It feels like a kind of enlightenment...maybe "encyclement" could be the word? Other forms of exercise do make you feel good, no mistake. There's just something that happens when cycling that causes a giddy one-ness with, well, "life, the universe and everything." Hokey as that sounds, it's a deep, intensely spiritual feeling. Everything around you becomes more beautiful than words can describe, as if you and your surroundings were all part of one heart-wrenchingly magnificent symphony. The colors of the sky, the plants, the road. The sound of the wind, the birds flitting by, the innumerable details seen and unseen, heard and unheard. The feel of your own body and the breath almost ragged in your lungs as the circular rythym propels the bike forward -- sometimes flowing, sometimes lunging, always alive.

You could think about a thousand things, or nothing at all: it doesn't matter. You can't help but grin like a goofy little kid, and enjoy life and the ride to the fullest.