What motivates you? AND WHY?

13 Nov 2004 06:18:29 -0800,
,
(Maggie) wrote:

What puts that determination into some people and not
into others. I am tired of being a slug. And a slug I am when it comes
to exercise. Seems I can't blame it on my age any longer....I am
running out of things to blame it on. What keeps you motivated?

I don't think of cycling as "exercise". For myself it's
transportation. Motivation amounts to simply having to be somewhere
else at a certain time. Pleasure rides usually just amount to taking
the long way or a different route to some place I want to go.
--
zk

"Paul Turner" wrote

The bike is the right vehicle for exploring where you live. It scales
correctly. Walking is too slow and you don't see anything from a car.
Take
possession of your town. Have some fun. Let fitness by an unintended side
effect of play, the way it was for all of us once.

This is true. Bikes are the right speed to explore places. I love urban
rides. I love tours. I never get tired of the scenery, it's so much more
vivid than from a car. Every time I see a distant place on TV or in
magazines, I just want to go ride a bike there. It's the only way you can
feel the fabric of a place.

I also love the sensation of sheer speed. The times a bike seems to
disappear from beneath you, and there's only you flying down the road. Or
when riding in a perfectly flowing paceline, it's what I imagine running in
a wolf pack must be like, pure animal purpose.

The peak for me is riding home after a fast group ride on a warm summer's
night. I rarely feel more alive than that. Still buzzing on endorphins, I
race the traffic, feeling sorry for the people trapped inside, and stifle
the urge to howl at the moon.

There's nothing like riding a bike. The thrill of going so far, so fast,
using your own power. There's nothing else like it at all. There's
something obscene to reducing bike riding to just exercise. What motivates
me? The joy of it.

"Maggie" wrote in message
om...
How do you
stay motivated? Does it just come naturally?

I like riding a bike. Some reasons a

1. It's a combo of routine and adventure. I hate it when exercise is boring,
such as lap swimming, or running around a track. Yawn. Every ride is
different, due to weather and traffic, even on the same commuter route I've
ridden for years. I like doing exploration rides from time to time, where I
ride where I've never ridden before.

At the same time, I also like not having to think every single moment of
what I am doing. When I did aerobics, I was happiest when the instructor did
the same old routine to the same old tape, so I wouldn't have to constantly
think about where my left foot was going and what my arms were doing at the
same time.

2. I prefer non competitive, non team activities. I don't want to think
about winning. I like to ride with others, and riding with my husband's nice
because I know him so well and we work together well as a partnership. But I
don't like my fate riding on everyone else's success. I want more personal
control than that.

3. I like rhythmic exercise -- I used to run, I enjoy aerobics, hiking, x-c
skiing -- those sorts of things where you get into a groove and stay there
for a while. The short bursts of running around and then stopping, like you
do in tennis, say, are not as pleasing to me.

4. I like being outside. It's grounding. I like the seasons, the weather,
the sights and smells of wet fall leaves, of roses baking in the summer sun.
I hate the smell of chlorine, the musty smell of the gym.

5. I have very little upper body strength. My biceps are like chicken
insteps. I'd rather play to my strengths, like long, powerful legs.

6. I like maps. Cycling, like hiking, is one of those pursuits that give you
an excuse to study maps -- topos and street maps. David R. rode out to
Seattle from Boise, and I probably spent more time looking at maps thinking
about his trip than he did.

As for "staying motivated", some of it is being a bicycle commuter. If what
you do everyday is ride your bike to work, then you don't make the decision
to ride, it's just what you do. The night before I get out my biking togs,
and after I get out of bed in the morning and make it (so I'm not tempted to
hop back in :-) ) I just get dressed and have breakfast, and maybe after
I've opened the garage door, make a few last minute decisions about
outerwear, and go out the driveway. It's the default action. No decision
necessary.

And as someone else noted, even if you don't really feel like riding while
you're sitting there with the newspaper and a bowl of Oatmeal Squares in the
morning, you get on the bike, and before you know it, you're really enjoying
yourself. On Thursday, I had spent the whole day rather hunched over the
computer. It was a holiday, so no one else was in the office, and the usual
interruptions that cause me to get up and walk around weren't there, so I
had to consciously think, every ninety minutes or so, "Get up! Stretch! Get
water!" Since I had stayed rather late, I thought I'd just ride to the
transit station, and take the bus much of the way home. But as soon as I was
zipping down Second Avenue downtown, my whole body feel more alive. It was
cold, and the sun had already gone down, but it was clear. The crisp
late-fall air was in my lungs, and before I knew it I had passed the transit
station without thinking much about it and was sprinting up the hill for the
bike tunnel and the bridge across the lake.

I can't think of anything better for me than riding that evening. Plus, I
ran into (not literally -- I yelled "bike up" when he approached, and then
he circled around) our own Dane Jackson doing his own late commute home. He
said then that his project at work was on the Death March, so he probably
was hunched over a computer all day too. What better way to stretch out,
de-compress, work the body and the lungs, and then come home ready for
supper and your family?


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Maggie wrote:

What is it that drives some people to
succeed and others to give up. Is it genetic or is it will. What the
hell is it? What puts that determination into some people and not
into others.

Beats me. I ride my bike for transport because commuting by car is so
expensive, depressing and downright frustrating. If I have a bad day at
the office I have two options: drive home and multiply the frustrations
or ride home and forget what was even bothering me. Easy choice :-)

Since I discovered this I have not quite given up driving, but I view it
as a chore and drive as infrequently as possible. I do not train, I
have not ridden out with the club all year, and I am fitter and weigh
less than at any time since I left school. Life is good :-)

--
Guy

"Maggie" wrote in message
om...

I guess its all up to me.

You've answered your own question there. What motivates me or any other
person reading your post has no relevance whatsoever as to how you treat
that bike of yours. Do whatever you want with it. Take it apart and put it
back together, or not. Give it to a local charity or the first smiling
person your come across on the street. Re-sell it on ebay. Ride it as far
as you want and ditch it. Send it rolling into the East River. Plant it in
your front yard. Go shopping on it after drinking a martini. Do what it
takes to where you no longer feel the need to second guess your decisions.
You'll be happier for it and if you're already thinking about hobby 1002
(and sleeping late on Saturdays), that's all you need as motivation.

In article ,
(Maggie) writes:

Why are some people so focused when they start something that
they remain dedicated and win. What is it that drives some people to
succeed and others to give up. Is it genetic or is it will. What the
hell is it? into others. I am tired of being a slug. And a slug I am when it comes
to exercise. Seems I can't blame it on my age any longer....I am
running out of things to blame it on. What keeps you motivated?

I dunno.

Maybe the question to ask is: What's holding you back?


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

What helps me is meeting, on my ride, other "old coots" in their 50's
and '60's...who look and act thirty.
I stop for a drink of water, one pulls up, we talk about my
Specialized versus his Trek, "have you seen the trail by the pond
today?", and off we go. Sometimes we even tell each other our names!
Running into a guy in his '70's who does Centuries make me unafraid of
the calendar, and realize that it's not over by a long shot.
Plus that RUSH....and remembering when I had trouble with a certain
hill...where was it? I don't notice it now.
Loving the outdoors, anyway, and watching the Seasons go by. On a
cycle, you are going JUST slow enough to notice details..a flying
squirrel on a tree trunk, ferns unfloding since yesterday, and just
FAST enough so the scenery changes enough to keep you absorbed and
interested, wondering what the next curve in the road or trail will
bring. The sounds and smells and colors immerse you into the scene,
and it is so absorbing, one forgets it is "exercise". It's not,
really, it's like putting a coin into some amusement machine. You pay
a few calories, and you get this great entertaining tour.
Anyway, that's what works for me.

"Maggie" wrote in message
om...
Do I
have to have a heart attack before I wake up and exercise willingly
and with determination?

Do you want it to come down to that?

Take it from me, you don't. But I won't go into the testimony riff; I'm sure
that describing a heart attack to someone who's never had one is about as
futile as trying to describe childbirth.

I endorse what so many others have said: don't think of it as exercise.
Think of it as going to work, going to the store, going to your friends'
houses, exploring the neighborhood, getting some fresh air, enjoying the
scenery. The exercise is incidental to some other easier-to-embrace
activity.

RichC

Hello,
You might want to get involved in races, and group rides. Sometimes
health issues keep me from riding and running. Two years ago I set a goal of
doing a duathlon. After cleaning the dust off my bike and lubing it up, I
started training. Unfortunately, I ended up in the hospital one month before
the race, but I still decided to do the race. I finished next to last
overall, but I had a great time. Since then I've done ten duathlons. My
health issues still come up, and will probably keep me from ever placing in
my age group, but I haven't been back to the hospital.
By getting involved in races there is always something else to work for.
I would like to do a triathlon, a marathon, and a century. Set a goal and
start worknig for it!

Larry



"Maggie" wrote in message
om...
I am trying very hard to keep riding my bike. I don't want this to be
just another one of my crazy ideas that lasts a month then on to
something else....I sometimes have to kick my butt out the door just
to get on the bike. (I really had a hard time getting up and out today
because it's Saturday, the day I can sleep late) While riding I
realized how many people are out in the morning riding, walking,
jogging etc.... This is like a whole new world. There are actually
people who wake up early and go out to exercise every morning. You may
find this ridiculous but I was really shocked at how many people were
up and out taking care of themselves with various styles of exercise.
I even saw this old guy in the park doing that tai chi thing. It's
Saturday, no work, yet people are up and running. Where the hell have
I been all my life? Last week when I watched the NYC Marathon I could
not believe how many people ran just for the sake of finishing...not
to win....but to finish...to accomplish a goal. They interviewed a
woman at the finish line who was 60 years old and only started running
5 years prior. She went to NYC to run a marathon. I am being driven in
by car tonight to see an opera at Lincoln Center. I have no idea how
some people stay so motivated. Are you born that way? I have had 1001
hobbies in my life. Spent so much money on them its obscene..... Now I
have this bike, I have this newsgroup, I have links to cycling clubs
in this area......I guess its all up to me. Do I change my life and
my health for the better or do I shop and sip martini's? How do you
stay motivated? Does it just come naturally? Is it a personality
type? Why are some people so focused when they start something that
they remain dedicated and win. What is it that drives some people to
succeed and others to give up. Is it genetic or is it will. What the
hell is it? What puts that determination into some people and not
into others. I am tired of being a slug. And a slug I am when it comes
to exercise. Seems I can't blame it on my age any longer....I am
running out of things to blame it on. What keeps you motivated? Do I
have to have a heart attack before I wake up and exercise willingly
and with determination?

http://www.geocities.com/lindaannbuset/mypage.html

http://hometown.aol.com/lbuset/

:
: Maybe the question to ask is: What's holding you back?
:
:
: cheers,
: Tom

She hasn't yet gotten in with both feet. she's still just got one toe in,
testing the water. She is looking for other people's motivation to give her
motivation.

Pat in TX