When you decide to start to bike commute, your initial enthusiasm and motivation is sky-high. There is nothing that will keep you off that bike. The car is a thing of the past, right? However, over time, this enthusiasm is replaced with the desire to take the easy option and motivation slump ensues.
You need to develop a strong bike commuter mindset to make sure you opt for the bike when times get tough, to do this you need to create consistent habits that support cycling to work. You need to tell yourself bike commuting it is not a choice, it is simply part of your identity, part of who you are, you are a bike commuter.
As with any good choice you make, consistency is a key factor in developing your bike commute mindset and ensuring you stay motivated even when times are tough. Maintaining consistency is the key challenge in any worthwhile endeavour.
James Clear articulates, in his best selling book ‘Atomic Habits’, the importance of incremental improvements in your habits being a major key to success in all aspects of life, and bike commuting are no different.
Why Do We Lose Motivation?
When you first decide to commute to work by bike, nothing can stop you. You are excited about applying to Cycle Scheme, or other scheme, excited to get your voucher, can’t wait to go and get your bike and gear and you hit those first few commuted with a wave of enthusiasm.
As the weeks roll on, the weather changes and the routine of normal life kick in, you loose motivation. You start to slip into old habits, you take the car a few days of the week and before you know it the bike is in the shed gathering dust.
Why do we loose motivation like this? We know all the benefits of bike commuting in our head and our hearts. We know the health and wellbeing benefits, we know the environmental benefits and we know the cost savings that this can bring. These are, after all, the reason we start bike commuting to begin with.
To understand why we lose motivation, for an activity that is massively beneficial to us, we need to look at the underlying phycology.
The mechanism which causes this is referred to as the Hot-Cold Empathy Gap. This mindset is defined as a cognitive bias in which people underestimate the influences of visceral drives on their own attitudes, preferences, and behaviours.
The simpler explanation is that people underestimate how they may feel in the future based on the state of their feelings in the moment. For example, when you are angry, it is very difficult to remember a time when you were not angry. When you are motivated, it’s impossible to see a future state where you are not motivated. When the future comes, and motivation is receding, its hard to recall the past motivation you once had.
To illustrate this, take the following example from a study by psychologists David Read and George Loewenstein (1989):
Suppose I offered to pay you money to visit my lab next week and perform a painful task–say, immersing your hand in ice-cold water. How much would you charge for this little sacrifice?
You might think it would be easy to put a price on your own pain. But in studies, the answers given depended heavily on prior experience.
- People who had just experienced the effects of ice-water immersion demanded the most money for doing it again.
- People who had experienced the pain before, but not recently, asked for less monetary compensation.
- People who had never experienced the pain demanded the least amount of money of all.
In addition to this, the human phycology has evolved to make impulse a reaction needed for survival. Instinctive decision making based on the moment is what kept the cave people safe from the grisly bears. This means we are more likely to make a bad or negative choice, in the moment, without fully considering our future selves.
This is the reason you eat the doughnut. You satisfy the urge driven by the prefrontal cortex (PFC) part of your brain that gives us the impulsive desire. This part of the brain wants to run your thoughts and decisions to make sure you get what you need in the specific moment without too much regard for the long term impact which is controlled by the Limbic System.
The structures and interacting areas of the limbic system are involved in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. The limbic systems is where your longer-term decision making comes from and it is this area that battles with the prefrontal cortex to ensure your choices are the best for your future self.
So when you fist start out, your limbic system is dominating over the prefrontal cortex and giving all the motivation you need to get on the bike commute come rain or shine. Over time, the prefrontal cortex kicks in and tells the limbic system to back off. The best thing for me today is to stay out of the rain and cold in the comfort of my car even though you know full well that your bike commute is a hugely beneficial choice.
Human nature wants to take the easy road when a choice is in place, this is a protection mechanism to ensure we are not harmed. It is the power of the longer term view and looking after your future self that will overpower the impulsive part of the brain and embed good habits consistently over the long term.
Why Bike to Work?
Remember why we initially wanted to bike commute? There were a huge number of reasons that we opted to get involved in this transport mode. This vary depending on you, but the benefits for health, wellbeing, finances, fitness, stress, environment are very widely reported.
These reasons are omnipresent and are still benefits even if you are not too compelled to remember them. We have all skipped the odd commute, its human nature, but when we fail to get motivated for a day it is important to ‘get back on the horse (or bike)’ as soon as possible. There are loads of excuses we all use to talk ourselves out of doing the right thing for our future selves. Some of the excuses that may creep into your brain, and we have all used at least some of these, include:
- It’s too cold this morning
- It’s wet (or any other changeable weather), it may be a bit more dangerous so I shouldn’t bike
- I have an important meeting and don’t have time to bike commute (even though it may take longer in the car due to traffic)
- We have plans tonight I need to get back for
- I am a little sore from cycling (or anything else)
- I feel a bit under the weather
- I am a bit tired this morning, I will cycle tomorrow
- My bike is in the shed
- My bike was making a ‘click’ noise yesterday
- I don’t have clean cycling clothes
- I don’t have clean clothes in my locker at work
The list is endless, none of these are true of course, they are just the stories we tell ourselves as a result of our prefrontal cortex winning the battle with our limbic system, that PFC is sneaky.
We still want to ride to work when we think about why we did it in the first place. We even may go to bed wanted to cycle to work, only to wake up and the motivation evaporated (thanks again empathy gap and PFC).
So, how can we overcome these excuses? How can we prime our limbic system to ensure it is dominant in the morning when we choose our commute method? How to we get the ideal bike commute mindset?
Maintaining Good Habits
Bike commuting, if continued consistently over a long time period, can become a habit. Once a positive thing in your life becomes habit, you feel more uncomfortable not doing it than doing it which makes the slips in motivation less likely.
There are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ habits, only habits that contribute towards your goals and habits that do not. Bike commuting should be seen as a key contributing habit to your health and fitness, resilience to stress, and maintaining a strong mental wellbeing. These are all kind things to do for the future you.
The more you can embed this habit and become a bike commuter, not just someone who bike commutes, you can overcome any doubt and slip in motivation, you will have a bike commuter mindset.
It is reported that is can take 30 days to embed a habit in your behaviour, that goes for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ habits. The good news is you can change your habit with the right level of commitment and effort.
Over the 30 day period you will go through 3 states of challenge in your habit setting.
The first 10 days will be UNBEARABLE, you will want to revert to your old habit and there will be a lot of resistance to the changes you are trying to make in your subconscious.
Days 10-20 will be UNCOMFORTABLE, it will be slightly easier to keep up your habit but old ways will want to take over, so keep your guard up.
Somewhere between day 20 and day 30 you will become UNSTOPPABLE. The habit will be formed. Great.
Embedding new habits take commitment and effort. You need to identify the triggers that stop you from fulfilling the ‘good’ habit. For a bike commuting habit, you will need to identify the things that stop the habit form forming and sustaining. You will need to devise a plan to overcome the triggers when they present themselves.
From the list of excuses identified in this article, below are some strategies for overcoming the excuses that stop you from forming the habit.
- It’s too cold this morning – you need to make sure you have all the necessary clothing for your commute, so whatever the weather, you are ready to go. Make sure these clothes are prepared and laid out the night before your commute.
- It’s wet (or any other changeable weather) – see above, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad choice of clothing
- I have an important meeting and don’t have time to bike commute (even though it may take longer in the car due to traffic) – set the alarm earlier than usual to give yourself extra time. Make sure all your gear is ready the night before so you can just get on the road and don’t have to mess around with preparation in the morning.
- We have plans tonight I need to get back for – tell yourself you have to get home anyway, and in traffic, driving could take just as long. You also need to remind yourself that enjoying a lavish meal or a few drinks is much easier when you have a physical workout under your belt!
- I am a little sore from cycling (or anything else) – as long as this is just muscle soreness and not injury, you will be fine, start slow and the muscles will soon loosen up.
- I feel a bit under the weather – Review this article to get the advice of commuting when sick! In short, you can still bike commute when ill.
- I am a bit tired this morning, I will cycle tomorrow – whilst we all need a break from time to time, ensure you put everything in place to make sure the bike commute happens tomorrow. Don’t let the habit drop. If you don’t feel like it, it is an even better opportunity to embed the habit by just doing it!!
- My bike is in the shed – get it out the night before and put it in front of the door so you have to move it to get out of the house.
- My bike was making a ‘click’ noise yesterday – no it wasn’t!!
- I don’t have clean cycling clothes – dirty clothes are fine!!
- I don’t have clean clothes in my locker at work – that’s why we have bags. This article shows how you can take your work clothes on your bike commute!!
Putting some strategies in place will set up the right environment to embed your bike commute habit. The key is to make the habit easier than not doing it. Have a think about how you can make this work for you.
Tips for Staying Motivated
Even with the habit forming tips in this article, there may still be times you struggle to maintain your bike commute. Below are additional tips that may help you stay on track and strengthen your bike commute mindset.
Preperation
We have already mentioned that good preparation is important for habit forming. The more you can put on autopilot in the morning when you are tired, the better. I always put my bike out by the front door, check the tires and perform other maintenance, the night before. I put my cycling shoes next to my bike with my helmet and other accessories.
I always put my cycle clothes out ready to just put straight on. I never shower before my commute, I shower at work, but I do have a refreshing wash and brush my teeth. My cycle clothes are in the bathroom where I can’t miss them. No excuse not to put them on.
A key issue with cycling to work is it may make you more hungry. To combat this, I prepare breakfast and lunch the night before so I can put it in my bag straight away and get on the road. No morning food preparation. I can then eat as soon as I sit down at work. I also fill up both my water bottles the night before and put them in the fridge, all ready to go!
Alternative Bikes and Routes
You may mostly use your road bike for your bike commute, but why not mix it up. If you have a MTB, you could try a different route and spice things up a little bit. A small change from the mundane monotony of your commute may be enough just to spark a fresh spate of motivation.
You could also look to part commute, i.e. take public transport or the car part of the way and cycle the rest. This strategy may just take the intimidation out of the commute and enable you to be more consistent.
Mini-Challenges
If you are like me, I love a little competition. Not ‘dog-eat-dog’ competition but just enough to motivate. When I bike commute, I challenge myself on every journey. Tracking apps, such as Strava, allow you to measure particular segment times of your commute.
I use this to try and beat my personal best and move up the Strava leaderboards. Everyday then becomes an opportunity to beat my followers who take the same route. You will be amazed how many of your colleagues, who also bike commute, will use some of the same routes as you, especially as you get closer to work. Friendly competition can be a great way to keep a strong bike commute mindset and maintain motivation.
Ride with a Friend or Colleague
As you discover people within the workplace who bike commute, you can offer to meet them en-route to ride the rest of the way. By meeting someone, you stay accountable to the process of bike commuting, you don’t want to be the one letting your friend down after all.
As the relationship devleops here you can opt to take longer routes to work and catch up socially. Who knows, this may blossom into a great friendship and cycling to work partnership.
Summary
There is no doubt there will be days when the last thing you want to do is jump on the bike for your commute. Now you know a little more about why motivation vacates us and some strategies to counteract them, you can try to build and maintain this great all-round habit for the massive benefits for the future YOU!!
