Cycling aggressively doesn't necessarily mean you have a moral failing, or a death wish, or that you're foolhardy, or over-competitive.

One thing that's easy to forget is that cycling makes your body produce adrenaline to help cope with the physical demands. We seldom take into account what all that adrenaline does to our thought processes while we're under its influence.

I don't know if I produce more of it than other people or if I'm more sensitive to its effects. Either way, if I'm not careful and maintaining awareness, a good ride will unleash a tiger. I can start out all 59-y.o. mild-mannered librarian, and if I'm not careful, it can get all Premium Rush. I don't intend it, but the adrenaline gets me too pumped-up and I stop thinking right. It takes awareness and supreme effort to pull myself back down from that in-ride.

My cool-down arriving early at work is as much about temperature as it is about letting the adrenaline level drop to normal before I have to deal with the public.