Why is a bike heaven to ride one day and hell another?

Richard

Can't say about yours, but my bikes are pretty much the same from one day to the next. Conditions can change, but the bikes are fairly consistant.

Or maybe I just don't understand your question . . .

Rick / OCRR

You know those bumper stickers that say "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work?" That's kinda the way I feel about riding the bike.

Savor the heavenly days, endure those where everything hurts knowing that tomorrow might well bring bliss again. Were all days the same, cycling would lose some of it's excitement and sense of adventure. One doesn't know nirvana until one has traveled in darker realms, Grasshopper.

I suppose it depends on the type of riding you are doing that day. For a long ride without too many climbs, there is nothing like an old classic with a long wheelbase and skinny stays, but such a bike is too whippy and flexy for aggressive sprints and climbs. That is why I like having both types in the stable.

At first I thought we were talking about a new book or TV show. But my bikes have never been a problem. I tend to create my own problems.

Sadly, I can relate to this.

Most of my riding at this time of the year is not done in the best of weather- cool- damp and breezy, so when I get those better days- I would say it is the other way round.

Your answer is within.

second day you hurt based on your exertions the first day?

If I do not pamper my bikes and spoil them, they conspire behind my back to make life miserable for me.

wind direction

It could be that on some days you have a combination of things going on.

For instance, nutrition. If you go out on an early morning ride, and the night before you ate a lot of greasy food, then you're not going to feel that good.

Or it could be you're on medication and you might have forgotten it and are feeling the results of it.

Or it could be that you did not get enough rest and your body is telling you that you are still tired.

Or it could be that you have Type II Diabetes and don't even know it.

To quote Lao Tsu, "Sometimes things are ahead, sometime things are behind." The trick is to understand that they are both part of life and the secret is to not get upset and go with the flow.

But I'm guessing that you were really asking a rhetorical question.

It just bees that way.

At last, someone gets the point

Nope. Always a headwind
(well, that's what it seems like )

Of course I was, you lot are too serious

That's just worrying ... I think I know what you're getting at.

I was discussing this with the Europa yesterday as we barrelled along the River Torrens. Apparently it's all my fault but the discussion reached a point where I was winning and dead set, I swear the brute lenthened her top tube and lowered her saddle just to make things hard for me ... until I pretented to agree with her.

Richard

For me it's all about temperature with riding hell not fire but ice. The day can't get hot enough or warm headwinds strong enough to spoil the enjoyment just so there is some shade once in a while, but cold weather makes riding completely unpleasant.

you gotta know when to put your pjs back on and go back to bed

My wife just made the same suggestion. I reminded her that I haven't owned a pair of pjs since the Carter administration.

Seeing that there is no heaven or hell, the question is meaningless . . .

That's an existential cyclist for sure.

There is indeed, the former being sealed, void of cars and lined with trees, the latter being the 2km stretch from the bottom of Flagstaff Hill to Mitsubishi (four lanes of 80km/hr madness with three intersections and one where you have to ride across the mouth of a two laned major road - there's a bike lane but ...)
Of course, it might be different where you live

Richard

My heavens! That's a helluva thing to say.

And I was thinking to myself,
this could be heaven or this could be hell.

Welcome