bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......... I've got it! I just came off of a 60 mile solo ride that included a stop for a GREAT cheeseburger and caramel pie at the turn around town. The wind was light (after a week of 15-30), the sun was shining, the dogs were friendly and the world was all good. I also passed the 8000 mile mark for the year. I think I'll sit on the porch and drink a beer.

It feels like a kind of enlightenment...maybe "encyclement" could be the word? Other forms of exercise do make you feel good, no mistake. There's just something that happens when cycling that causes a giddy one-ness with, well, "life, the universe and everything." Hokey as that sounds, it's a deep, intensely spiritual feeling. Everything around you becomes more beautiful than words can describe, as if you and your surroundings were all part of one heart-wrenchingly magnificent symphony. The colors of the sky, the plants, the road. The sound of the wind, the birds flitting by, the innumerable details seen and unseen, heard and unheard. The feel of your own body and the breath almost ragged in your lungs as the circular rythym propels the bike forward -- sometimes flowing, sometimes lunging, always alive.

You could think about a thousand things, or nothing at all: it doesn't matter. You can't help but grin like a goofy little kid, and enjoy life and the ride to the fullest.

Wow... I was trying to tell my wife about this the other day... that "invincible" feeling for lack of another word... her response... "watch out for cars... you are not invincible."

I couldn't explain it. It was as if I was connected to the bike, but larger then the bike... I saw and felt everything around me. I was not dead tired as if after a long ride and feeling the flush of the ride; this was shortly after starting a ride and just feeling increadably "right." Everything just clicked.

This is beyond the energy feeling I get just from a ride... it was "sensory bliss."

Yup... An out of body experience matched with an integration of mind to machine.
The fleshy intermediary (middle man) disappears.
The fact that your legs/heart/lungs are working, becomes the amusement of a casual observer.

HELLYEAH!!! I've been known to chug down 2 without a pause and start sipping the third while the checkout girl scans one of the empties 3 times little old ladies in the line see me do that and get that frightened look on their face like they just recognised the granny killer from the FBI's most wanted poster. I love it!

Yeah!!!!! I love that feeling when your mind and body are totally in sync with the bike and you feel like you can do anything. You find yourself cruising a gear or two higher than normal, your legs have instaneous acceleration and no hill seems too big. I live for those rides.

DARN IT people. . .keep it down. It's our best kept secret. Until someone experiences it, it's dev'lish hard to explain the REAL charm of exercise. [Muscle tone my foot.]

For me, it feels like I'm vibrating in synch with everything around me. . .like I'm integral to 'It'.

Folks look at me like I'm insane, which of course I am.