Help! Motivation needed to get on bike. Argh!

Exactly the same here, I hit the same block with MTBing 2 years ago after 3 crap summers in a row & lost my love for it after 20 years (that actually still hurts )swapped to road biking all excited but after 2 years hit a block over Christmas, my hill climbing & sprint ability crashed hugely in 2 weeks & motivation was next to zero & the thought of yet another winter of frozen fingers & soaked feet filled me with dark moments.

Thankfully my effervescent cycling buddy has kept dragging me out & slowly but surely I can feel it coming back, I know it’s going to be a long hard road to summer & I really doubt I will ever again in my life hit the height of fitness I had last year (I’m 47) but the knowledge that somewhere out there those warm sunny days are nearby & we’ve now incorporated a proper coffee stop with cake rather than the grabbed at the petrol station routine we normally do the light is slowly but surely blinking into life again at the end of my tunnel.

Join a club; make some new friends, discover some new routes...just "freshen" the whole thing up again.

Nothing wrong with having a break, I fell out of love with the mtb last year (before having my road steed) so I didn't bother, then all of a sudden I couldn't wait to go out.

Flipside I deal with longterm illness and aways make the effort apart from my blip, did 46 miles in the horrible weather yesterday. Getting blown all over the road and puddles in my socks was great fun..

Watch some of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4b4DJFStVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkZFsbAhCLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWaYt2V9y2c

Cake. Search out a cake shop X miles away, ride there, eat cake, ride back.

Ride with family. Ride with friends. Ride with complete strangers. Go offroad.

Riding makes you cooler, smarter and more charitable. It's science! Go science!

Try looking after my twins, you'll soon realize how lucky you are that you CAN get out on your bike!

You mean you actually go out of your house without a bicycle?

Buy a new bike, a really expensive new bike!

No real harm in taking a break, nothing really wrong with giving up the bikes altogether.
Regarding motivation, and I'm not a fan of UK riding, I found that the best pieces of kit I have are overshoes and mud guards. This made the first stage of getting on the bloody thing easier. Then after a few minutes I'm in the groove. Sometimes I'll have a plan B, like today, which means I can complete a pre-planned route rather than aborting or failing.
Running when I really can't be bothered/it's raining cats & dogs/I have little time.

Some new hardware/clothing always works for me - got to get on the bike to check it out....
A different type of riding or a new area is another motivator ?
Failing that, set yourself a challenge that you know is going to stretch you so you gave to get out there.
Good luck !

2 things that work for me:
1. Break the cycle. Tell yourself it's just 30mins and get out there
if you do more great, if not then at least your giving the endorphins a chance to convince you all over again!
2. Have a goal - maybe a sportive, ski holiday whatever, but visualise how good you will feel of you work hard!

best of luck dude!

I'm afraid I can't help as I don't need motivation, although I'm not one for going out when the weather is foul.

I don't even need to motivate myself to complete an absolute beasting on the turbo trainer.

Perhaps it's because I know that when I'm out on my bike in the sunshine I'm superior to the non-cyclists and that I enjoy challenging myself.

Or perhaps it's because I observe the obese sloths wallowing around in their ill fitting shit from Sports Direct and that my lucky stars that I'm a roady.

Just look at yourself naked in a full length mirror ! thats normally enough for me to get back on my bike

Get out on your bloody bike for me ...I've been ill with chest infections, on top of my normal stuff, so haven't been on the bike in longer than I'd care to remember....

But I know how you feel, I have 0 impetus to get out on the bike, I have no interest in the fantasy game at all, entered a team and haven't even looked at the scores. My interest in professional cycling sits around .5% and the .5 is just for the womans world cup I'm running.