General Cycling Discussion - Transcendental riding

Ever go transcendental on a ride?

Once I am in good form (sadly, usually around June) I can experience this without much effort. My bike and I are one and I am beyond myself. :)

*I did a search for transcendental and came up with zero results....

Ever go transcendental on a ride?

Pretty much every time I ride.

Here's a few excerpts from my weblog about some pretty transcendental rides....


Meditation

Zoning out- letting my eyes relax to a lazy, drunken type of state. Something becomes clearer this way. Forgetting about the spin, just letting the spin happen. Purposefully losing awareness. Clearing the perceived understanding of the moment, and replacing it with a void. Senses aren't either emanating from me or being absorbed by me. They are simply hovering there, just outside of my realm. The tension on my muscles loosen, creating a fluid essence to my body. I am no longer an entity traveling about through time and space, but have become that time and space like hydrogen and oxygen become water. I am the green when my previous yellow aura and the blue of the world are mixed together with the finger paints of a child. A truly innocent human yet uncorrupted by the convention of truth. Truth to her is the tree, not the scientific name of the tree. A good time playing with her neighbor. Riding her bike down the path, not to get somewhere, but just to ride. Petting her dog, because he is her friend... In a few years she will be taught what is important, and the world to her will become nothing more than a categorized succession of truths. Realities which she doesn't need to understand, but only needs to accept. Right now, though, she is finger painting, and that is all that matters...

Bike lane blurring underneath. A comfortable hum, a breeze, a smile on my face all at once. An air that becomes the ground, the ground a cloud. A whisper that started nowhere, but heading in all directions. It said to me, as I said to it: Be.
A young man a child again. A young man everything. Peacefulness riding with me as I breath in, turn the crank, and be.


Born Again

My answers have been questioned through a moment of meditation that entered into eternity. My heart has begun to beat with an otherworldly pulsation- an ancient aboriginal dreamtime chant: drooooone, toot-toot. drooooone, toot-toot. droooone, ta-da-ta-da-toot-toot. Marmuts emerged from their bush and began to dance. Emus swiveled their rumps appropriately to the engaging sounds. Dolphins darted to and fro. Gypsies seduced. Ferns and ivy intermingled. I rode.

Movements were suddenly visual. I saw the effect that spinning around the pivot point produced: an asymetrical object floating within the center of mass which my bike and I created. Not entirely obvious at first, but with further pedaling the object began to take shape. Gradually transforming before my eyes from a sort of cloudy haze to a more tangible entity. It was about the time I crossed 22nd when the object's identity became apparent. It was a giant egg. The formation still somewhat transparent, I noticed further that floating with me and my bike, situated between my top tube, down tube, and seat stay, was a giant egg holding some sort of living being in its pre-infant state. Still spinning, I slowly became aware that the fetus inside the egg was me. I was jabbing at the shell from the inside with my elbows, kicking it as well as I could while scrunched up in true fetal position. It was humid in there... And cramped. I wanted out. I could vaguely see light through the shell to the outside. What I could see out there, though, looked spectacular. I returned to jabbing and kicking, now with more enthusiasm. Within minutes I heard a crack, and the shell began to open up. Pieces of my egg were falling to the asphalt below, bouncing backwards quickly like the first several heated kernels of popcorn out of the pan. Halfway out of my egg I looked down and could see the ground dashing snakelike into the unknown. It was scary, but beautiful. I could smell the air. Not just the air, but everything that made up the air, just floating around within and throughout the air. I smelled the sharp tanginess of Oregon's royal pines. I smelled the wonder of the nearby forest, and even further the salty mystery of the immeasurable sea. I sensed the simple essence of the earth. I looked up, and saw a glorious chaos in the clouds. No explainable reason to their formations, but still they looked like they belonged there at that time. I wanted to play in those clouds. Run naked into their fluffy. I felt the air as wind slapping my face, fervently petting my shoulders and arms, running its fingers through my hair like a highschool dream. It was a cold air, but it felt alive. Its whisper was the only sound I could hear, which sounded like a thunder of bliss. I was now completely outside my egg, and my entire body was now encompassed by the miracle of the day. I rode my bike with the unconditional exuberance of a child. I was moving forward, ever further into the day where only marvel and wonder laid ahead. I pedalled with penache as a sense of warmth cradled my body. It was a comfort like only a mother could give. Today on my bike I felt more alive than ever before.


Illusionary Ride

200 feet above the ground the man in the sky watches me ride on by. I feel the sun kissing my skin sending shivers of warmth of celestial softness from closer within throughout the heart pulsating repeated rhythms of songbird chanting for love or lust or just to sing this ride with feathery weight this path of cloudy misty dew drop from heaven's own eden rushing waterfalls and gypsy caravans in full delight celebrations from beyond the earth and above this life relasing smiles of fantastic beauty essential wonder further reaching beyond into before and between hedonism mingling dadaism creating a whole new world of citrus sunrise and tropical fantasies reality melting animals roaming free coexisting in imagination running rampant no boundaries no end to the dream so wonderful I keep on pedaling.

http://img22.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/wanderings/mystic.jpg

just smoke some weed. and don't come near me.

Ever go transcendental on a ride?

Once I am in good form (sadly, usually around June) I can experience this without much effort. My bike and I are one and I am beyond myself. :)

*I did a search for transcendental and came up with zero results....

I used to occasionally "zone out" on a ride, but any more, I don't want to chance it. Even though an overwhelming majority of drivers in my area look out for bikes, I don't want to be zoned out, I want to be totally aware of my surroundings.

Of course, on those occasions where I did zone out, the feeling of, well, sheer joy was nearly narcotic!

get yourself a fixie. you will be feeling everything and nothing at the same time. you become encapsulated, yet remain an active participant. there is nothing like fixie for me. never has never will, as far as bikes go.
every ride

I am no longer an entity traveling about through time and space, but have become that time and space like carbon and oxygen become water.


Sorry, but I just had to laugh at this one. Nice post otherwise.

-mark

']get yourself a fixie. you will be feeling everything and nothing at the same time. you become encapsulated, yet remain an active participant. there is nothing like fixie for me. never has never will, as far as bikes go.
every ride

I just built up my Bianchi fixed with Suzue ProMax wheels from IRO. I don't yet understand what the fuss is about, but I've only ridden it a few times to work so far. I need to learn to lay off the brakes going downhill! I hope to pile on the miles fixed this Winter. Fixed seems to help get that circular pedal stroke that is important to going transcendental or in the zone or whatever.

I remember when I was a long distance runner I liked going transcendental. Running at night on an empty street I could get the feeling that my head was disconnected from my body and I was floating down the road...

Oh, and I've been "drug free" for about 15 years now Merton...:p

Sorry, but I just had to laugh at this one. Nice post otherwise.

-mark

:D I hadn't noticed that little yet significant mistake- I can see how it would make you laugh!

']get yourself a fixie. you will be feeling everything and nothing at the same time. you become encapsulated, yet remain an active participant. there is nothing like fixie for me. never has never will, as far as bikes go.
every ride

I will second this. Fixies aren't for everyone, but if it's for you, it just feels right. What a lovely feeling it is to go transcendental on a ride or a run or anything like that. A quiet street at night and a fixed gear, the perfect section of technical singletrack that you float through like you aren't even touching the ground, ten miles of wooded trail you run without ever feeling your feet hit the ground. Those are the things I ride for...