Originally Posted by
spelger
While out riding i occasionally get what i think of as a magical breath. it is deeper than normal and almost euphoric. i can never reach down that deep deliberately, it just sometimes comes when i am not expecting it. normally happens when i am riding hard either during a long ascent or pushing it hard on a flat. wondering if i am the only one that get this from time to time.
What you're experiencing could be a massive surge of endorphins...aka "runner's high". I used to get it fairly often while swimming in my 20s. Somewhere around the 20 minute mark a warm, relaxing feeling would wash over my body and I felt as if my muscles "relaxed" yielding deeper, stronger strokes.
I've been biking almost daily since 1992, but I had never felt this over-whelming warm rush of "well-being" while biking, until a year or two ago. It happened twice within a month, but alas, hasn't returned no matter how hard I push, how far I ride, or how long I stay in the saddle.
I still feel some elevation of "spirit" after a few minutes on the bike, and the small aches and pains that announce the approach of 60 years of life get muted for an hour or two after a ride (except my hands...dammit). And I do find myself "in the zone" fairly often...but that warm rush of overpowering euphoria and well-being with the associated relaxing and "deepening" of muscle strokes and breath....that has remained elusive to me.
I know there is a physiological explanation for all this...but I agree with your nomenclature...
...it IS magic!