You've described the best life can be on a bike.

I have been elected to Congress and solved many of the nation's and world's problems whilst riding my bike. I also have theme songs that play in my head - depending on the locale, traffic conditions and weather. I've also concluded that quantum physics is still in it's infancy, and that bothering to try to follow it now would be a waste of my time, since a more elegant and unified theory is inevitable.

Such thoughts about the bicycle and commuting conditions seem decidedly "connected" to me by comparison.

I'm often surprised by the aromas that drift through the air

Back when I used to race mountain bikes I would find that on long, grinding, full effort climbs I would sing the "C is for Cookie" song from Sesame Street. I have no idea why, but it came into my head repeatedly and it somehow helped me keep my cadence and focus. I didn't think I actually sung it out loud, I thought it was more of mental thing. Then on one multi-lap race I passed a guy going up a brutal hill for the third time and I heard him singing the same song. When we got to the top and both caught our breath I said "Dude, that's weird, I sing that same song when climbing." He said "I know, I heard you on the last lap and now it's stuck in my head you #*@!"

Edit: I hadn't thought about this in years and now the song is stuck in my head again. Dang!

especially since they legalized pot. B^)

ha!

It is hard, and i know i sound truly awful while trying haha Usually by my turn around point i'm not able to sing anymore.
He did say he called out, but my music was too loud to hear him. I see him constantly now and the entire scene ends up replaying in my head every time! That's great you're willing and able to help. I haven't yet bought a frame pump, but i have everything else on me for a repair, so I make sure to carry some cash just in case I do need help, whether from a person or a gas station lol

most of my biking is commuting to and from work. i ride by a bubble tea place that is packed at 11PM and wonder why it is so crowded at night, but by a bar and think the same thing. at night everything should be closed and streets empty i suppose.

i'll get passed by a car that leaves slightly less room than others and get self-righteously upset only to realize that i'm fine and probably had plenty of room. but hey i don't have a roll cage on this thing.

for about a year i listened to Stravinsky's the Rite of Spring every night on my way home, trying to hum and rap my handlebars to the complicated and unpredictable rhythm. now it plays in my head automatically but in often disjointed or repeated sections that are my favorite of the piece.

lately i've found myself considering the effects of institutions on individuals within them, specifically those institutions featured in the TV show i'm currently watching, the Wire, and the ones of which I am a part. it's clear that institutions change people within them- but does it go both ways? my disconnected thoughts are often in the form of questions or pithy but ultimately shallow commentary.

often i consider ways my bike's performance could be incrementally improved (of course unnecessarily so)- if i just replaced the cables and housing it would shift much more smoothly. i should probably re-center the brake levers with the drops because now they're pointed in... but i guess it doesn't bother me, plus i'd like to see how far they migrate. that sort of thing.

Nice post, [MENTION=208016]seypat[/MENTION]. I agree with that description of triggering, and how it changes your train of thought. I sometimes stop my thinking, and retrace the mental path I took to get to my current thought.

I would describe my wife and I in the opposite roles; I'm the destination person; got to get there on time; follow this schedule with built in time for contingencies. We used to tour together, including a cross country cycling honeymoon, and probably our styles were not so well set back then, over thirty years ago.

My current cycling style is definitely destination-origin, mainly as a cycle commuter for training, be it place, mileage, or time in the saddle. I have posted to a few threads that disdain cycle computers in favor of the “experience,” that I’m reminded of the attitude, “I’m not religious, but I am spiritual.”

This morning on my ride I noted that, as I have in the past, I was I addressing out loud the talk show hosts (…”Good one, VB!”….Oh c’mon, Kim…)

Sometimes I wonder what other cyclists are thinking. Like that guy on my commute this morning.

You see, there is this long downhill which I can coast at 20mph or pedal hard and maybe hit 30mph, where the car speed limit is 30mph with an unattended-radar speed display, with a school at the bottom with a time-dependent school zone speed limit of 20mph, followed by another 200 yards to a busy stoplight. On the approach to the stoplight the road splits into two lanes, one for left turn, one for straight and right so drivers often crowd the right-side curb. On a bad-traffic day the backup at the light can be such that a car can take several light cycles to finally get through the light. In those cases I usually walk the bike down the sidewalk to the light because I know I'll get there before the light goes green on at worst the second cycle.

So this morning I'm coasting down the hill at ~20 when another cyclist bombs by me with no warning doing over 30 easily. He was flying, head down, pedaling hard in a high gear. Except that we both could see the loooong line of stopped cars, school buses, trucks, etc. I reached the end of the stopped traffic at least 100 yards from the light, a good two light cycles' worth, so I pulled the bike over the curb and started walking. In 20 or 30 yards I passed the other guy waiting in line with the cars. I paused and told him I usually walked there because blah blah blah. He mumbled something.

So I made it to the light before it turned green the first time, hopped on the bike and looked around for that other cyclist, never saw him. When the light turned green I rode through with the lead vehicle, a school bus. About 1/4 of a mile later he flew by me again, head down, pedaling hard. I saw him make a left turn further up the road.

Now, I know he was so far back that if he waited in line he would have had to wait two light cycles. So I figure he either ran the light or weaved his way up to the front somehow. But I had told him how the lights worked. He just didn't want to lower himself actually to walk his bike, I guess. Or else he didn't want to listen to a guy with a gray beard riding a (oh, the horrors!) steel bike.

Sometimes I wonder what other cyclists are thinking.

This is how I spend most of my non-commuting time riding. I used to live in S. Korea and would go hiking in the mountains that surround Seoul. I remember feeling stressed out about my future, and wanting to go for a hike to try to work through some of the things that were causing me stress. The funny thing was, the hiking trail's uneven path caused me to worry more about where I would put my foot next as I climbed up or down the mountains.

By the end of the trail, I would not have thought a lick about my problems, but the "being the moment" that pervaded the entire hike ended up relieving me of most of my stress anyways. No life-problems solved, but a feeling of mental and physical exhaustion relaxed me far more than anything else I'd tried, short of meditation. But I'm much too anxious to sit still, anyway.

Riding my bike does that for me now.

I can't remember.

This is also true, I tend to have recurring thoughts and although I do have songs that come to mind (usually have a playlist too), it all takes my mind off work and that is my release. Brain candy :-).

This does sound pleasant, I have some nice paths I ride but honestly also enjoy some of the traffic to keep my on point and make me forget about everything. It's a double edged sword I deal with being a person that constantly goes. I sometimes prefer peace and slow going, but then love the rush of feeling alive in traffic and flowing with it or getting ahead in at times. It probably a sickness :-) but I can't help it.

so he was not 'aiming high.'

in 10th grade drivers ed, we were taught to 'aim high.' don't just look at the car in front, but also the car(s) hundreds of feet ahead. look at the light well ahead. look at the lights adjacent to yours if you can see them.

most drivers are horrible at this. they just don't aim high. it leads to tailgating, then bottlenecks, emergency braking, accidents, and gridlock. and it's a huge waste of fuel.

walk the bike? ok, you lost me... B^)

Yes, I do (and thanks) except for days where I have to run an errand or something where a bike just wouldn't do.

I keep a small locking cable at the office for unplanned trips such as a run up to Woburn Mall for a sandwich. My company calls for random spot drug checks so I've gotten a email summons a few times to go to a particular medical center in Wilmington. That's 5 miles from the office, which means an unplanned 10 mile round trip in the middle of the day. (Productivity, ah, doesn't improve in such cases.)

Anyway, all that distance is one reason I prefer to commute on a nice road bike. Good roads make that possible. And I like to go as fast.