For the first time in at least a decade, I’ve lost all motivation to ride. Not just train, it’s like all my love of cycling is gone. And it’s a weird feeling, and a bit unsettling. I’ve been riding for 15 years or so, racing for 6ish. And even when I don’t feel like training or doing hard intervals, I’ve always had motivation to ride. The bike has always been my happy place. It’s meditation. It’s helped with anxiety, it’s helped with depression. But I just have no desire to get on the bike anymore. I took some time off in hopes that it would spark something. But nope. I hop on the trainer and can’t even finish sweetspot. And an hour into a chill Z2 ride I need to get off. And I can’t tell if I fail workouts because I don’t have motivation, or I don’t have motivation because I keep failing workouts. It’s like a downward spiral. Yesterday I got on and within 5 minutes of a sweetspot interval at 90% FTP, my HR was in VO2 max range. I can’t even finish a Zwift race, which I tried as an attempt to do something different. I’ve tried riding outside, but my local area is incredibly unsafe apart from a 10 mile loop that I’ve done probably 50 times in the last few months. I just don’t know what to do anymore.
Have you tried lifting weights? Maybe just need to switch to another fitness hobby for a while and then add cycling back in when you feel like it or the weather is better. Hope you feel better soon!
Not a bad idea. Maybe I just need a new outlet for a bit.
I agree it’s time to take a break from cycling pressure in your head. Take up running or walking or hiking or lifting or whatever for a while. Just keep moving. In time, the motivation will return, for whatever reason. Just take the pressure off your brain for a while.
Having said that, if I was failing workouts because I was at 90% HR five minutes into a SS workout, that would be a great big glaring red light that my ftp was too high. I’d either drop ftp if I was wanting to do intervals and structure, or just get on the bike and spin easy while catching up on Movies/Shows for a week or two. Racing on Zwift would be the opposite of what I would do. If that didn’t fix it, I’d consider it time for a break.
Perhaps you still enjoy cycling just not training and racing. Have you thought about looking for fun no drop rides or group rides with a destination that dont involve “see who gets there first”. I found that sitting at the back chatting up a few slower people helped them and I forgot that I was riding.
The crazy part is that a week earlier I did 2x30 at the same target power. My progression was to move on to 5x15 but failed on the second interval. So I gave it a few days and tried again, which is when I noticed the high HR. I don’t feel sick or overly fatigued, just no motivation.
One thing I sometimes do is engage in retail therapy. I’ll get something new for the bike or riding that will motivate me to ride. It could be just about anything that tickles my fancy at the time; new shoes, bibs, tires, bars, stem, saddle, pedals, dropper, wheels, drivetrain, bike… It can get expensive, but if I’m not too deep in the doldrums, new bar tape or grips might do it.
I would go do another hobby, It might be a year, years, maybe never before it comes back.
Life it too short to be miserable trying to recreate motivation when its not there, you either have to commit to “just showing up” or do something different.
I quit a hobby a couple years ago, actually I had quit earlier but kept trying to tough it out. My wife was shocked, saying “what are you going to do, this is your lifestyle”. I started a new hobby, which is fun as everything is new, and I kind of suck, so I am motivated. I also returned to a hobby I quit 15 years. The fire that was lost has been rekindled.
Making sure that I have an upcoming event on the calendar has helped my motivation.
I am amazed that I am still riding so much. I have switched hobbies several times.
Sometimes we just lose interest in things. Go do something else. I randomly got interested in rock climbing several years ago and go at least once a week to the indoor climbing gym.
We’ve had crap weather for my last two group rides, which have subsequently been cancelled and then I ate something in the staff canteen which disagreed with me big time and saw me skip Tuesday’s VO2max session. And whilst I could have probably did Wednesday’s endurance session and definitely could have done Thursday’s Over/Unders, I had no motive to do so. Then rinse and repeat, Saturday’s group ride was cancelled due to the weather. I could have thrown in the towel at that point but I’m 99% certain, that the only reason I’m still here when under age bowel/colon cancer hit, is because I was reasonably fit, and I want to stay that way. Fortunately yesterday’s group ride was rearranged for today and it was 
I also have a recovery week to ease me back in.
No prob. Here is a great chance to do some other cardio sport.
I recommend experimenting with ski erg or rowing…the reason being most seasoned cyclists will really notice a difference after doing a little bit of either. Those two exercises cause you to focus on your upper body ( which cycling kinda neglects, let’s be honest ). Most people like the way a little bit of rowing makes them look. Also, I’m a big believer that a little bit of rowing can help un-do many, many ‘repetitive use’ niggles that cycling can cause.
Try some swimming because if you think riding a bike is getting boring a good bunch of swimming can make you re-discover how interesting riding around can be.
Pick a 5k & slowly ramp up running.
Give hyrox a try.
You know, look, you are stuggling with cycling motivation right now. Allow yourself to internally validate that. It is ok. But you don’t have to let your fitness suffer. Swim, run, lift, row, whatever interests you…but don’t get rid of the bike. Maybe one day you can just say to yourself, ‘You know what? It’s a nice day out. I’m going to ride my bike to the gym today…’
It’s funny cos it’s true
To me that suggests impending illness or maybe overtraining. Assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere it’s the perfect time of year to take time off. 2 or 3 weeks of complete rest and then start some sort of endurance exercise, but it doesn’t need to be cycling. Wait till you’re excited to ride again before getting back on it.
I have a doctor’s appointment this week. I took the weekend completely off, and hopped on yesterday for some easy zone 2. My HR was close to 150 BPM within 20 minutes. Something isn’t right. That’s way too high; normally I’m around 120 for this power.
Let me guess, you haven’t taken two weeks off the bike in 6 years…
Take a 2-3 week end of season break. Take walks, play golf, tennis, walk the dog, whatever, hike, etc.
Come back and hit the gym plus ride endurance during the winter base phase.
Then take a couple of week long in-season breaks during the year.
Or just take a longer break. I took 8 months off a couple of years ago. I rowed every day and tried to run (unsuccessful) and went to the gym and swam at the gym. It was less aerobic work than my typical cycling week but when I decided to get back on the bike, I got 95% of my old FTP back in like 2 months. The last 5% took longer.
Nah. That’s normal after you take some time off. You know, blood volume, blahblahblah.
“Effects of detraining on cardiovascular responses to exercise: role of blood volume”
Not going to recapitulate on the other training-centric responses, which for you may be entirely valid (or not).
However, you mention that you’ve used cycling in the past deal with depression.
Are you depressed now? A cardinal feature of acute depression is anhedonia, or loss of interest.
I wonder if anhedonia can also make it feel like your legs are too tired, but actually you lack the willpower to make them work hard. I’ve experienced depression on and off for 30+ years… sometimes I can’t be bothered to do anything, other times it feels like my body is broken.
After a decade of training, and completing a full ironman (my first) last fall I had a really hard time getting / staying motivated this year. I ended up pulling the plug on racing and just tried to stay fit by running/riding/lifting/hiking. I also started paying much closer attention to my nutrition this year. Lifting brought the most joy, and now I can say I’m FULLY ready to race again in 2026. I just needed a break. I’m a 46yo male, if that matters. Best of luck to finding your way!