I just bought 23 mm Contis, they make them and when I took them to the counter they looked at me and asked if I had noticed they were 23mm? Yeah, I did, so?

The texting while driving is becoming a bigger issue than drinking and driving.

It's the huge influx of mostly illegals who have no respect for the system including courteous driving who are partially behind some of the wild driving and horn blowing and since I am neither left or right I can profile if I want to.

People in general seem to not value their fellow humans. I think part of it is stress, we are all more stressed than ever and people out of work or worried are even more stressed. And stress results in a loss of attention.

Callousness, a general lowering of human quality. Tats and pajamas instead of suits and ties, the just do not give a s---t attitude is at a high water mark.

The future is still bright, it is all going to be okay.

Either I'm mindlessly zen while I'm riding, or I'm wondering about minutiae, like "Is my front caliper perfectly centered? Could my saddle be a bit more level? etc., etc." Although sometimes, since I'm a writer, I start writing in my head, the trouble is I usually forget it when I get to my destination.

Interesting responses. Music seems to be a frequent theme.

I sometimes get stuck on a musical phrase, usually not so much a song but a single phrase, backup lick, or short chord sequence. Ear worms usually end up bothering me. When that happens I make myself hum another chord phrase that I remember from some song long ago, one that I've found drives out the unwanted visitor but doesn't stick.

I often carry on an imagined conversation with my twin brother and usually about some technical detail of bikes. His interests run in, shall we say, a different direction from mine and whenever we talk on the phone or in person he likes to discuss details for which I have minimal interest. I listen to be polite. When I try to discuss something else, like bikes, his attention wanes and the conversation ends or reverts back to the original topic. But explaining something to someone else helps be clarify my own thoughts. So the imaginary listener might as well be him.

On today's tandem ride I found that yes I can certainly reach my aerobic limit. 48.7 miles. Didn't quite make 50.

disconnected thoughts while riding

oh, man this is fun. what a great day. why did i wait so long to get on my bike? woah, this road sucks. crap, the bus in front has stopped. i'm taking the sidewalk. haha, that was an easy detour. crap, a red light. hey, no traffic. i'll just make a right on red then pull a u'ey. haha. "stay ... that's what i meant to say..." damn, can't get that bowie song outta my head. great, another red light. guess i'll stop. man, these campy brake levers rock. hey, check her out. "hi." oh, fine, look away. yeah, yeah, i know i'm twice your age. at least the light turned quickly. damn, this toe clip. get in foot! foot, get in! ok, back on track. wish my team's game were televised tonight. meh, it would only disappoint. let's shift 'er into high. yes! man, my bike is silent. this has to be the quietest bike ever. is it me or the bike? probably my mad wrenching skills. "la la la..." woah, what's with all the glass on the road? thieves, probably. oh, great -- slow mo cyclists ahead. enough! in the drops and hammer down. whoosh. see ya!

It is pleasant to have such disjointed thoughts, isn't it? And I wouldn't expect so. Weird, huh?

You ride 32 miles round trip every day? Damn.

A large part of my commute is on a path along the river, which runs through parks. A lot of people are out for walks and riding bikes and jogging. They're wearing their exercise clothes, and I think about how good all those people look.

I worry a lot about what could go wrong on the ride. I could encounter a bad driver. It might rain. I might become exhausted. And then none of these things happens, and I feel triumphant.

Get out of my head!

B^)

How many of us had the same exact thought.....

Ask eschlwc, he has some kind of mind reading abilities there.....

Bill

Geez, now all I can think about while riding is what [MENTION=190941]jimmuller[/MENTION] is thinking about while riding.

All of my thinking is disconnected. It's a wonder I can function at

Next you can think about what [MENTION=232813]eschlwc[/MENTION] is thinking. That should keep you occupied for a while.

Ha,ha. At first I thought it said "I fear no Trump."

When the going gets tough, I find myself counting pedal revolutions or breaths. Otherwise, I can't remember; my mind seems to go somewhere else for a few hours while providing just enough input to keep the legs going 'round

DD

It is one of the reasons I enjoy cycling so much. The mind is free to wander, and for me, it is one of the best methods for problem solving. I get better ideas when my mind is blank. Comes like a flash. You think to yourself, that is so obvious, why didn't I think of it earlier.

Never think much about music, if ever. I used to downhill ski quite a bit. It was inevitable that Tea for Two would pop into my head when skiing the mogul field.

As someone said on page one about the glass, thats also something i think about every ride. There is always so much glass in these two spots on the path and I cant help but wonder how it got there and why, and about how much it irritates me. I think about coming back to clean it up, and wonder why no one else has cleaned it up...then always forget to do it. I should do it this week actually lol
I ride with headphones and listen to music most of the time, and sing when no one is around lol And everytime a man is coming by, I wonder if its the one who caught me singing horribly, and loud, that one day i was on the side adjusting my saddle tilt lol He stopped to see if i needed help, but i didnt notice until it was too late :/ He still laughs a bit everytime he does pass... or im imagining it.
When things get tough, i start saying in my head "up, down, up, down" or "round, round, round" with each foot, so I dont favor one side. When someone is coming up behind me, I start concentrating on keeping my line...which usually makes me not keep my line lol Sometimes I rerun past conversations, and how i wish they had went...or try to script future ones. Sometimes i just zone out and when finally coming to again, I cant recall going through certain areas of my route or what songs had been playing on my phone, or even what I was thinking about, if anything.

Much observation and many thoughts occur during my rides as well.

I too think it's a good thing for our minds to wander when riding. Like walking or jogging, and sometimes even driving, movement allows thought to come easily. Somehow making physical traveling/moving progress aids my brain in making mental progress--through thoughts, to conclusions. I make it a point to not engage any technology when riding. No earbuds, I need to hear what's going on around me with traffic. I often think earbuds when biking is a death wish, and is at the very least (and diplomatically-stated) unwise. I see people with earbuds in cars as I ride. That's actually illegal, IIRC.

Doing long division is incredibly random but if I'm on a bike, I can't go for a calculator, right? It's usually bike gear ratios or fuel mileage that I am figuring out. Otherwise I am composing current and future bike builds and perhaps component set swaps. People think I'm weird. This I am aware of. Acutely. At least I am thinking! I feel many people under-utilize their brains and don't critically think, and hence, say small things like that. Maybe, as a designer, my imagination is in overdrive more so than not. My dad's an engineer, and he's the same way. As my brother astutely said, "Thinking is free." It is! And there is hope for others to do more of it, even if, like me, I'm not working on Nobel Peace Prize work.

I welcome the advent of (smart) autonomous vehicles because over-stressed, uninterested-in-driving, and incompetent people are behind the wheel and I can't wait for them to not be a risk to me, pedestrians, and other cyclists on the road. I will still drive my car, manual transmission and all because it's fun and fast and sounds great and is involving. Traffic and driving "skill" have gotten progressively worse here in Seattle over the last several years. Every time I ride north from work on Dexter Ave., I/we cross Mercer St. (which is a 3/3 lane E/W 'stroad', which is hell, no matter the time) and I see all the cars and drivers moving nowhere. I feel bad for them because Seattle blows at traffic flow engineering, but then I feel good being on a bike--it is freedom in so many ways, even if I am taking a second shower thanks to the clouds above me.

Glass in bike lanes, indeed. Also, massive tire-eating cracks. Also 2X, rocks and pebbles--to the point that I will soon go to Home Depot or some place, buy a push broom (they are great), and sweep a few hundred foot swath(s) of bike lane that is thickly strewn with flat tire makers. Apparently there is an app for the city do take care of small things like this, even if anything bike isn't listed. I'm not holding my breath. If I want it done right, er...or just done, do it myself.

Ah, singing. It's hard to sing well while actually riding so you might as well sing when you're stopped.

I call out whenever I see any other cyclist stopped. Most of the time they are all under control but sometimes they appreciate help. It's usually a case of needing my frame pump. It's surprising how may times I, or we on the tandem, have helped someone. I shouldn't talk - one time I swapped bikes just before commuting and forgot to transfer over my pump. Wouldn't you know, I had a flat that day. Another commuter going the opposite direct and with whom I've been exchanging waves for months came across the road and helped out.

Your brother puts his time to good use.

My wife and I saw a stage performance of "Jersey Boys" a few weeks ago. This morning, I had the Four Seasons' song Dawn stuck in my head... so, humming, whistling softly, and singing to myself.

"Think (think)
What a big man he'll be
Think
Oh the places you'll see
Now think what the future would be with a poor boy like me
Dawn, go away...
Please, go away..."

Can you do all the drum work in the background while humming Dawn, Phil? That should keep the old brain busy for a bit with some multi-tasking.

Bill

I must admit though, almost all my ideation on the bike is with a background of radio talk shows, much less music.

BTW,

Bill,
As if I needed more tasks, I was riding half-step gearing with downtube shifters. There was plenty to do to occupy the rest of my meager brain power.
Phil

Most daily commutes are natural observation thoughts based on season. When on the road I mostly try to focus on the line ahead relative to traffic, holes, broken asphalt, road debris, etc but on paths, trails, etc I let the mind wander a bit more to enjoy the moment of life. On really long road rides the mind starts to just get empty, endless wheels of samsara spinning off to nowhere.

But it builds character and moral fiber, and they say we need more fiber in our diets, wait one, they said more, not moral.....

Fully identify with the DT shifters and the HS gearing, really identify with the meager brain power.

Bill

There is so much coming to you sensory wise, that it is tough not to have ramdom or disjointed thoughts. That is what makes it so enjoyable! A sight, smell or sound triggers something in your mind until.......the next sight, smell or sound. Maybe an old memory pops up good or bad. Maybe something visually that causes you to rubberneck or turn around and take a second pass. It's like being a fresh baby in a new world taking it all in!

My wife is a destination type person. I'm all about the journey. If we are driving somewhere, she has every detail planned out even if there is no set time to arrive. If something disrupts those plans in any way it causes her grief. Me, if there is no set arrival time, I get there when I get there. There might be detours, unscheduled stops, whatever. I don't always take the fastest route either, rather the more interesting one.