Does anyone here not ride, or not ride anymore?

[Supermofo]

I've been riding since 19 (47 next month) and pretty much never not had a bike. I get properly down when I don't ride over winter. I don't ride as much as I used to but the thought of not having a bike is inconceivable for me. It'd have to be something pretty big to stop me ie health etc.

Must admit, I'm starting to feel a little bit meh about it now. Always ride the same roads, by myself.

That's an easy trap to fall into, get a bike sat nav or use callimoto or something and let it take you places. Pick a spot on the map and it'll find you places you never knew existed. When I first got my TomTom I set it to most twisty/hilly heading for a pub 12 miles away, in total the route was 31 miles. Granted it can take you down roads that barely qualify at times but that's a settings/trial and error thing. Or just deliberately get lost, take a turn you don't know and see where it goes. I found loads of routes by just following my nose rather than going where I knew. I also keep an eye out for cafes/tea rooms/pubs/places etc that I can nominally head to as somewhere different. The other year I picked Manningtree out as I'd just read a book about Matthew Hopkins so fuck it I'm going there for the morning. If I don't I run out of ideas and like you it gets a bit dull riding the same roads. I think you need a destination a lot of the time.

As for riding alone I think 98% of my riding is alone and I don't mind it. I do miss someone to chat to when I stop but then that's why I pick say Heybridge or Manningtree or Grantchester as a ride so when I get there at least there is something to look at.

There's nothing quite like the feeling I get when I sneak out early on a summer Sunday morning and do 150 miles and get home just as everyone else is setting out

Yup me too. Didn't do it so much last year as the weather was pants but up and out in the summer and back in time for shorts and flip flops when the temps rise.

I've been riding bikes over 40 years and I really enjoy it.

Yup, riding is still pretty much in my top 3 things I wanna do given the chance.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Not sure if the top thing I want to do is ride a bike or have sex, 10 years ago it was definitely sex, but at 56 my sex drive has dropped from what it used to be.

[Supermofo]

Not sure if the top thing I want to do is ride a bike or have sex, 10 years ago it was definitely sex, but at 56 my sex drive has dropped from what it used to be.

I'm still in the sex is definitely top age!!! Both involve riding though

[weeksy]

Sometimes there's a thing called "too much sharing"

Can you guess when that may be ?

[Skub]

Cheese and mofo sitting in a tree.....

[Cousin Jack]

I'm still in the sex is definitely top age!!! Both involve riding though

I still enjoy both. However, at 78, whilst I can still ride a bike all day, the other sort of riding is just a bit shorter.

[Supermofo]

Cheese and mofo sitting in a tree.....

Sod that he's got a Honda!!!!

[Count Steer]

[Dodgy]

Just curious as to why people maybe don't ride or gave it up?

I don't, always wanted to, something always got in the way (parents, money, wife, money, kid) - now I can finally, my 10 year old has laid on the guilt trip quite heavily and my poor ADHD rattled mind is continuing to go back and forth on it.

So yeah, just curious really

Not at the moment and for a while now

I wrote a bike off when my wife was pregnant with our first and had just had another cancer scare, and that did it for me, my family need me around more than I need my fix. I think I'm up to 6 good friends now who are no longer with us because of bike crashes

I'd like to get back on but not until family flown the nest, so realistically it's gonna be another 10 years, my daughter's only 11. Plus my wife has been sick again for the past 2 years so at the mo it's completely off the agenda. Way it goes

[Ian]

I commuted every day since I was 17 but these days I work from home. Now I work one weekend, on call out another, then we visit MIL 3 hours away the next but need the car to take her out. That leaves one weekend free. Usually the weekend when it's pissing it down.
Friends have died or moved away too.
It's depressing. I'm inclined to keep a bike outside so I can jump on it at short notice like when we were kids but it would get stolen around here.
I need to get out and cheer up !

[Yorick]

I commuted every day since I was 17 but these days I work from home. Now I work one weekend, on call out another, then we visit MIL 3 hours away the next but need the car to take her out. That leaves one weekend free. Usually the weekend when it's pissing it down.
Friends have died or moved away too.
It's depressing. I'm inclined to keep a bike outside so I can jump on it at short notice like when we were kids but it would get stolen around here.
I need to get out and cheer up !

Can't you find somewhere to hire a bike?. Even if just a few times a year. And cheaper and safer than ownership.

[Skub]

I commuted every day since I was 17 but these days I work from home. Now I work one weekend, on call out another, then we visit MIL 3 hours away the next but need the car to take her out. That leaves one weekend free. Usually the weekend when it's pissing it down.
Friends have died or moved away too.
It's depressing. I'm inclined to keep a bike outside so I can jump on it at short notice like when we were kids but it would get stolen around here.
I need to get out and cheer up !

Circumstances change Ian. There's a tendency to think 'this is how life is' when you are in the middle of things,but crappy times move on and there will be opportunities to lift the mood with a good bike ride. Keep the faith bro.

[Ian]

Can't you find somewhere to hire a bike?. Even if just a few times a year. And cheaper and safer than ownership.

Oh I own a small collection of very nice bikes (not all on the road) but the issue is opportunity. When it happens it takes an hour to get all togged up and get everything unlocked.
Maybe I'm nostalgic for the days when the bike was under the kitchen window and protective clothing was a pair of hi tops and a jacket

[Rockburner]

Can't you find somewhere to hire a bike?. Even if just a few times a year. And cheaper and safer than ownership.

Oh I own a small collection of very nice bikes (not all on the road) but the issue is opportunity. When it happens it takes an hour to get all togged up and get everything unlocked.
Maybe I'm nostalgic for the days when the bike was under the kitchen window and protective clothing was a pair of hi tops and a jacket

Yup - it may not seem like much of a barrier - but there's definitely a mental "block" there when you have to get changed, then undo all the security, and re-secure the garage before you can "jump on" the bike. I have the same, made a bit worse by needing to get out a ramp each time as well. I know it sounds a bit soft, but when life is busy, all the small little barriers to something do seem to add up.

[Skub]

Can't you find somewhere to hire a bike?. Even if just a few times a year. And cheaper and safer than ownership.

Oh I own a small collection of very nice bikes (not all on the road) but the issue is opportunity. When it happens it takes an hour to get all togged up and get everything unlocked.
Maybe I'm nostalgic for the days when the bike was under the kitchen window and protective clothing was a pair of hi tops and a jacket

If I've a notion of heading out the following day,I prepare the day before,so there are as few obstacles as possible. I'll take the Zed off the Abba stand and have it sitting ready to wheel out,sometimes just not having to do one more thing is enough to smooth the path.

[cheb]

I rarely use the bikes now for various reasons. The usual faffing one but partly I'm not riding for the sorts of reason that suit peaky 2Ts. I've a vague plan to get them sold, TDR250 and a DT200R, and replace them with something softer.

I find myself looking at Harleys on Ebay, there's only a couple or three of interest on there ATM. It's only a narrow time period that they made what I want.

[Rockburner]

I rarely use the bikes now for various reasons. The usual faffing one but partly I'm not riding for the sorts of reason that suit peaky 2Ts. I've a vague plan to get them sold, TDR250 and a DT200R, and replace them with something softer.

I find myself looking at Harleys on Ebay, there's only a couple or three of interest on there ATM. It's only a narrow time period that they made what I want.

Knowing you..... you're after one of those horrible AMC shiteboxes!

[Scotsrich]

Turning 70 in a couple of months and still riding.

Honestly it’s the social side that keeps me going, weekends away or just an evening ride with the lads.

It helps that my wife loves going pillion so we’re out a couple of times a week, the drawback in that is I need a bike that suits her rather than something that just suits me.

If it was just me going out by myself I quite possibly wouldn’t have a bike at all now.

[cheb]

I rarely use the bikes now for various reasons. The usual faffing one but partly I'm not riding for the sorts of reason that suit peaky 2Ts. I've a vague plan to get them sold, TDR250 and a DT200R, and replace them with something softer.

I find myself looking at Harleys on Ebay, there's only a couple or three of interest on there ATM. It's only a narrow time period that they made what I want.

Knowing you..... you're after one of those horrible AMC shiteboxes!

Irk the purists. Are Harley owners clubs inclusive?

[Druid]

I rarely use the bikes now for various reasons. The usual faffing one but partly I'm not riding for the sorts of reason that suit peaky 2Ts. I've a vague plan to get them sold, TDR250 and a DT200R, and replace them with something softer.

I find myself looking at Harleys on Ebay, there's only a couple or three of interest on there ATM. It's only a narrow time period that they made what I want.

Knowing you..... you're after one of those horrible AMC shiteboxes!

Irk the purists. Are Harley owners clubs inclusive?

No idea, why don't you rock up at your local HOG meet. Bound to be one near you