Commuting - Addicted to the ride.

With the holidays, duty and the like, I've been off the bike commute for almost two weeks (from 3 times a week to zero last week, and this week will be zero).

I've noticed that I'm more tense and edgy. How funny, but who knew that it could be addictive!!!

So last night when I got home, it wasn't to late, so I went out and did a 10 mile spin. Really nice!

Ah yes - the dangers of trying to go cold turkey from bicycle commuting.

Many people have been able to kick the habit over the years but you just have to see the emptiness in their eyes to know that something is missing.

Life is never the same without the daily dose.

Don't fight the addiction - roll with it.

I have the same problem. I can't go without riding for more than about two days without getting some kind of withdrawal symptoms.

I've received news from my job that I've got to attend a 4 day something-or-other in North Carolina. In other words, no bike for me. I don't know what I'm going to do. :mad:

Congradulations, the first step in dealing with addition is recognizing that you are an addict. It is imperative that you properly deal with the addiction, you can either try to beat it (in this case probably hopeless) or fuel it (the prefered method for cycling addiction).

Happy riding! ;)

I'm not sure if it's an addiction, but if I don't ride I feel guilt!.

maybe years in therapy will cure me.

Originally posted by chewa
I'm not sure if it's an addiction, but if I don't ride I feel guilt!.

Maybe years in therapy will cure me.
Maybe it would - but you'd probably cycle to your therapy sessions. That would kind of defeat the purpose so you might as well just ride.

Cycling IS therapy!!!

Save your money, what you would waste at the therapist would buy a new bike or two!!

Working in the recovery field, being a recovering addict myself, I am not a doctor but play one on the radio, there are these natural chemicals in the brain that are released when we excersize.

There are chemical compounds that mimic these naturals, and people ingest them, they fool the brain, often causing that natural "high" or euphoric feeling. When folks ingest these chemicals on an ongoing basis, the brain decides it no longer needs to make it's own. So the person takes a little more or a lot more depending on the desired effect. When they quit there is a low(one reason they suggest people taking anti-depressants to not stop them cold turkey) an addict tends to compansate for this low and take bigger quantities, more is better.

Now the question should be presented, are you addicted to the biking or the chemicals created? Myself I think it is a little of both. I love getting out there and sweating. I love reaching down for the shifters, only to remember I don't have shifters on the fixie and I'm in the middle of a monster hill. I love stopping in at a friends house juiced by the ride, incredibly happy, talking nonsense cause my brain isn't functioning yet. And then there is the more is better:

Met a guy yesterday on the commute who says he's doing an average of 80 miles a day on a single speed. I felt small in comparison, I'm doing 30 to 40 a day, on a variety of bikes, not just the fixies, or the road. All I could think of was how I need to do more miles. When? How?

There is another part of addiction we forget about. It is the acutriments(sp). I am addicted to the feel and look of me in my bike shorts, there's the gloves, I have three pair. Helmet, I want more than the one I've got. And the bikes, I have 8 rideable bikes and 10 more frames to work on(ONE IS TOO MANY, A THOUSAND NEVER ENOUGH). There is the look from other people, both other bikers and none commuters, you know that "wow, you ride six miles?" "No, I said I'm six miles from work, I ride a circut that is 20 miles long to get to work."

I'm addicted, a healthy addiction, and I get bummed when I cna't ride, I just learn to ride all the time, even in the winter. I've even built a bike just for winter riding.