Ride for fun - otherwise it's less worth riding


Some months ago, a person I talked to was surprised at the cycling speed which I was able to reach. I was quite proud of myself and was expecting well deserved praise for my achievement. What I got instead was the following comment:
But you are not enjoying the ride!
Solstice Parade 2009 by Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons
I shrugged off the comment thinking he isn't a serious cyclist. But lately I am focusing more and more on performance, pushing cadence in ever higher gears and comparing my results on Strava to those of experienced racers. I am also contemplating purchasing a bike computer and getting more and more numbers.

Today I even thought whether to invest in a cyclocross bike since I would be much faster than on my hybrid, although my hybrid is just 1 year old!

The fitness part of cycling is great, but I feel that i am shifting my focus toward numbers and performance which may take up much more of my free time, and be less fun in the end result.

Today I skimmed through the latest entry on Fatcyclist. While my training levels and achievements are light-years behind those of Elden Nelson of Fatcyclist, it seems that we are reaching the same conclusion:

Ride for fun! I would just add - otherwise it's much less worth riding

Are you riding for fun or just for numbers? Tell us in the comments!

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About Bozidar Spirovski

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4 comments:

  1. If it's not fun, you'll eventually burn out and stop doing it. That's the problem with obsessions: they drain all the pleasure out of things.

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  2. Fast cycling is great if you enjoy it in a safe environment but not on my super-highways at 6000 miles per hour when I'm there :( I hate to moan about this, but sometimes I prefer to ride in the road where the cars are going much slower :)

    Shifting focusing and challenging yourself is a good idea, but once it starts to take over the fun part, then you need to know why you're doing it.

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  3. It is a great post, what you said is really helpful to me. I agree with you anymore. Also great blog here with all of the valuable information you have. Keep up the good work you are doing here. Thank you for sharing such a useful post.

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  4. I didn't know that there is such a problem with cycling. I read EliteWritings review every day and there are different opinions which are not about the numbers while riding.

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