 3 weeks. so rare that i ride mtb i might as well sell it and just buy new one whenever i want to ride it.

Yeah - much the same... I miss the folk up in Stirling, it all went a bit tits up when I moved out of the town into the styx and started working a couple of hundred miles away. Moved south now, and not found any one to head out with riding so it has seriously lapsed. (ie not ridden much hin 2 - 3 years!)

Sometimes get the motivation to head out on my own, but it just isn't doing it for me. Hopefully next year I will get my arse in gear and start heading out agian, though I think I need a new bike first 😉

No, work, family & life get in the way 🙁

I'm generally happy to ride on my own and have no 'him indoors' to limit what I do or when I go out. Weather sometimes stops me riding, as does having to travel / be away so much with work, but overall I reckon I get to go out as much as I want.

Difficulty is trying to fit riding in with the other things I enjoy / want to do - time with friends, hiking up in the hills, climbing ...

No. Sat in the office having a bad day, usually thinking of riding. I try and spend time with my wife too, when sometimes I would fancy a ride. Probably for the best though 😕

If I was given free reign I would ride as much as my bodies recovery rate would allow...

not riding as much as I need to keep big black dogs away, but serious ill health in the family and work commitments are conspiring to **** it all up.

still the turbo trainer is there for a 5:30 in the morning blast before work and I'm managing wheels in the dirt at least twice a week if I'm lucky.

having said that I'm back to my old haunts in wales tomorrow

I ride a lot, but 99.9% of it consists of going to work and back on my road bike. Kids and wife and shifts and studying restricts my free sunday mornings on my mountain bike to about every few months.

Nowhere near as much as I want to. Two businesses of my own, plus another job as an employee (sort of paid sideline really), another book to write, kids, wife, rain, dark nights. Riding from doorstep helps (there's just something plain wrong with loading bike into the car to go for a ride and it acts as another obstacle). Going for a ride for me is more of a luxury and lucky if I can fit in two or three 2hour rides a week (sometimes none). Most of them solo because I don't like having to do it at a specific time to fit in with anyone else and I need the "thinking time" that solo riding allows. Less than that and fitness wanes and I'm even less inclined to go out.
Lights help, a wife who does all the shopping, paying tradesmen to do all the jobs (and bike maintainence) and a turbo trainer when I get home late and just want an hour spin to keep up fitness. If anyone else finding it difficult to get out due to other commitments, the early morning weekend ride is also worth doing (home in time for breakfast with the family) if you can summon the motivation.
What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare........

not riding as much as I need to keep big black dogs away

Metaphorical or real/actual?

I'm going to buck the trend, I have a very understanding missus and go out plenty, also get a few weekends away biking inc a trip to Moab for a week this year

Not really, I'm always at work doing daft hours, and not a fan of cycling in the dark just for the sake of it. I like to see stuff! Get a couple of road rides in a week. I just go when mood takes me. Quite happy on my own at my own pace. Enjoyed it on roadbike today despite it being a tad windy. I rather go with other people on MTB though, which takes planning and faffage.

Sue! get in touch if you fancy a bike about sometime, I don't know many cyclists round here, let alone ones that live down the road! Don't worry, I'm no super-competitive speed freak!

No family take up alot if my spare time and a shit few months at work has knocked my enthusiasm down.

For me it's a lack of on the doorstep riding, and a lack of available consistent riding partners nearby. My GF is now becoming my most reliable riding partner, but she also lives 35 miles away, so it's not like we can just decide on the spot to pop out for a ride together... Oh, and it's at least 30 minutes in a car for me to get to any trails too... 🙁

And yes, I'm one of those people that just doesn't really enjoy riding on my own for whatever reason... Riding really is a social activity for me, except for the rare few minutes of descending on each ride... They're all mine to myself!

I've got too many bikes.

Sometimes I'll send half an hour deciding which bike and then when I pull the bike out, I'll make a few modifications, and then it's raining and I'm a wimp, so the bike goes back and the kettle goes on.

So in the end I don't get out more than 4 times a week, and anyway the trails are crap up here 🙂

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As you can see from these pics taken within 2 miles from my house. Life sucks 😆

Where's that Epicyclo? looks nice.

I do! Although my limitation are what my body will put up with. Got 5 days riding in this week.

I have no job and a very understanding wife.

Epicyclo - that looks awesome!

Kevevs - Member
Where's that Epicyclo? looks nice.

Near Dingwall, Highlands.

I would ride more off road if the weather wasn't so bad. Don't like washing my bike too often. Get out more on the road bike for this reason this time of year.
If I lived in a country where it was mostly sunny I would ride and ride and ride.... 🙂

Nope, and I feel such a great desire to ride, and I mean going away for weekends riding in beautiful places 🙂 and even moving to somewhere closer to great riding.

Thing is I now have a family (9month old daughter and the wife) to keep me entertained on my weekends off, and as for holiday entitlement, ditto!

Love having a hobby like cycling though and try to saviour every second in saddle, particularly when caked in good old English mud 🙂

I ride nearly everyday,nearly always ride to work. Cant work any shorter hours than i do to increase riding time. No time limits for myself except work...
Single and no kids so as much time as i want to bike out of worktime.
Loads on trails on my doorstep which i ride mostly on my own and then theres along beaches here-45 miles od coastline which i find is my space away from everyone...
All trails around here are dry year round too.
I enjoy group rides with good friends when they have the time though there is always someone who is always busy with family life etc..for them time biking with friends is precious.
Only finances and energy levels stop me riding further afield/longer than i wish,
But im glad i made the lifestyle choice to enjoy my passion 😮

I don't mainly for 2 reasons:

1) Lack of people to ride with.

I have one mate who is into MTB, but he is also flakier than a flaky thing. Supposed to be going the Peaks this weekend, but he has a slight cold.

2) Distance.

Living in Peterborough I have to travel to decent trails, which can be a pain in the arse when you driving 4 hours to get in 3-4 hours of riding. There is some half decent-ish XC stuff round here, but it ain't nothing special.

I bought myself a [url= http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44676 ]DX light[/url] as I thought I would get in some night-riding, but due to the above I have used it once in a month. Probably just going to sell it and stick to running in the evenings to keep fitness up.

Nope, nowhere near enough. Often I work six days a week, although I'm home by around 2pm. Most weeks I commute on the bike 2-4 times, but a cold is stopping that at the moment. My wife is due to give birth any day now, but once things settle down I'm hoping to get out more, of course my family come first.

nope, as the name suggests, though its not for the lack of trying though,
I'm either nackerd from climbing big things or upto my neck with the little ones and if they're not enough I'm on bloody call every few weeks, so I consider mysef an opportunist biker the bike is loaded 247 along with the kit and ill grab it when I can
wouldn't change it as I travel a bit working and come accross some nice trails

I love riding, obviously, but I'm pretty happy with just 2 serious rides a week (That's with commuting every day). It would be great to do more in theory, but it would cut into too many other things - other interests and other responsibilities at home and work.

One thing I am disappointed with is not doing enough up in the highlands in recent years. Used to go up fairly frequently but I've done next to nothing the last 2 years since our kid was born.

I am riding quite a lot to keep myself sane right now and am not currently working. But am swimming a bit too due to some muscle damage.

No.. I'm a stay at home dad.. so don't really get any free time at all.. except by prior appointment which is subject to change without notice as my partner runs her own business and often has to work long and strange hours..

This can lead to a cherished day out on the Moors becoming 3 hours on the common or a planned five hour cliff ride suddenly becoming a couple of hours.. and it only takes a slight timing error to render those two hours down to 30 minutes at which point I CGAF any more..

My riding buddies work in very physically demanding jobs so my random patterns of being available to ride don't always tally with theirs either..

Evenings are mine in the summer though and I ride every day... the recent addition of a co-pilot baby carrier should help too..

Nope - being a parent and the other half working different work hours to me we juggle the childminding/babysitting/parenting between us...I get 1 ride a week (on the bike)...about 6 years back I was riding 7 days a week, fit as **** and could handle a bike...now I'm a bag of mince...so yeah, I don't get to ride as often as I'd like...but it's not something I dwell on to much as the family thing is quite enjoyable.

+1 to work and family life getting in the way, i don't get out half as much as I'd like then with the crap weather it's impossible - don't get me wrong I don't mind going out in dodgy looking weather and if it rains when I'm out fair enough but, i'm not going out when it's lashing down I'd need a few less marbles than I already have to do that.

How much for your light Jamie? 😉

Used to get out 4/5 times a week before having our 3 children (1,3 and 5 yrs), now 1/2 a week. Have recently got a trailer bike and a tag along so will get them involved 8)

I have a young family and manage 2 rides a week these days, used to ride nearly every day which i loved so my answer is a selfish No!
To be honest with 2 young kids im pretty knackered half the time so
getting out a couple of times in a week is still pretty good.

Sunny outside, I have a new bike build crying out to be ridden, but I'm stuck indoors with a 2 year old and a 4 year old who don't want to play outside anymore. So not only is another weekend inevitably going to end up without any riding, I may slip into a state of madness from lack of fresh air and exercise. I just need to get my first night ride out of the way to remind me that I enjoy riding in the cold and wet on muddy trails by myself.

The sooner these boys can come with me the better. Ditto for the skiing that seems to have suffered from the delights of parenthood 😕

Never ride as often as I want due to many things - doesn't help that I have a commute of an hour 20, plus the other half works shifts so we don't get to see each other too much, no great riding on the doorstep. Frustrates me like mad sometimes! Lucky to maintain my (low) level of fitness let alone improve it.

I don't. Surprisingly not because of the weather and such, but because of a lack of people to ride with.

Why don't you ride as much as you'd like to?

Hi kevevs - I'm planning on heading out for a long (for me!) road ride tomorrow - probably up the Conwy valley, betws, capel curig, bethesda, Bangor, back along the coast. Coffee and cake stops will be involved 🙂 or, as the weather looks good, I'm going to try to get some time off on Tuesday (not sure what days you have off?). And at some point I was contemplating a short night time ride round the orme (would have to road as I don't have any good off road lights). Anyway, e-mail is suewilliamsouATyahooDOTcoDOTuk.

Of course not.

Near Dingwall, Highlands.

Where I was born.

As for riding, do I bugger.

I have plans to buy some cheap bits to do up my Wanga frame to make it a pick up and ride around the streets on an evening bike, but by the time I get in, I'm shattered and still have piles of work to do.

Weekends should be riding time, today for example it's perfect, but I have an observation on Tuesday, way behind on marking, etc etc.

SO tomorrow it is, hopefully...........

WTF? Why can't you ride on your own?

Don't enjoy it that much, living in a new city so I really don't know where I'm going, don't have any maps, I don't ride well on my own, other reasons.

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...
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I hate the tranquility!
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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.)

[i]Do you ride as much as you want to?[/i]
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!