how do you motivate yourself to ride in rubbish weather?

Great stuff above. More prosaically, you will get wet, but overshoes definitely make it less vile. Enjoy. The road in the wet is better than inside in the wet.

I don't suffer from depression (I don't think) but I do have times when I'm almost inert, like a feeling that I just can't move to do anything. I've learnt that I have to apply real mental focus (actually learnt in martial arts classes) to do what I need to do (e.g. get ready) but then once I'm out, such feelings disappear.

When the weather looks grotty, I console myself with two things: if few(er) others are out training, then I'm catching them up fitness-wise, and that I get the chance to use the posh Rapha rain jacket that I got in a sale. Perhaps treat yourself to something fancy that makes the poor weather a positive?

The other thing is that I try to use familiar routes, but each one infrequently so that almost every ride I can secure a couple of personal records on Strava.

Good luck and stay positive.

Would agree with everything above especially Rule 9 and arrange to ride in a group; rides in poor weather are very memorable occasionally for the wrong reasons. I will never forget a ride in a group where we had a snowball fight whilst riding (we were able to reach down and gather snow) and finding myself riding down hill on sheet ice, there were gaps of dry tarmac but none wide enough to stop, so I was able to almost stop and then had to release the brake and pray. I got to what I thought was the end of the ice, found the 'wet' road was black ice and went down like a sack of spuds without a scratch! Mudguards are also a necessary evil. But where cycling and bad weather are concerned the rule that there is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes is worth remembering. Was thinking this all the way round the 100 mile Exmoor Beast this year, I would have paid a lot of money for a pair of overshoes! It was bitter weather but I still finished

Apparently, the excersise you get from regular cycling (whatever the weather) encourages you body to release some sort of 'happy hormones' - I always feel great after riding. I commute in all weathers and find (as eluded to above - the tube) I don't get the nasty bugs that inhabit trains, tubes and places where hundreds of people gather - a second class ride beats a first class train every time.

A close buddie was actually recommended to start cycling to reduce stress/anxiety which he suffered bad with, he was a different person a few weeks into riding to work. I find a great relief when I ride in the rain - some call me mad but I genuinely love it in the rain.

I do s***t myself (regularly) in the icy weather though.

Go for it but don't wreck your new (excellent) bike - good luck with it and get some decent kit to keep you dry (ish) and warm.

Regards

Trikeman.

When you bike in the rubbish weather, it makes you realise how much funriding in great weather is.

One other thing, treat your bike as another member of the family, so when you've thrashed it around, come home and give it a nice clean bath and dry it off thoroughly, it will love you back for longer that way.

Take care of it and you shall have a longer life with it.

externilise the distractions, weather, crap roads, life,s problems and focus on the ride and how good it is to be doing what you enjoy.

Even in the worst weather, my bike commute is better than being on the Tube...

Rule 9.

That's a good feeling.

Team up with a mate.

Also:

#9

After a couple of years of (almost) daily commuting in all weathers in west central Scotland I'd say that if you can persist enough for a couple of months it will just become habit, and the weather really won't bother you. Also I have noticed a big upturn in my mood since I made regular cycling the norm; things just don't bother me as much and I feel confident to take on what life throws at me.
Do it enough to make it habit and you will start to enjoy all the benefits. Mudguards aren't a bad idea too!

Just relish the challenge

Commute in all weathers and just accept it as part of the bike experience but I won't go out riding for pleasure if it's chucking it down. And I definitely won't be getting my 'best' bike covered in mud, salt etc!

I suffer from severe depression, anxiety and recently had the body blow of being diagnosed with early onset parkinson's.

I still manage to get myself out in bad weather, snow, sleet, rain, wind....etc

I find it helps me get away from "normal" life, wind in my hair and forgot for a couple of hours how shit things are turning at home. FREEDOM.

You just have to wrap up warm and forget the weather, focus on the cycling