After falling out of love with cycling for around six months, how did I get back here? If you missed part one of this series, you can check that our first here.

As you can expect, not riding my bike for months had some pretty big consequences. My cycling fitness was in the weeds which did nothing for my motivation. As they say, sometimes the hardest step is getting out the door!

That’s not to say I was totally inactive. During the year I took up regular weight training. Cycling fitness is very specific and I truly believe everyone should do some form of strength training. After years of constant riding and keeping my bodyweight low, my body responded quickly by putting on a decent amount of weight. To go along with my plummeting FTP, I also had to lug an extra 10kg (~22 lbs) up the climbs. On the upside I look a little less like a weedy road cyclist and no longer struggle hauling heavy bags of livestock feed around the property.

Check out my “Strava Fitness” chart for the last 12 months below. I started 2025 at an all-time high as far as cycling fitness went, then promptly fell off a cliff. 😂

Since around July-August of 2025 it’s been a slow grind to get fit again. I’m still not there, but I’ve come to terms with that. My “comeback” hasn’t just been about the road back to cycling fitness, but also about the road back to cycling enjoyment. For much of the second half of the year enjoyment was far more important than speed or watts.

There were a few key factors that helped me find that enjoyment again:

• Taking the gravel bike and exploring new roads and local trails
• Switching off the Garmin screen and simply taking in the sights and sounds
• Riding with friends and remembering to stop for coffee
• Not worrying about Strava
• Ignoring average speeds and total distances

After a month or so, I started to enjoy my time on two wheels again. I found it easier to kit up and get out the door without having to force myself. I finally wanted to ride again. With each passing ride it got easier and easier, and with that my fitness started to trend upwards again.

This trend was helped by a last-ditch effort to knock out another Rapha Festive 500. Every year I say I’m not going to do it, then every year in December I get suckered in. This time with my far lower levels of endurance, it was actually pretty tough. I edged over the line with 504km. Compare that to last time when I easily blew past 600km.

I did manage my first metric century since March, and also my first ride with over 1000 metres (3280+ feet) of elevation gain since February, so things are definitely on the up. I’ve even started adding in some intensity sessions with threshold and VO2 Max efforts.

So what’s next for me? Honestly, I’m not sure. I have no specific targets that I need to “train” for. Because of that I’m being mindful not to get caught in the “training trap” again. I’ll continue to keep it fun and limit the training/interval rides for now. Perhaps I’ll get around to another UCI World’s Fondo or gravel race at some point.

For now though, I’ll just try and get out there more and enjoy the ride. 🙂