Learning to love my bike

Aquathlon.

  Too easy.  I need to make myself miserable to enjoy myself.  I have issues, I know.

Use it to commute to work.

This user's post has been ignored.

I use to weave in and out of pedestrians, now cylcling is soo much fun. lol. Just kidding. I ride/ commute to work everyday. It eases the burden and gives you a great work out.

Just do it!

If you give it time and ride lots and don't like it, consider if you really want to do tris.

Riding on the trainer I find almost a different sport than riding outside..no wonder you don't like it.

Think about what you like about swimming and running and see if you can add those type of experiences into biking.

Kathy's right Jeff! Just get out there and do it! You live in a tough area to ride with unfriendly traffic and all but try getting out early in the morning before the traffic. There's nothing like being out there on the road as the sun comes up!

BTW - How are the kids?

Watch the Tour de France.  Every time I watch it, I just want to go ride and usually do end up riding, and riding a lot harder than I usually do.

Kathy is always right. 

I play games in my head.  Can I ride the whole route on the big chainring.  How fast can I go on the small chainring.  I try to ride hills that I'm familiar with faster than the last time I rode them.  Whatever keeps my mind off how tired I am.  Now if I could just find a way to do that swimming

bob and kathy are always right.  I am pretty much just being a sissy.  Thanks.

Yes, Kathy is always right.  :-)

I am getting tired of always riding the same route over and over again in my development.  However if I venture out onto the main road I am taking my life in my hands (Or someone else's hands).  I think I need to start driving to a safer place to train.  Maybe then I'll enjoy the bike more.  Or do I have to spend $2000+ to motivate myself???

H
T
F
U

Seriously, I sleep with my bike beside me, constantly clean / tinker with it, Ride it almost daily "just to keep in form" even if it's just around the neighborhood working on things like eating on the bike, riding no hands, whatever.

Keep it "fun" but really... it's work, it SHOULD be hard work... most humans have a natural aversion to those things from the start.

-sleep with your bike. Talk sh*t to other bikes about your bike... buy a bike that you do love. Race More.

A P4 should solve the problem  

My girlfriend is kind of the same way. She HATES her bike.  She even got paint on it while painting a desk and didn't really even care.  It got to the point where we couldn't really ride together for a while. 

We got back to the basics of cycling.  On an easy cycling day, ride around your neighborhood with no intention of going fast.  On the next easy ride, find a fun route.  Ride to a landmark that you like, hang out there for a little bit, then ride home.  This will show you how relaxing a bike ride can be.  Once you enjoy the bike, then get into the maintaining the bike.  If you have a competitive spirit, it will kind of grow. 

As for only having time to do the trainer or spin class, theres no reason it shouldn't be taken like any other gym workout.  Put in the time, and when your done make yourself a meal that you really like (a healthy meal). 

Sounds like you already have access to a group ride from your OP.

Find one with people you like.

I used to hate to ride.
Inconvenient.
Lots of set up time.
Lots of gear.
Blah blah.

Then I found a group of people who made me want to get out of bed in the morning. I wanted to gab, which meant I had to keep up. That was hard at first. That made me faster.

There's a bit of smack talk, too, so then I felt the need to be able to get out in front some.

This made me faster.

Once I got fast, I started LOVING the bike. Now I watch how other people handle the corners, and I'm starting to feel one with the bike.

I can't wait to get on.

Next ride, I'm taking that one corner without getting out of aero. You just watch.

Also, I have old cardboard paper box that I throw all my bike stuff in. I grab that thing in the morning and stick it in the truck and go to wherever the ride is that day. Takes me about two minutes to get the bike out and put my stuff on. Then it goes back in the box until next time.