Interesting that this thread being barely a month younger than the other thread is just 4 pages long while the 'other' thread now sits at 16 pages worth of replies...

The “annoying” thread makes me happy, so does this “happy” thread

Finally able to bike with jersey here in PNW. It will hit 83 from Thursday to Saturday this week.
And we will complain it is too hot

• Cycling by this tiny farm on Rt 25, and seeing lamas, goats, donkeys and chickens living happily all in one tiny little spot.
• So many more people to meet and say hello to.
• Seeing and hearing all the songbirds you'd never notice from a car.
• Feeling the sun on my back on a cold spring morning ride to work.
• College girls yelling "Nice ass" as they drive by.
• Resting at the majestic Stuyvesant Falls and watching the water.
• Stopping to take selfies with a statue of Martin Van Buren on a park bench.
• The three or four other cyclists and dog walkers that I see every morning, that always wave to me.
• Stopping at Broad Street Bagels to refill all the calories I just burned.
• Turning a corner and suddenly being confronted by the landscape of the Catskill Mountains.

Great thread. To quote Robert Pirsig (who was writing about riding a motorcycle, but it's apropos for bicyclists as well): "In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming."


Being in the scene on my way to work makes me happy: it also tends to reverberate throughout my day, and thus I'm more "in the scene" while working.

Things that make me happy on my commute:
When the sun crests over the Cascade foot hills sooner every day this time of year
Random wildlife crossing the road
Wild turkeys in downtown Eugene
when I get on the MUP after 16 miles
Every single river crossing. The Willamette is beautiful.
Going from BFE to the middle of downtown.
Being able to eat carbs occasionally
Every time someone looks at me in awe and asks "You bike from Cottage Grove?" like I just hiked the PCT
I am pretty ADHD so when I am exhausted I finally feel like I can quit moving.

This, right here, is the best possible answer to why biking is awesome.

61 degrees.

I love 61 degrees when I ride.

It's just cool enough to keep me from overheating without making me chilly. Gives that slight chill on your skin without making you cold.

61 degrees makes me happy when I ride.

(Take a guess what the temperature was this morning...)

Yep, 61 to 65. I've learned that below 60 I need to bundle up more. But above 60, I can usually generate enough heat to be happy.

Getting safely to my destination. I live in nyc and commute through three boros. I see more crazy stuff in a single ride than any commuter should have to put up with in a year.

You can't leave us hanging with that!

Tell us a story!

Random moments of happiness when commuting: seeing the same people doing the same thing at the same time every morning. Going to the mailbox, walking their dogs for the umpteenth time taking the same route, waiting for the bus. Creatures of habit :-)

The other day, went by bike and got rainy afternoon, so I took bus home. I need to transfer once and I have a bus stop very close to the two ends.
So, on going home, I get into the first bus and jump off for the transfer. The next bus that should be in around 10 mins takes almost 25 min to get and while waiting I see the next bus of the route I took pass by.....
On next day to go work, I go to my first bus stop and bus was late by some 7 mins... on my planned transfer it seems the bus was gone.
Not a big deal, bus comes around each 10 mins.... waiting waiting... and bus took some 20 min go get - then one person was also complaining to the driver that bus was taking too much to arrive.

Bike you have your own schedule and don't need to stress out and in my case will take less time - so happy riding.

Seeing other enjoying the day. Being out in nature and enjoying the fresh air.

Stopping at Revolution Brewing on the way home, which has an indoor bikerack (and free fresh popcorn).

Drove today for work cause have an errand afternoon. I was jealous of a bike passing us on trail parallel to free way while cars were on stop and go

I'm lucky because my commute is a 40k bike path winding beside a lake. A nice sunrise over the lake and seeing herds of deer makes me happy

I don't usually think about it but I actually did think about it early last week when I realized I really enjoyed the quiet of the bike and my surroundings. I leave my house at 5am and my 21 mile commute is through all relatively quiet roads.

Also sometimes a tiny details add to the day to day ... lately it was occasionally looking down at my fancy blue color disc brake rotor screws that I 'bling' bought and replaced last week and how they match my blue wheel hub :-)

Also the feeling of accomplishment and funny byproduct of using Strava I like the fact that I'm on top of the weekly leaderboard lists of the two groups that I am a member of. I'm up there with some seriously fit bikers who do one or two monster rides every week but I beat them as the days add :-)

P.S. but it's not all roses...on Tuesday we had a cold and rainy day and I arrived home hypothermic. So, I'm biking home, cold, wet, swallowing water and at the bottom of this hill is an immediate stop sign, I usually 'idaho stop it' because I can see there is no one around and it would be a significant job for my brakes to stop completely. So on this crappy rainy day I get passed by a Jeep Wrangler and as the Jeep stops at the stop sign I arrive, slow down, look left and right and continue on. The Jeep rolls down the window and some raspy lady yells at me "Hey the stop sign is there for You too! %^&^$ ... well she WAS right but I just could not believe she would be nice and warm and dry in her car and unload on a wet, cold, bicyclist on a rainy day. I just laughed in disbelief and continued happy on my merry way.

Birds,I like birds.

I took a different route to work today and got there faster than expected. Partly due to not having to stop for a couple of lights that changed in my favor before I got there, and that doesn't happen very often.

Some days I'll hit every light green and it cuts my commute time down severely. I get to work so early I take a few laps around the block!

Doesn't happen often. But when it does.....it's a good day!

Same here. I can wear shorts and a backpack, my favorite combination.

I know - I was all set to stop and get a brief rest when the light changed and it caught me by surprise. It reminds me of the guy who used to use his alarm to get up at the same time every morning and wakes up startled after forgetting to set it the night before and wondered what was missing.

This morning a little old lady in her car saw me at the red light and warned me to drink plenty of water to stay healthy in this heat (it was 68 degrees and breezy)

At first my reaction in my head was "Huh? What...mind your business...."

But then I thought about it for a second and realized that this little old lady strange was looking out for me and trying to help. What a sweet woman, trying to give good advice to a perfect stranger.

I pointed to the bottle in my bottle cage and told her that was great advice and I never leave without it and thanks her for reminding me, then took a sip right in front of her. (Okay...it was coffee....but it was in a steel bottle so she didn't know that)

She seemed happy.

People are good.

I live in Washington...I can totally relate lol