Tag: motivation

R U MOTIVATED TO RIDE YOUR TRIKE?

I am now 77 years old … getting up there … and various things have changed and are continuing to change. One thing I have noticed is an ongoing struggle with motivation … motivation to make the effort to get up and out to ride my trike. I think I could easily just sit or lay around forgetting all about the fact that I have a trike. That being said, once I am out riding I enjoy myself. Motivation is something I have written about before.

I used to be very motivated to ride my trike. It has been a slow process changing, but I would have to say the most change has taken place just in the last couple of years. I truly believe that the exercise involved in riding has kept me as young as I am although it is all starting to catch up with me. I am not only looking older, but I am feeling older. Riding is the only real exercise I get and if I were to stop riding I think I would start going downhill fast. Although I feel  somewhat old I am still fairly healthy all in all.

I don’t know what it would take to inspire me … to motivate me. Right now I am just telling myself that I really need to ride … that the exercise I get is good for me and much needed. My wife was going to retire this year and we were going to travel around some and ride together. Just today she told me that she plans to continue to work as long as she can. She is ten years younger than me. At this rate I will be in the grave and we will never ride together. Nothing is working out the way I had envisioned and planned.

Years ago I used to have some friends I rode with, but one moved away, one died and the other one hibernates for several months every year and when he does show himself in May he doesn’t do much riding. Having others to ride with helps.

They say attitude is everything. I am not sure I agree with that. It definitely helps, but one could have the best of atttitudes and if they are not physically up to it it ain’t gonna happen. Well, we will see what we will see, don’t you see? I just need to keep telling myself …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

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MOTIVATION TO RIDE

I have written about motivation to ride previously. Apparently it was back when I first had this blog and decided to end it and deleted it as I can’t find the article I wrote previously. So here I am writing about this subject again. I am doing so because I find myself struggling with motivation thru the winter months in particular. Here in northern Indiana where I live winter gets bad enough that I don’t try to ride outdoors. Even if I were to attempt it the trail where I ride is usually closed due to the results of flooding with mud and all sorts of debris on the trail including large trees. Then there is snow on the trail which I can’t ride thru anyway. It is a lost cause.

Consequently, each winter I make the decision to bring my trike inside the house and set it up on an indoor trainer so I can pedal away indoors out of the weather and the concern of these things I speak of. That is fine and dandy, but there is one problem … motivation, or should I say the lack of it. I have to force myself to do it and it is all too easy to talk myself out of it, make excuses as to why I don’t, etc. I am sure others struggle with motivation as well. I have never liked indoor exercise of any sort so I am just not motivated to do it.

I got to thinking about the subject of motivation and what it takes to motivate people. The thought came to me about the donkey with the carrot hanging on a stick in front of him. The carrot in front of him motivates him to try moving forward in an attempt to get the carrot. And the scenario got me to thinking about what different things motivate people … what else might hang on that string out in front of us to motivate us onward trying to reach it. That got me to messing around some more with playing with photo editing.

motivation on a stick

What motivates one person might not motivate another person and visa versa. And then there all too often is the reality that nothing motivates us to do certain things. Yeah, I know, getting needed exercise and helping keep ourselves in better physical shape should be enough to motivate us. Hmmm, something about the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The bottom line to all of this is that I would be far better off just going to my trike and sitting down on it to start pedaling rather than spend time fooling around with this nonsense.  And I do plan on doing some of it in just a few minutes even though I am not motivated any whatsoever.

C’mon Spring! I want to get back out there and …

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

At least riding outdoors sometimes I find myself a bit more motivated …

(like seeing this in my mirror)

angry dog

motivation for pedaling 2

OUT OF SHAPE

For many of us who live where we have winter to deal with we either can’t or don’t get out to get exercise. I am talking specifically about riding a tadpole trike,

Steve on new trike at Foster Park

but it is also true of nearly any type of exercise one can name other than winter sports such as ice skating, snow skiing, etc. As a result we get “out of shape”( or out of physical conditioning) … to varying degrees depending upon what we do or don’t do in the way of other forms of exercise. As for me personally I have bad knee joints due to osteoarthritis and I can’t walk much. I used to walk a lot before this happened and wish I still could as I know it is great exercise and I have always enjoyed walking. Anyway, with this past winter being one of the worst on record the only exercise I got was inside the house other than lots of snow removal outside. When the weather conditions finally improved enough I could get outside to ride my tadpole trike I quickly learned that I was extremely out of shape … far more so than any previous year. I mentioned it to my two friends I ride with. One of them spends 6 months out of the year in southern Florida. When I emailed him and told him about being out of shape he replied back “round is a shape”. He is going to get a knuckle rub on the old noggin’ when he returns up here to the north. 🙂 

round is a shape

All kidding aside, being out of shape is not a laughing matter. I am 67 years old and I am finding that the older I get the harder it is to try to lose weight and get in shape. About the first 2/3 of this past winter I did pretty good as far as maintaining my weight. I usually gain about 15 to 20 pounds over the winter. This winter I started off doing great and experienced very little weight gain. However, by the last 1/3 “all bets were off” as I started gaining back weight and ended up about where I usually am each winter. The only difference is I fell way behind in my physical conditioning since I was not able to get out and ride thru the winter. Yesterday was my longest ride thus far this Spring … about 30 miles. The thing I am most concerned about is I have noticed over the last 2 or 3 years that I am not nearly as motivated as I used to be. Just a few years ago it was not uncommon for me to ride 40 or more miles per day. Just two years ago I managed to ride the most miles of anyone in Fort Wayne signed up for the National Bicycle Challenge.

https://nationalbikechallenge.org/

I entered this national bike challenge but for me it turned into a competition trying to outdo those who were leading. I managed to do so but it became challenging indeed and no longer fun. So I don’t do it anymore even though there are some who want me to. I am just not interested as I know it would turn into another competition thing and I don’t care to do that. In order to take and keep the lead I was riding a lot of 65 to 85 miles days. That was just too much. Now I rarely ride a 40 mile day and most days are 25-35 miles when I am in as good of shape I obtain thru the riding season (Spring, Summer & Fall).  I have found that for me I need to do what I can to keep myself as motivated as possible. Part of that is keeping my riding fun. When it becomes work and drudgery then I lose motivation. A few years ago riding 40 plus miles a day was fun. Now it usually isn’t so I don’t do it anymore. What can I say?

Update: Since I wrote this I have added e-motor assist to my trike and it has turned things around for me. Now I once again enjoy riding and am getting more exercise than I got before when I didn’t have it. And I am often riding 40 plus … even 50 plus miles a day.

A FREE GIFT awaits you!