Road Cycling - Motivational Moments?

I am new to cycling. I got my new Specialized allez sport last thursday and I have rode every day since then and love it. The other day while I was riding I came to a stop sign and like my mom taught me when I was little, I stoped and looked both ways. It was a pretty busy intersection. As I looked to the left I seen another cyclist zoom across the street. He was going so fast that if I would have blinked I would have missed him all together. The fact that after some work I will be up to that speed just seemed to pump me up. I rode harder for the rest of my ride after seeing the other cyclist. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had a motivational moment like this while on a ride. If you have ever seen something that just made you want to hammer down as hard as you could. Please share your stories.

on the NYC bike tour, they would stop people in big groups at the base of the Queensborough Bridge (The Fog Breaker) to prevent huge bottlenecks. Staring way up at the bridge, wondering how I was going to go from a dead stop through the switchbacks and get way up there in the pouring rain in my junky old MTB. One of the ride marshals climbed up on an abutment and started yelling this huge motivational speech at the top of his lungs. It was of a religious bent, but the feeling behind the words (there's nothing you can't overcome) got into me (and I'm sure alot of other people). going up that hill, i stayed seated and just worked the derailers like crazy. It was amazing what the sound of thousands of constantly clicking gears sounds like. Once at the top, the view of Queens and Bklyn spread out below me and the fast descent down the other side was completely wild.

This is the problem I have with riding alone so much. Sometimes it's tough to stay motivated, especially on those less-than-ideal days. Sparring with someone, even in the spirit of fun and camraderie, can be very helpful to motivation and performance.

55/Rad