Zen Days
 

I'm curious if others experience this. I notice that there are occasional days when cycling is pure pleasure. The bike seems smoother, my riding seems effortless and my body seems happy to provide all the power I need.

There's neither rhyme nor reason to it that I can discover, though it happens most often when I have been off my bike for a day or two because of traveling. But this isn't always the case. Sometimes it's just a typical day but everything seems perfect.

I'm a violinist, and I notice this with my instrument as well. Now and again, the violin and I are in perfect tune, so to speak. So I'm assuming this phenomenon has to do with tasks requiring some coordination of brain and limbs. I never notice it with a car, for example.

I guess ultimately my question is, now does one get more of it!?

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but......the old gray goose is dead.

The less of something you get, the more you appreciate it when you finally get it. This is true for anything, your favorite beer, sex, food, hobbies, video games, biking, seeing your friends, etc.

Everytime I cycle, this is my experience. In fact, I experience some form of this rhythmic bliss, where practically every moment is filled with utter contentment, when I do many things. It's just that I experience it most when cycling...

Zen meditation

Satori, contentment, and happiness often spring from zazen...

I'm not sure some others understand that special feeling you are talking about. But I do. I am avid about cycling and love a good machine. Sometimes when I come to a challenging hill or a town sign sprint that has always been hard and I get the right gear and the right spin going and my heartrate is perfect I wonder where the challenge went. It is way more than feeling good about riding it is almost that invincable feeling you had as kid running with a pack of your friends and you have a football with the fastest kid on your block chasing you and you beat him to the goal line. It may be the only time in the game you get away with that but that one time you remember. For an adult maybe it is like making a hole in one at golf. You don't have to win the round but that hole in one made your day. You may never make another hole in one but that day you were in tune with the course, ball, club and the weather. They may happen again but if they happened too pften you wouldn't notice them.

I get that feeling too. It most often involves riding with a tailwind...

Try putting a little more air in the tires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJA9S...hannel&list=UL

The goose is dead. Long live the goose!http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=247395

Yep, some of us get it. You're not alone Aunt Roady.

I went years without road biking and it didnt help me appreciate it any greater amounts. In fact, I only thought about when seeing the bike in the closet.

Riding my bike every day is what helps me appreciate it :thumb:


I dont do the Zen thing. For me, every ride is perfect when it's finished and I can look back on it with a sense of accomplishment and joy. However, there are days when I know there is going to be good power to the pedals from complete recovery, the weather is dandy and the bike is in a fine state of polish. Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Start tracking barometric pressure on a calendar with notes about what kind of day you had. You'll quickly see the correlation. bk

Exactly what I was thinkiing.

Every once in awhile the bike will disappear (figuratively) and I'll have a sensation of just moving through space. Wow man!

Ah yea that makes so much difference. Sometimes I'll bike with the wind on a straight road and WHOA I AM INVINCIBLE SUPERBULLET. But then comes the time to ride back the same way; SWOOSHWSOOSHSWOOSH hnnnggh; darn that wind...!

Everything around us, in our lives, "spins" at a different speed; they only "synch" on occasions, when the 'various vitesses' find that harmony that results in what Armstrong & Co. used to call "no-chain days", when it felt like there was no chain on the bike, yet we would just "WHIRL AWAY".

Yes, sometimes it all flows. Sometimes it's a challenge, sometimes both and its always zen even if I can't tune into it.

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorc...ref=pd_sim_b_1