General Cycling Discussion - Can you describe the "bike feeling"?

I'd say the bike feeling is like a wizard taught you how to fly with a humble broom and you were training all night to get it in flying state and in the morning while the sun was gliding above the horizon you finally managed to took off and after a very long fly with the cold wind making your eyes wet you end up in a secret castle made of shiny steel. Right there, that feeling of enthusiasm, freshness and wonder is similar to the bike feeling.

How would you describe it?

Balancing on the edge of a knife blade.

Fly...Be...Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Aaron :)

I'd say the bike feeling is like a wizard taught you how to fly with a humble broom and you were training all night to get it in flying state and in the morning while the sun was gliding above the horizon you finally managed to took off and after a very long fly with the cold wind making your eyes wet you end up in a secret castle made of shiny steel. Right there, that feeling of enthusiasm, freshness and wonder is similar to the bike feeling.

How would you describe it?

Methinks thouart waxing poetic.

My ass hurts after a few hours and then I take a nap.....not the greatest feeling in the world?

My ass hurts after a few hours and then I take a nap.....not the greatest feeling in the world?

terse, earthy, and to the point. i "like" it.

Wait till my Book comes out and Buy a copy..

Adjectives:
moving
free
rolling
fun
healthy
independent
confident
determined
slimming
.....:ride: wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The power at your feet, and the control at your finger tips, wow what a feeling. Also you don't have to stop for gas.

The power at your feet, and the control at your finger tips, wow what a feeling. Also you don't have to stop for gas.


Fly...Be...Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Aaron :)

THESE.

There is an independence, a FREEDOM, that comes from "FLYING LOW" under your own power.

I am SO involved in my own transportation; I'm not just a piece of baggage being carried. The chains of 'regular society' -- 'car ownership is the ultimate status symbol, THE sign of manhood', etc -- can't keep up with me! It's completely ENABLING to travel under your own power, under (just about) any and all conditions, I can't help but bust out a grin....

You live better (enhance health), and LONGER (in many cases), with a machine unlike any other ever made by man.

all of the above :) + i feel like leaving everything behind.

http://l.yimg.com/ea/img/-/091102/091102_cadelevans_400-15et00i.jpg

THESE.

There is an independence, a FREEDOM, that comes from "FLYING LOW" under your own power.

I am SO involved in my own transportation; I'm not just a piece of baggage being carried. The chains of 'regular society' -- 'car ownership is the ultimate status symbol, THE sign of manhood', etc -- can't keep up with me! It's completely ENABLING to travel under your own power, under (just about) any and all conditions, I can't help but bust out a grin....

You live better (enhance health), and LONGER (in many cases), with a machine unlike any other ever made by man.

I love the independence and freedom of the bicycle. After several natural disasters I was able to move freely about, when other people were being stopped at road blocks or weren't able to pass through areas due to debris down in the roadways.

Aaron :)

a windy icy soft cloth that brushes against my skin, making my eyes sparkle. giddy and giggly inside. mind wanders into vast wilderness, being taken further by leg power. leaning into turns that defy gravity powered by a simple pedal and glide. all my senses working together and appreciating the smells & sounds of nature. enjoying the journey just as much as the destination, oft more so of the journey. knowing my ride defines me.

It satifies all of a mans needs non esential needs.
1. Its shiny; but can get dirty
2. Its Fast(potentially)
3. It makes a cool noise
4. It can be used as a weapon (pedestrians beware)
5. It doesnt complain
6. It will take you virtually wherever and whenever you want

Now if those dont add up to complete freedom and total enjoyment I don't know what does!

...How would you describe it?

The animal joy of mobilizing energy and converting it into motion...moving with ease and rhythm across Earth's surface.

The animal joy of mobilizing energy and converting it into motion...moving with ease and rhythm across Earth's surface.

This is the best description. I enjoy the feeling of being connected my body like walking but faster and funner.

I'd say the bike feeling is like a wizard taught you how to fly with a humble broom and you were training all night to get it in flying state and in the morning while the sun was gliding above the horizon you finally managed to took off and after a very long fly with the cold wind making your eyes wet you end up in a secret castle made of shiny steel. Right there, that feeling of enthusiasm, freshness and wonder is similar to the bike feeling.

How would you describe it?You just got done reading Harry Potter; right?

Stopping and sucking in lots of air on the 13% grade of a rather short hill that beats me up.

But I have this great feeling of accomplishment when I take one of my usual rides and it gets easier and easier.

I think bicycling is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable forms of exercise out there.

Total freedom, total control. Single focused goal!

The animal joy of mobilizing energy and converting it into motion...moving with ease and rhythm across Earth's surface.
+1 Good basic and encompassing answer. I have this added feeling when winter riding; I call it "heroic," and it's out of this world :innocent::


Winter dressing is indeed time consuming...I take such great care to layer up comfortably and seal the gaps, that I envision myself a heroic astronaut preparing for an adventure. When I arrive at work and stride through the halls all suited up, I imagine recreating this scene from “The Right Stuff” (beginning at 2:58):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuR1p7UdI2Y

:thumb::D

Relaxing yet painful in a good way

Flow (http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html)

As the Zen master would say... nothing special (http://robertkrzisnik.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/nothing-special-but-everything-there-is/).

My ass hurts after a few hours and then I take a nap.....not the greatest feeling in the world?

You're doing it wrong.

Hey, let's get a little poetic with it.

Think I'll add a little piece I wrote for a magazine contest....


FEELING IT

I feel old….
I step stiffly out the door, feeling the outside air wrap me in life – just not a comfortable one.
My machine exits the garage, rolling easily. Directions crowd the front of my skull, purpose makes me push the stiffness aside.
From feet that ache and move slowly to wheels that spin and glide, my movement transforms. Fresh air rams into my lungs. Directions resolve and recede, fading before the immediate FORWARD!
I guide from my core, my center; moving happens below my feet, and thought seems enough to explore the compass. Stiff, ache and grit melt under the burn my legs feel.
A grimy, ordinary world is dry-washed away, a bold and pure new one lights up before me. The fire building inside is… good.
I feel young….
I am on my bike….

Flow (http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html)

Very interesting response.

My ass hurts after a few hours and then I take a nap.....not the greatest feeling in the world?

Well....

If you'd stop running your mouth so much, maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad! :lol::roflmao2::lol:

Your alarm goes off....You move closer to freedom...

It's still dark inside..You mount your bike...

Suddenly your existence becomes relevant!

Your Spirit is Awakened!

The Wick of Life becomes Lighted!

Self-Realization becomes Actualized!

Ying and Yang truly find themselves...

They have romantic trysts within your heart...

It's continual and timeless...

Your heart becomes warm and happy...

Purpose becomes secondary only to motion...

You smile, as your stress sublimes...

The faster you go, your luminosity increases!

Acceleration only magnifies the intensity!

Your Mind is drawn towards the Black Hole...

Your Spirit sings a melody...

Your Soul taps its dances...

You're making Jazz movement!

The Wind is quieted...

The Wheel of Life turns slow...

Timelessness Stops!

You dismount!

Inside returns to darkness...

Back to the world of Zombies...

Shakespeare's stage... Act I ..Scene 3...Take One Billion!...Go!

Tick!...Tick!...Tick!...

I feel that cyclists should not write poetry...

I feel that cyclists should not write poetry...

If you could really feel anything of significance, you quite seriously wouldn't feel that way! ;)

I feel that cyclists should not write poetry...

But cycling is poetry :)

Riding a bicycle is awesome, exciting , breathtaking , fantastic, fun, healthy, and a lot of other words I can't think of right now.

My wife asked my 10 year old (who actually just really learned to ride last year) why he likes it so much. He said, no ones telling him what to do or how to do it. He can just go and feel free. He is planning on doing his first century this year as well as a 400+ mile week long trip and hes mad that hes restricted from doing more rides due to his age

By Pezmeister (http://www.pedalpushersonline.com/?CID=1248)

...It's just a bike. And diamonds are just rocks.

When I ride, I am another person. When I ride, I am no longer chained to the earth. When I ride, I become Peter Pan — I really can fly. The air is cleaner, the colors are brighter, the smells are sharper. I truly see things. I mean really see them instead of just cruising past them as I do in a car. When I ride, I am a participant in the world around me instead of an observer. Shrouded in an metal and glass exo-skeleton, I am insulated from the world. Riding a bike, I am one with the world. The trees are my brothers, the flowers, my sisters. When I ride, I savor every morsel of the meal that is around me. I swirl the wine of existence in my mouth, extracting the hints of spice. When I ride, I lose the ability to be selfish, to be intolerant, to be careless. I could no more throw a Power Bar tm wrapper on the ground than I could run into a pedestrian. ...

Lawrence

I feel that cyclists should not write poetry...

I agree.

I feel that cyclists should not write poetry...

Nonsense: (To the Lumberjack Song by Monty Python)
-----------

I'm a bicyclist and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
I ride to work each morning,
To earn my weekly pay.

I pump my tires,
I check my gears,
I ding my little bell...
And when I'm really moving,
I start to feel just swell.

Fooooooooor:
I'm a bicyclist and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
I ride to work each morning,
To earn my weekly pay.

I save on gas,
I breath fresh air,
My legs are slim and strong...
My tummy's flat as plywood,
I really can't go wrong.

Foooooor: (Chorus)

I get to work,
I take a show'r,
I put on sweet perfume...
And everyone takes interest,
When I walk in to a room.

Fooor: (Chorus)

I work real hard,
I make us rich,
My mind is sharp and clear...
And when the day is over,
I ride home for a beer.

For: (Chorus)

My girl is sharp,
She loves my looks,
She thinks I'm just dreamlike...
And when I lie beside her,
I dream about my bike.

(Chorus)

Apologies to Monty Python.

Efficiency in speed.

Having a feeling of connection with the ground, being able to glide across its surface in a way nothing can describe.

http://shane.es/wp-includes/js/tinymce/themes/advanced/skins/wp_theme/img/gizmoduck-i6.jpg

http://shane.es/wp-includes/js/tinymce/themes/advanced/skins/wp_theme/img/gizmoduck-i6.jpg

Man, you are way too Quazy!!! :lol::roflmao2::lol:

Nonsense: (To the Lumberjack Song by Monty Python)
-----------

I'm a bicyclist and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day....




Winner.

The Cyclist
(by Louis Macneice)

Freewheeling down the escarpment past the unpassing horse
Blazoned in chalk the wind he causes in passing
Cools the sweat of his neck, making him one with the sky,
In the heat of the handlebars he grasps the summer
Being a boy and to-day a parenthesis
Between the horizon’s brackets; the main sentence
Is to be picked up later but these five minutes
Are all to-day and summer. The dragonfly
Rises without take-off, horizontal,
Underlining itself in a sliver of peacock light.

And glaring, glaring white
The horse on the down moves within his brackets,
The grass boils with grasshoppers, a pebble
Scutters from under the wheel and all this country
Is spattered white with boys riding their heat-wave,
Feet on a narrow plank and hair thrown back

And a surf of dust beneath them. Summer, summer —
They chase it with butterfly nets or strike it into the deep
In a little red ball or gulp it lathered with cream
Or drink it through closed eyelids; until the bell
Left-right-left gives his forgotten sentence
And reaching the valley the boy must pedal again
Left-right-left but meanwhile
For ten seconds more can move as the horse in the chalk
Moves unbeginningly calmly
Calmly regardless of tenses and final clauses
Calmly unendingly moves.

I've had some thoughts that are related, I think, so I won't start a new thread. The other day I thought: I am not a typical cyclist. There are others out there like me, but I don't think I'm typical. Why do I like to ride? What motivates me? I have reasons, of course: fitness and stuff like that, but why do I like to ride?

I think the number one reason is exploration. On a bicycle I can explore my city. There are a lot of cool things to see, and a lot of areas are far more accessible than I realized. On foot, I have no range. In a car, I go by things too fast. On a bike, it's just right. I can spend a day and ride 40 or 50 miles and see a bunch of cool stuff.

I've lived here for nearly 20 years, but it's only the last 3 or 4 that I've started to actually learn about the city- the terrain, the river, the train tracks and yards, the way it evolved and grew. You get a feel for the neighborhoods; that's probably my biggest surprise. On a gut feel level, I can tell one neighborhood from another. Some are rather pleasant. Others are stuck up. Or laid back. Or tense. Some of the most interesting are where residential areas butt up against industry.

If I were to drive through some of these neighborhoods, there would be no interaction. It's like watching TV. It's all passive. If I parked the car and walked, I wouldn't feel very safe in some areas. Or others wouldn't feel safe with a stranger walking around. When I ride through on a bike, there isn't an expectation of extended conversation. It's just a series of greetings. Any tension quickly passes.

My bell is a good ice breaker. I can ride through a neighborhood and even where I don't speak the predominant language, I can ring my bell and nod to the people. They smile back. They always smile when I ring my bell. Well, except for the teenaged girls. For some reason, girls laugh derisively- look at that dork on the bike.

Kids are fascinated; they think I'm the ice cream man since I have a bell, or it's just the novelty of seeing a grown-up riding a bike. Older boys can at least appreciate the effort involved, the motion, the freedom. Adults see someone on a bike and it takes them back to their childhood, or maybe their home country, when cycling was a normal part of life. I'm still not part of the neighborhood. I'm apart. But for a few seconds at a time here and there, I connect.

Some of my rides are group rides. I do Saturday morning rides with a club. Most of them are professionals- engineers, managers, etc.- and have the money to spend on a state of the art bike. I ride cheap bikes in comparison. It's a good group though; they look forward to seeing what I'm riding that week. What's normal to me, a fixed gear bike, an old road bike or even older English roadster, is unusual to them. We ride to breakfast and enjoy each other's company, both on the ride and while eating. Luckily for me, it is a very inclusive club with different riding levels.

I also do social rides with another group, more loosely organized. I like the come-as-you are nature of the second group. I have many conversations along the way and have made good friends among both groups. And sometimes the groups overlap. But even when I ride with others, I almost always ride home by myself. Just me. And the bike.

Then there are the bikes themselves. Most of them are used, some throw-aways. I adopt them. Just like most of my rides are not about the destination, but the journey, so are my bikes not about the bike itself, but the seeking, the transformation. Unlike people, if there is something about a bike I don't like, I can change it.

Working on the bikes is a whole hobby unto itself. Someday I will own a brand new, state of the art bike and I will love riding it. But even with the warts my current bikes have, they are mine. It's more of a baseball card collection than a stable of bikes. I search, I acquire, I trade. I add pieces to my collections of parts, and put them on a bike that needs it. Even once a bike is "done," chances are I will still make further changes down the road.

The result is a continual massaging of steel and aluminum to produce a bike that is mine and no one else's. When I ride it I get the pleasure of having at least some part in the configuration of the bike- a seat added, a wheel built. If a bike falls short of expectations, I will do what I can to help it make the grade.

So why do I ride bikes? It has nothing to do with speed really. It as a bit to do with distance, but that's not main motivation. It's about people and places and how metal and rubber come together to form a heart and soul.

Fourty-Two, that is the Ultimate Answer..