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Thread: Zen Days

  1. #1
    Member Aunt Roady's Avatar
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    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!?

  2. #2
    Mind bent Dudelsack's Avatar
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    I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but......the old gray goose is dead.
    I'm here on Earth to help others. What on Earth the others are here for, no one knows.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Koobazaur's Avatar
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    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.

  4. #4
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    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...

  5. #5
    Senior Member z90's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aunt Roady View Post
    .
    I guess ultimately my question is, now does one get more of it!?
    Zen meditation

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by z90 View Post
    Zen meditation
    Satori, contentment, and happiness often spring from zazen...

  7. #7
    Senior Member Mobile 155's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aunt Roady View Post
    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'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.
    The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. ~John Howard

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

  9. #9
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    Try putting a little more air in the tires.

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  11. #11
    Member Aunt Roady's Avatar
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    The goose is dead. Long live the goose!grey-goose-vodka__66291_zoom.gif

  12. #12
    Senior Member no motor?'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SlimRider View Post
    Satori, contentment, and happiness often spring from zazen...
    Yep, some of us get it. You're not alone Aunt Roady.

  13. #13
    Senior Member OldsCOOL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Koobazaur View Post
    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.
    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


    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.
    Having a flat tire as part of the total cycling experience is highly overrated. Knowing how to fix one quickly is not.

    '85 Trek 460 road racer

    '89 Raleigh Technium PRE

    '79 Motobecane Super Mirage

  14. #14
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    Start tracking barometric pressure on a calendar with notes about what kind of day you had. You'll quickly see the correlation. bk

  15. #15
    Super Moderator making's Avatar
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    Exactly what I was thinkiing.
    Quote Originally Posted by GentlemanGeorge View Post
    I get that feeling too. It most often involves riding with a tailwind...
    Good Night Chesty, Wherever You Are

  16. #16
    Senior Member WickedThump's Avatar
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    Every once in awhile the bike will disappear (figuratively) and I'll have a sensation of just moving through space. Wow man!

  17. #17
    Senior Member Koobazaur's Avatar
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    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...!

  18. #18
    Curmudgeon on steroids DX-MAN's Avatar
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    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".
    The 2nd Amendment was actually written to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse.
    ... most people are just bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling.

  19. #19
    Pedaled too far. Artkansas's Avatar
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    Yes, sometimes it all flows. Sometimes it's a challenge, sometimes both and its always zen even if I can't tune into it.
    "When you strip it all away, there is only God." - George Harrison

    On giving up:
    Everyone knows that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for Spain on his first voyage. But few people realize that on his 4th voyage, Columbus gave up, turned back and sailed for home; within 10 miles of where he could have discovered the Pacific Ocean.

  20. #20
    Senior Member stevebiker's Avatar
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    Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance

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

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