For the first time in three years, I looked at my bike and felt nothing. No pull. No itch to ride. And that scares me more than I expected.
I’m tired.
Tired of planning - the right outfit for the weather, the right carbs for the distance, the constant mental arithmetic of intervals and targets and whether I’ll make it home safe.
Tired of the kids not sleeping, of me not sleeping, of watching my partner quietly hold everything together while I try to hold myself.
Tired of the turbo trainer. Of grinding and mashing, making gains, building something - only for an illness or an injury to unravel it all. And then starting over. Again.
Tired of the world getting darker.
And right now, I’m genuinely worried I might not get back on.
Has anyone else been here? Did you pedal your way back?
I’m sure smarter, more informed people have said better things than I’m about to, but I’ll just say: it’s OK. Take a break if you want (I assume you don’t get paid to ride). Have a breather, spend time with the kids and wife, call an old friend, etc. Remind yourself why you ride, and the feelings it used to bring you. The bike will still be there when you come back. It’s just a machine, it doesn’t judge, and you don’t owe it anything.
Have you considered just riding your bike? At the end of the day, it’s supposed to be a fun, enjoyable experience that adds to your life instead of taking away.
We also move through different phases in life. When I had young kids at home life was much different and it would have been extremely difficult - not to mention stressful - to try and put in as many hours as I do now. Maybe just be ok with where you are now, knowing that it will come back around.
I’ve found that listening to your inner voice (if you’re atheist), your good (if you’re religious), or my partner* (if you’re me), helps discern probably pathways to take.
Mentally/physically/emotionally disconnecting from what is causing the turmoil, for timeout works wonders for me. A day, a week, a month, etc until the trigger(s) start feeling like a distant memory. When the familiar starts becoming unfamiliar.
Then, I’ll ease myself back into the routine, so that everything starts to feel fresh and new again.
Yes. It’s an individual thing demanding individual solutions. In that spirit, I offer the following. (1) wear a tee shirt and shorts if you’re in the northern hemisphere, something from Uniqlo if you’re in the south (2) leave tech and wearables at home. (3) take in the scenery. (4) build small jump for kids to fly over (5) read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Sure, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is right up there with some of the best Harlequin novels, like
“Lady Winchester and the Sweaty Pirate”, but it rests in the shadow of masterpieces non plus ultra like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
Push myself. I have thoroughly enjoyed the discipline training has brought and seeing those gains. But the back and forth has reached its limit I reckon
I can relate to pretty much everything you’ve written. I thought I was asking Dave and Ronan a question about if they get bored of bikes because bikes are their job, but it turned out I was actually expressing my own feelings of burnout.
As others have written, giving yourself permission to take a break is a good first step. I get the feeling that you value “being fit” and derive motivation from training and improving. Being ok with letting go of this driver is a challenge, but it helps a lot in your situation, and is sometimes just what you need to do.
I have found giving myself a set period of time to not give a shit about training and being fit very helpful for rebuilding motivation. Maybe you ride or do some other exercise, maybe you don’t. You eat some junk and not feel guilty. I bought a few old steel mountain bikes, rebuilt them and cruised around on cycle paths, with and without my kids. I started running again. I stopped training as much (ditched TrainerRoad) and started doing races on Zwift instead because it’s more fun.
When I started training again it was just the type of training I enjoyed the most rather than following plans.
How old are your children? Having kids is a massive shift from being able to do pretty much everything you want to to almost none of those things, then working out what you actually want to do instead.
Worrying that you’re not “optimizing” everything – especially when you’re time-crunched – adds a ton of stress. I get it. I try to remember that some of my best riding memories are not the rides with big numbers or perfect planning – they’re the ones that are special because of who I was with or where I was.
It’s fine to take a break.
We’re bombarded with advice about what we “should” be doing to be “better” cyclists. If you try to push that away, what do you want to do?
Try going for a little local adventure, the sort of ride you did when you were a kid. Don’t think about where you’re going, don’t put cycling kit on. Give yourself an hour or two, follow your nose for a bit, and turn around when you feel like that’s enough. Leave the computer at home. Mooch around, enjoy your fitness, have a bit of fun on the downhills, maybe even stop for a coffee or a beer. Works for me when I’ve lost enthusiasm for riding.
As others have said, a second sport like running can be good, allowing you to have that release of exercise when you don’t feel like riding. Still, you don’t want to nail yourself on every ride/run.
I understand completely. Though I don’t think I am at the same dedication level as you. I ride road, MTB and gravel. I mix it up often as I ride 3x week. Run your head unit but put it on your back pocket. Do FUN rides - easy greenway paths on your non competitive bike. I have a belt drive 8 Spd Alfine hub Cannondale Bad Boy for just this purpose. It slows you down to enjoy the ride and not focus on the workout. It works for me. No guilt just fun in the sun and wind in my face. Good luck on you journey!
Willing to bet that everyone who has an athletic bent to their mind has felt this way. I sure have, many times. So you are not alone. Not at all.
As someone else said, others who are experts may have better advice. Mine (from having been there) is just step away for a while. Maybe two or three weeks. Play with your kids. Go for long walks. Go for hikes. Find something different to try, a new hobby perhaps. When the urge comes back, if you must have a computer put it in your pocket and just ride. Look at the world around you; I guarantee the views are amazing and part of why you probably started riding.
Lots of good advice on here. I went through a similar thing a couple of years ago. Stopping riding for a couple of months worked for me, but I’d caveat that I found I still needed to fill the void - DIY and running helped me.
I’ve been running this year more than cycling (5 month old baby in the house), I’ve really noticed how much mental and physical energy cycling consumes - running is so much simpler and requires so much less time and space. Appreciate running isn’t for everyone (it’s still very much 2nd fiddle to cycling for me) but a change is good.
Sounds like classic burnout, and honestly, that’s okay.
Step away for a bit. No timeline, no pressure to come back. Just go enjoy other parts of your life until the bike starts calling again on its own.
If you get that itch, give it a little space to grow. And when you do ride again, keep it simple. Leave the Garmin and power meter at home. No numbers, no expectations. Just a short, easy spin somewhere you love. A favorite climb, a quiet road, a stretch where you can feel the wind and remember what made this fun in the first place.
Keep it short. Finish while it still feels good.
If you find yourself wanting more after that, you’re on your way back. If not, give it more time. There’s no rush.
And when you do return, ease in differently. Skip the usual group if it feels like pressure. Find a more social, relaxed crew. The kind that stops for views, chats mid-ride, and actually smells the roses.
This sport gives a lot, but only if you let it be joyful. You’ll find your way back to that.
Right there with you at the moment. 4 year old and 2 year old in the house; at least one of us was sick at any given point all winter. I would get two or three weeks of routine and progress and then be unraveled by a week of illness. Sick now, actually!
As of a couple weeks ago I’ve started running (for the first time in my life) before work 2x/week, just for ~20 minutes. It doesn’t quite satisfy in the same way that cycling would, but similar to you, I often feel too tired or burned out by the prospect of motivating to go for a ride, so a short run has been at least something.
There’s snow on the ground again today, but warmer temps later in the week here. Working to adjust expectations; if I refresh tubeless sealant and prep my bikes for the season in the driveway that might motivate enough for a short spin around the neighborhood. And with some regularity, maybe that will motivate enough for a few rides with friends which might turn into signing up for an event later in the season. I know it’ll be a slow ramp, but I’m hoping it’ll be more successful than trying to jump into the deep end of training and riding a lot.
Damn, I feel sad how familiar your experience sounds to me. I also get to that point where I look at the bike, and feel like I just don’t have the heart to throw a leg over. Then I feel sad and scared that I’ve lost some passion for life. I have noticed, however, that if I can go through the motions to just start riding whether outside or Zwift, I inevitably get my mojo back during the ride. It may take 30-45 minutes or an hour, but at some point I feel my heart beating again and my emotional energy coming back.
I read a little while back that something we can all benefit from emotionally is a moment of awe each day. Now when I go out for a ride, even if it’s the same loop I’ve done a million times, I keep my eyes open for that moment of awe to connect me with the bigger world. On my ride this past Monday, I saw a coyote stalking a prairie dog! I always see red-tail hawks cruising around gloriously, tiny flowers blooming in the brown earth, enormous, crazy looking clouds, a weird color of blue reflecting off the tiny lake at sunset, the photo perfect, straight dirt road heading to the foothills, the shining golden grass field along the path. Witnessing those things helps me feel joyful and less tired.
When all else fails I revisit the guru, Sassy the Sasquatch on YouTube, to remind me how to appreciate it all, including being exhausted by it all.
