Ok, perhaps an overstatement. Maybe not. I have a regular thirty mile ride I have developed over the last three years. This ride brings me from my house to the local foothills and eventually ends at a really nice private waterfall, full of Hummingbirds. This particular ride actually began the night before with an awesome meal of fresh Sushi and killer mixed green salad. I mentioned this because maybe it has something to do with the way I was able to ride. Morning comes and I am sore from work and a little run down. Didn't really feel like riding. I made a Smoothy from two small Bananas, some peanut butter, and milk. Made up a Whole Grain bread and Almond butter and Jelly sandwich, cut it in half to become two energy "bars". As I pedaled up to SART, it all seemed to come together. Even though the beginning is into the wind, my bike seemed lighter and the pedals were just spinning under my feet. Maintaining 20 mph for the first seven miles was nice and about 15% faster than normal. This is on a Single speed mountain Bike with 29 x 2 inch tires so it is naturally a little slower than my road bike. I made a turn off SART and up thru Mainplace mall. This is a Speed zone and I often stay with traffic, seeing speeds up into the thirties for short distances on level glass smooth pavement. Up Santiago Creek trail, just cruising the MUP I felt superb. At the end of this trail is (South) Cannon street. It looks a little imposing from the bottom but I felt great and started up and up and up. Up in front crossing the road were three mangy Coyotes with their noses in the air. Then I see two women with Bait sized dogs just walking right towards those Coyotes. I was in Hill climb mode but stopped to warn these Gals when all of a sudden the Coyotes turn towards all of us and start trotting our way. The little dogs started yipping and jumping. I took off towards them making loud growling sounds and getting high up on my bike. This seemed to entertain them more than scare them but they did cross the road and run off. The road gets steeper here and I had lost my momentum but the climb seemed way easier than normal. Getting to the top I had breath to spare for once. I rode down to Chapman and took off toward Mission Viejo by way of Santiago Cyn. Road. Ripped that road up !
I stopped at Cooks and had two beers, the first one gone in one gulp. I ate my Half sandwich and turned around. The return ride was epic with a tailwind, yet I pushed as hard as I could eventually ending up chasing cars around Irvine park. One more Half a sandwich and lots of water and it was back down to the MUP. Getting Back on SART I flew back to my house in what seemed like a blur. Had a good dinner and slept for 14 hours. Woke up a little sore and depleted. And hungry. At 54 I felt this ride was every bit as fast and my endurance was as good as it has ever been even when I was riding in my twenties. Ended up being 56 miles. So I though I would share this as proof we gray haired guys can still get it on, even though it took 14 hours of sleep to recover. Do we all have this experience or is it a fleeting memory never to be relived.

With great fueling the night before and in the AM you were good to go. I've had my times when everything came into alignment resulting in a wonderfully fast and seemingly effortless ride, but sadly those days are fewer and farther apart.

Cherish that ride and I hope you have many more like it.

nice report

which god?

edit: Hermes is taken.

I was wondering that myself. Then again, a great ride can make one feel religious.

Sounds like a great ride.

You were going HOW fast on the MUP??


Love the coyote episode.

almost holy?
every good day i have in this world is worth giving thanks to someone/thing for. that's indisputable.

To the OP - great story.
You asked "do we all get this feeling?" Ans = YES, it is at the foundation of N+1.

Yeah, I get the feeling every time I bump into a Strava top-10.

But I aint eating no raw fish.

Just don't ride like the god of thunder, also known as Thor Hushovd. He's retiring at the end of the year after failing to regain his form after falling ill two years ago. We don't need anymore sickly gods.

The other readers can thank me now.

This ride is known as being run over by a dump truck full of awesome.

I quote: " just cruising ". Probably 10 or less, it is full of root bumps and joggers.

There are days like that. Enjoy them.

Probably not like God. Probably like the demiurge. God is the foundation of all Being. The demiurge can really clip along, though.

This gives me visions of Plato riding his Gnostic bike.

Yea, For the PolyTheists out there can you say which one? Perseus, Thor, Bacchus, Zeus, Popobawa?

Fausto Coppi? Poulidor ?

I'm dyslexic, I thought the op said he rode like a dog.

Perhaps the OP is guilty of gnostic turpitude (many bonus points for literary reference without googling it).

That wasn't Eddy Merckx, that was just God... he likes to pretend he's Eddy Merckx.

Everybody wants to ride like Eddy.

edit: and be like billy.

One day I ride like Eddy and my thread turns meta-religical. If I knew the right Pharmacist I could ride like Lance. But mostly I think it all came together, on an unlikely day. Next ride involved a "superman" with the attendant bruised ribs and legs. Still hurts when I laugh.

The kind without the cape?? Ouch. Not good at all.

Those magical rides are really rare. Conditions are perfect, timing is right and you have a ride for the memories. Wish those could be duplicated on command.

Thank you Dudelsack! I found the post much easier to read after your expert paragraphing!

I am familiar with many of those roads and while the OP doesn't give a feet of climbing total, I'm thinking well over 3,000 feet at least. Which, in my opinion, makes the ride that much more awesome. Lots of those climbs get my attention on a road bike; I can barely imagine them on a single-speed mountain bike!

Rick / OCRR

Thanks for the props Rick. Keep your knees in and push hard. Don't ever give up. Pain is only a sensation of the weak. Thank God that Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces. Legs don't fail me now. Mantras of the Single Speed.