Try something completely different

If you’re feeling meh about racing this season, try swapping racing for adventure. That might mean switching from cyclocross to gravel racing, shifting from cross country mountain biking to enduro, or road racing to bikepacking. “I had a couple pretty bad crashes on the road, and I was getting tired of travelling across the country to race a couple times for an hour or two at a time,” Gutgesell says. “That made me shift my perspective: I didn’t want to race in a professional capacity anymore. It started to feel like the downsides outweighed the fun. I started riding more gravel at home and realized I loved the training. I could mountain bike, I could run, I could explore new roads and it was all part of race prep.” Look for the more adventurous and less competition-focused version of the style of racing that you once loved.