Author Topic: Repetitive roads.  (Read 3941 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Repetitive roads.
« on: 15 June, 2018, 07:22:33 pm »

Anyone else find that after a while they get really bored of having the same first 10k and final 10k of every ride? because there's only a very finite number of roads from home to places worth cycling?

I didn't ride today as I just failed to have the enthusiasm for the half my ride to be the same as always...

How do you keep motivated on the same roads?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #1 on: 15 June, 2018, 07:34:40 pm »
Move house.

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #2 on: 15 June, 2018, 07:49:23 pm »
I only ride to commute and for getting around.

For the commute, I just think of what it's like on public transport which involves 3 trains, a lot of walking and waiting and standing, and which is more expensive and takes longer!

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #3 on: 15 June, 2018, 07:59:41 pm »
Anyone else find that after a while they get really bored of having the same first 10k and final 10k of every ride? because there's only a very finite number of roads from home to places worth cycling?

Yes.  The first/last 5km of mine count double because of Birmingham drivers.  And an annoying ridge that you've got to climb over at some point to get in/out of Birmingham.

I find the annoyingness of the first bit (it being slower in the uphill direction) is proportional to the overall length of the ride.  What's bad is when it's winter and miserable and you don't want to be out for more than an hour or two.  Or worse, if injury limits your total ride to 20km or less.

One solution is a cultural exchange; go and ride somebody else's boring bit.  Which is how this happened.

Another approach is to deliberately go and ride the roads you *don't* normally use on that first/last bit, if only to remind you why.

New bike toys help take your mind off it, of course, but it's not very sustainable.

Riding in the dark has a certain novelty factor, unless it's also part of a winter utility route.

But I mostly just get on with it.  The hardest part is getting out of the door, and Primrose Hill (B38) is nothing if not Good Training™.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #4 on: 15 June, 2018, 08:00:46 pm »
It's even worse when you live by the coast - if I tried to ride north for 10km, I'd soon get very wet...

This is part of the reason I've been dabbling in mountain biking recently - and have been discovering many new trails on my doorstep that I've never ridden before. That and the fact that mountain biking is in itself lots of fun.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #5 on: 15 June, 2018, 08:03:32 pm »
It's even worse when you live by the coast - if I tried to ride north for 10km, I'd soon get very wet...

Yes.  Living on the periphery of a big city similarly means you tend not to go in a certain direction, but it remains a possibility, and circumnavigation is always an option.

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #6 on: 15 June, 2018, 08:20:01 pm »
All of this.

We're boxed in by Big Ass Hills and nasty dual carriageway. There's only one way in. Water, no roads and scary roads. Or a 20% climb- from Mordor.

[I know that other places have been given that nickname, but do they look like this??]

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #7 on: 15 June, 2018, 08:27:51 pm »
It's even worse when you live by the coast - if I tried to ride north for 10km, I'd soon get very wet...

This is part of the reason I've been dabbling in mountain biking recently - and have been discovering many new trails on my doorstep that I've never ridden before. That and the fact that mountain biking is in itself lots of fun.

I'm in the Netherlands, what you said, but the coast happens about every 100m or so... in every direction...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #8 on: 15 June, 2018, 08:58:49 pm »
One of the reasons I now prefer to put the bike in the car to ride in different areas. The other reason is to escape the heavy traffic around the edges of London and just beyond.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #9 on: 15 June, 2018, 09:02:07 pm »
One of the reasons I now prefer to put the bike in the car to ride in different areas. The other reason is to escape the heavy traffic around the edges of London and just beyond.

I don't own a car...

I could put the bike on the train, but NS charge €6 per day to put a bike on a train, even if for just 10km.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #10 on: 15 June, 2018, 09:03:37 pm »
If the roads are nice enough, it doesn't matter.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #11 on: 15 June, 2018, 09:24:26 pm »
If the roads are nice enough, it doesn't matter.

They are in Amsterdam...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #12 on: 15 June, 2018, 09:31:02 pm »
If the roads are nice enough, it doesn't matter.

They are in Amsterdam...

J
Meaning what? The roads are nice enough in Amsterdam? Or the roads you ride frequently in Amsterdam and therefore are not nice? Presumably the second, otherwise you wouldn't have started this thread in this way, but OTOH isn't Amsterdam the world capital of nice cycling roads?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #13 on: 15 June, 2018, 09:45:01 pm »
Meaning what? The roads are nice enough in Amsterdam? Or the roads you ride frequently in Amsterdam and therefore are not nice? Presumably the second, otherwise you wouldn't have started this thread in this way, but OTOH isn't Amsterdam the world capital of nice cycling roads?

Nah, that's a myth perpetuated by cycle campaigners who haven't spent enough time cycling here...

The main issue is you're bounded by the North sea canal/Ij on the north, with just 4 ways to cross. Then to the south west you hit against the RingVaart/Haarlemmer mere. To the east you bang up against the Ijsselmeer, and so to get out to the south you have to go through Amstelveen, or Amsterdam Zuid-oost...

And then you get the tourists...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #14 on: 15 June, 2018, 10:23:56 pm »
I'm lucky enough to have the space to own multiple bikes and generally use a different bike each week on the same 15k commute route that I've done 1000+times.  I use the commute as a comparative analysis of how each bike handles, its comfort and its speed then ponder how to make the most comfortable bike faster and the fastest bike more comfortable. Not many weeks go by without the bike of the week being fettled or adjusted and then the results of that bring eager anticipation of the coming weeks commute.  I'm retiring at the end of the year by which time I'm pretty sure that all 10 bikes will be honed to perfection, I just have to come up with a purpose for a daily ride in the absence of the commute and it's looking that it may be the taste of coffee...
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #15 on: 16 June, 2018, 04:03:52 pm »
Or a 20% climb- from Mordor.

[I know that other places have been given that nickname, but do they look like this??]

I love night photos of industrial sites, like this one

“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #16 on: 16 June, 2018, 05:39:25 pm »
I thought of a way around this recently - drive to work with car in boot. After work go for bike ride on entirely new roads!

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #17 on: 06 July, 2018, 05:51:21 pm »
I'm utterly bored of my ride out of London, is basically an hour on each end of every ride.
I'm contemplating either using car or train to get a bit of variety

Chris S

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #18 on: 06 July, 2018, 06:15:43 pm »
Or a 20% climb- from Mordor.

[I know that other places have been given that nickname, but do they look like this??]

I love night photos of industrial sites, like this one



If this heatwave keeps up, Teesside will look just like that!


Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #19 on: 06 July, 2018, 06:19:58 pm »
*This* is repetitive…
8 loops on the local 25-mile TT course:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1681057650

I won't do that again.


arabella

  • عربللا
  • onwendeð wyrda gesceaft weoruld under heofonum
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #20 on: 08 July, 2018, 05:09:36 pm »
I don't remember where I read it but along the lines of:
I only cook 1 meal/day and I never vary it.  Any more than 1 choice and customers end up hating whatever's on offer on the day.

ie you probably have enough choices to hate them all by now (me too).  But if you had only one option (=no choice) you'd be able to stop thinking about it and just get on with it.
Any fool can admire a mountain.  It takes real discernment to appreciate the fens.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #21 on: 08 July, 2018, 05:34:16 pm »
I don't remember where I read it but along the lines of:
I only cook 1 meal/day and I never vary it.  Any more than 1 choice and customers end up hating whatever's on offer on the day.

ie you probably have enough choices to hate them all by now (me too).  But if you had only one option (=no choice) you'd be able to stop thinking about it and just get on with it.

I think you're right. 

I have various options, mixing-matching sections without increasing my route ridiculously or going significantly out of my way.  I'm getting close to two years on my current commute and I'm bored to tears.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #22 on: 08 July, 2018, 06:41:05 pm »
I live in the Cotswolds, so no, I never get bored of it.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #23 on: 08 July, 2018, 10:51:43 pm »
I don't remember where I read it but along the lines of:
I only cook 1 meal/day and I never vary it.  Any more than 1 choice and customers end up hating whatever's on offer on the day.

ie you probably have enough choices to hate them all by now (me too).  But if you had only one option (=no choice) you'd be able to stop thinking about it and just get on with it.

I think you're right. 

I have various options, mixing-matching sections without increasing my route ridiculously or going significantly out of my way.  I'm getting close to two years on my current commute and I'm bored to tears.

This seems a bit like the "27 gears and they're all wrong" problem.

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: Repetitive roads.
« Reply #24 on: 09 July, 2018, 04:59:41 pm »

Anyone else find that after a while they get really bored of having the same first 10k and final 10k of every ride? because there's only a very finite number of roads from home to places worth cycling?

I didn't ride today as I just failed to have the enthusiasm for the half my ride to be the same as always...

How do you keep motivated on the same roads?

J

I don't find the bit near home boring - I get a wonderful sense of 'journey's end' when I get back on to familiar roads. When I had a company car there were places that I passed which became markers for my journey home; such as passing Membury Services on the M4, or joining the A19 from the A1(M) [depending on where I was living at the time] When I had to fly places regularly, I found that Schiphol became a place where I felt nearly home - even though I had a short hop back to the UK. For me it was like the gateway to the familiar. Now, as I rarely drive a long way and don't fly anywhere, my long journeys are usually by bicycle. So those 'boring roads' have become my 'nearly home' places. Extended home perhaps - the rocking chair or fireside that feels good to be around. I find that my energy picks up, my pace picks up and my spirits sing when I feel like I've nearly made it. Of course this experience is driven by the loneliness and isolation of unfamiliar roads. Perhaps it is simply the security of knowing I'm nearly home safe. :)