General Cycling Discussion - Group effort: Why I like cycling

Please add to the list!

1. Looking at my legs in the mirror
2. Hearing "You rode your bike howfar?
3. Post century meals
4. 280lbs pre bike, 200lbs post bike
5. Hanging at the LBS
6. Bike Forums
7. Cycling buddies
8. Traveling to cycling events
9. Seeing the world at 17 mph
10. Hearing the sound of cyclists clicking in after a stop light

4. Post Bike? Don't you mean "Today with continued biking"

11. Finding out that I have one degree of separation from the rest of the world while on my bike. The guy that sold me my bike is the next door neighbor of someone I work with. The guy I ran into on my commute the other day is the coworker of the guy that sold me my bike. The person I ate dinner with after our club ride used to be my CEO's roommate in college. The couple I rode with on a club ride used to work for my VP.

12. Running into people you know on bikes on the road.

13. The amazing sights that our club rides have found and rode to. Pt. Lobos Reserve!! oh man!!

14. Seeing a hill and climbing it, enjoying the amazing view. Coming home and still enjoying that view even though you are sore from the ride.

15. Sitting at work and pondering an effective way to work the logistics of rideing 50 miles by 9am so that you can get to the marina on time to get a boat. Sailing all day, then figuring out if you'll feel like riding home.

16. Hearing the wife say "You are too extreme with this whole bike thing."

Modification of number 2

1 - looking in mirror and seeing my lastest bruises and cuts from recent riding
2 - you rode your bike through what, what trick wow...sick
3 - post brutal ride beer and meal (I don't do centuries)
11 - during a brutally tough west coast ride it start raining and I get muddy and messed up during the ride
12 - nailing that drop, trick and feeling the adrenaline of another defeated fear

22. Closest I can get to owning a WRC car or Ferrari.

23. That feeling of being glutted with sun and vitamin D after a long ride on a warm summer day.

24. The guys I see out on their bikes. Hubba hubba!

feeling the same glee i felt riding around the neighborhood when i was 8.

Modification of 14:

Seeing a bridleway on a map, finding it and riding it just for the hell of it (I live in Cambridge so have no understanding of this "hill" concept)

:)

17) Spending an hour the next day cleaning the muck off my bike following 14

18) Cycling past my gridlocked colleagues who left 20 minutes before I did

1 - The look on my kids' face when I tell them "The shortest distance between two points is lots of little circles". They looked at me kinda funny...then they smiled and said..."Oh that's so cool - I get it!"

2 - Endorphin Buzz

3 - Adrenaline Buzz

4 - After ride Beer Buzz

5 - Money In The Bank (http://www.bikecolorado.com/bc/resultsfastFacts.cfm?alid=148&letter=M&table=FastFacts) Money in the Bank? money in the bank n. the copious quantities of libations and food ingested prior to a big ride for the purpose of caloric withdrawl from "the bank" during the ride. Can be deposited AFTER a ride to make up for an overdrawn account as well.

6 - Riding with others.

7 - Riding alone.

8 - Beating others to the top of the next hill.

9 - Getting beaten to the top of the next hill.

10 - Setting a personal best.

11 - Getting over or through that sick technical set "clean".

12 - Coming home muddy, bloody and bruised!

24) The chicks I see on bikes!

25) Descending at 45 mph.

26) Guiltless carbo-loading

27) Having one of your buddies say "Nice pull!)

28) Beer

29) Wearing the same size pants I wore in college (but having to take them to the tailor to let the seat out!).

30) Knowing that I can reach any spot within a 100 miles of here under my own power.

31) Seeing Mapei tile grout at Home Depot and my first thought is that I knew that they sponsored a cycling team but had no idea what they made.

32) At the end of a long workday, knowing that instead of sitting in traffic, I'll be zipping by it.

33) Not caring how much gas costs.

34) Not caring how much parking costs.

35) Impressing the cagers by trackstanding at stoplights (okay, so maybe I'm only impressing myself....)

Getting to know people in BikeForums through chatting and getting to learn valuable information.

the self sufficiency. i can bring tools, food, drink with me and can go for as long as i wish.

Here's my list (includes stuff from quite some time back when I was seriously into cycling)

1 - Having my wife admire my legs.
2 - Post ride massages
3 - First place trophy from the Spring Thaw Bike Race, Midland, TX 1989 (first bike race I ever entered)
4 - 1990 Summer series fastest time, fastest average time tropies from San Antonio Bicycling Racing Club
5 - Watching my wife ride (she's a newbie) with an ear-to-ear smile on her face.
6 - The sound of 120 PSI tires on smooth flat pavement
7 - Out sprinting two boys on a minibike while riding my bicycle
8 - I'm losing weight, bad cholesterol and triglycerides doing it

Zack

I think the numbers got out of order...But who cares!!!

1)I like the constant challenge to go farther, and go faster
2) I like shopping for stuff
3) Bikeforums
4) Flexing my legs in front of people..:D

Originally posted by wabbit
24. The guys I see out on their bikes. Hubba hubba!

The feelings more than mutual... :D

1. Taking advantage of an absolutely glorious day (such as today).

2. Learning to appreciate some of the magnificent scenery around here (I never would have done otherwise)

3. Learning to love wind, hills and rain.

4. Seeing things that I would never have seen otherwise.

5. Post-ride soreness (kinda feels good, doesn't it).

6. Many of the things already mentioned.

1. Cameraderie
2. I'm still a fat guy, but my calves are SMOKIN!!!:)
3. Knowing how much my health is improving.
4. That feeling I start to get around mile 25-27, that bicycling is the greatest thing ever invented.
5. Speed, lots of it, under my own power. The first time I took her over 30mph on a flat, while pulling a group (that dropped real quick), was SUCH a rush!!
6. Riding BEHIND my wife on a LONG group ride, hubba-hubba!!

1. Truly hearing nature while traveling.
2. Some of the most wonderful smells in the world (as well as some of the worst)
3. Seeing things at a pace that can be full appreciated. Plus being able to pull over to the side of the road to take a long look.
4. Just knowing you can do it.

5) Colors, I like all the colors of jerseys, helmets, bikes, gloves, shoes...It bugs me that things are getting more and more boring(to me anyway) color wise..That is teh one drawback to my bike, it's silver and black..ugh.

1. Knowing that I CAN ride that 30 mile loop around town without dying
2. knowing i can do the first 15 and at a 15 mph average hills, wind and all.(hey I am just getting into this road biking thing give me a break on the turtle pace:) )
3. Knowing I do NOT need a ride thank you.
4. toys
5. hanging at the lbs
6. teasing coworkers that they can't do what I can LOL.

Why I like it?

- 'Cause I look better and am in better shape at 29 than I was at 19 :-)

1 Riding one of the world's greatest, simplest inventions and knowing how every bit works.

2 The post ride soak in the bath - paradise

3 Quality time speaking to my wife when we tour - shared experiences and interacting directly with our surroundings

4 Getting to wear lycra and loud shirts and not looking too bad in it.

5 Cycling to a cafe for lunch and knowing we'll burn off the calories on the way home.

6 Being de stressed to and from work

The saddle of my bike is the only place in the word where I'm in complete control. No one make any decisions for me or tells me what to do or where to go, I don't need filling stations or hotels. If I don't care for where I am, I just quietly pedal away.

1. Listening to my adult son tell me about his friends asking him if I was a bicycle racer after he told them how far and often I ride.

2. Having better looking legs than anyone at work (including the women).

3. Hearing my adult children say (when they come to visit), "Gee Dad, look how skinny you are".

Yeah, I like that feeling. I remember the day last summer when I caught my reflection in a window while waiting for the bus and thinking, "Gee, I look a bit slimmer these days." Somewhere along the way I lost 10 lbs and about an inch, and I was able to actually put on some pants and skirts I hadn't worn in two years, since I developed a thyroid problem and gained 15 lbs. And they still fit!

also- the satisfying feeling when you peel off your slimy, sweaty, eeewy stuff after a long ride and get into a warm, soapy shower and then sit on the front steps letting your hair dry.

Getting up early on a race day, looking at my beautiful bike I still don't believe is mine yet, slowly checking it over with the most careful of hands, cleaning, lubing, adjusting. Watching the rest of my team slowly show up to my house 30 later than the agreed on arrival time, taking a quick sprint around the local pond, packing up my old GMC Jimmy with all the bikes, equipment, and food required, finally getting on the road, but not before we hit the gas station and bike shop for those last minute things. Spending the hour plus in the non air conditioned truck with the windows down the radio loud talking about the new bike we want so badly, or the strategy of the days event. Getting to the race and going to get our number, looking over all the drool worthy bikes of the other competitors, and knowing we'll see them again as we pass them during the race. Going over the race trail over and over, finding the best lines. Having the pit at the bottom of your stomach form as you line up for the start, and then have it go away as soon as you put the pedal down, totally being focused on the trail, yet having your mind wonder on when you will pass and how great it would be to stand on that podium. Sprinting for that finish line just barely edging out one of your best friends and then tormenting them with the bragging rights until they beat you next time. Knowing you deserved the post race dinner, and going to stand atop that sacred podium. Packing the truck back up, each of us telling the story of their ride, stopping at a little ice creme place and having it taste like it was the best thing you have ever eaten in your life. Getting back home, each of us dispersing, after we have decided when the next ride will be. How could anyone not love every moment of cycling.

-Middi-zon

One example recently: Riding a quick 15 mile round trip to a specialty hardware store for some work necessities, pass a group of high schoolers on their mountain bikes (2F, 1M,) and overhearing one say to another "How can he go so fast?" when my bike computer was maybe at 16 mph!

i am an anxious person by nature, always looking at what is coming up next.

when i am on the bike, it is truly the ONLY time i am ever really "in the moment.":)

#1 Flying -as a child I had this recurring dream I could fly. Until I grow wings, riding a bike is the closest thing. :)
Steve