It must be the Endorphins.........Hmmmmmm , I don't think I really know how to explain that feeling when every thing comes together and "It's" the " thing " you talk about after the ride, and only riders "get"......... let us know your thoughts on this one , surely I can't be alone ??? Also notice that while out riding any problems that you have in your work,relationships,life etc ,you can come up with a clear and desisive solution ! some how thinking and riding go hand in hand.. let me know your views....

Buddy,

All I can say is, I FEEL GOOD!!! I'm feeling it RIGHT NOW as I type these words. I just got in this morning just 90 minutes ago from my 14 mile commute, and NOBODY IN THE WHOLE DEPARTMENT feels anything like as GOOD as I do! NOBODY. I hate to say this, but after all the talking I do about "cycling is healthy", "cycling doesn't pollute", "cycling is economical", blah, blah, blah...cycling makes you feel so GOOD you want to SLAP YO' MOMMA!

Hehe! !!!

You're right, it's one of those things that is hard to explain to the uninitiated, they just don't understand. It sets my whole day up when I'm able to ride into work in the morning, just the exercise, the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling that you've done something that 99%(?) of the population can't or won't do. Whatever it is I wouldn't give it up for anything.
:thumbup:

I think its something to do with neuro-linguistic-programming and the angle that you look from when youre in a head down position, stimulating the part of the brain that fights off depression

Hey, you asked!

The other day there was a heavy west wind blowing dust and rubble through the city. It was the kind of weather that people look out their windows but stay inside. While everyone else says "how bout that wind?" I can say I crossed the city in the middle of it, felt every gust trying to blow me into semi-trucks and I can tell them how the felt crunched between my teeth, and how hard it is to breathe with that much wind in your face. I can't explain how good I felt during the ride to conquer conditions like that. All I know is that riding make me feel like a human being within a city of mechanized alienation.
That thing has got to be some kind of voodoo.

There is nothing like riding in the pouring rain - when there is 2 inches in your shoes and rivers running down the street. I know everyone who passes me in their car is saying 'That poor idiot, didn't she know it was going to rain'. I laugh, because not only did I know it was going to rain, I timed my ride so that I would be riding in the heaviest part of it!!!

But every once in a while, it all comes together, the weather is just right, you feel great and strong, and bam, it hits you - you just feel great to be alive. And the thought is that simple and pure. It's great!

G-n-G,

That moment that I am feeling the greatest, it hits me: I am surrounded by an infinite supply of beauty and wonderment, the sky, the foliage, even my breath flowing in and out of my lungs feels like an ocean of fresh water sometimes; it costs me nothing and I can't use it up, it's all free! I heard a saying that went something like, "The fish, though surrounded by water, is still thirsty, and it puzzles me."

Sometimes I get the best "rushes" as I reach the tops of tall hills!

I know what you mean about rain.

after biking , i feel great.
Its like i can conquer the world with a snap of my fingers (or something like that?!)
I feel myself elevated among other traffic users, everything is so clear!
That,s all generated by the so called "body drug; endorphin!

i like it!

Mark b.

Last fall on my last commute for the year, I rode home from work in a light rain and it turned out to be the best ride I had all year. Maybe it was partly because when the rain turned to snow I realized that was probably it for year (I don't ride all winter, I know Kittyfury, but some of us older guys just can't hack it!), or maybe it was just everything coming together for that ride. When I finished I felt really pumped, what a great way to feel, and just from riding!
:dance:

O.K., so now I'm going to be a philosopher...

You know how eating tastes good? Some say that's to promote survival. How about sex? Again, to promote survival, they say. Well, if cycling makes you feel so great, maybe that's to help us keep doing it so we'll survive longer!

I won't even try to explain the feeling I get. I'll just say that I'm a lunatic and leave it at that. Heck, in the last three months I have ridden in pouring rain more often than I can remember, several lightning storms, and indeed the only hail storm this place has had in the last six years.

Oh yeah, and when I'm not commuting I deliberately go looking for hills. I am a lunatic no question. I won't even try to explain the feeling to the uninitiated.

Chris

I find the "feeling" is most apparent when I ride directly behind an SUV. I suck in as much of those "happy fumes" as I can manage!

One of the many baffling missaprehensions of non-cyclists is that cycling isnt fun. Another is that is is a childish thing to do.

How you hold those 2 ideas in your brain at the same time is beyond me. Children are not fools when it comes to seeking out fun.

Fun should come at all ages. I hope to have geriatric fun (whatever that would be) some day.

There is great satisfaction when it all comes together. Last week, I was riding home on a tail wind. I had perfect cadence and I increased my speed .5 mph with each gear change. I was flying! (Then I punctured.)

It's definitely an awesome feeling to be out there! People talk about "runner's high", well, there's definitely a "rider's high", too!

I don't know what dried up idiot that MichaelW had mentioned in his post, but that person definitely needs to crawl out of that vacuum they call "life", and live life bigger.

Hey, that doesn't mean jumping out of airplanes, or bungee jumpin (or if it does, more power to you), but just inhalin' life with one big wonderful breath! (Okay, the jaded-much-hardened conscience just tapped me on the shoulder to stop now...)

Okay, Pete, I'm really startin' to worry about 'ya...

:blush:

Wha tha' hell? Really? I didn't know THAT was for promoting survival!!!! Guess, I can't vote you off the damn island then...

(Btw, that puts a totally new spin on that whole Darwin thing, doesn't it?)

Okay, okay, back to behaving again...

That feeling is great isn't it!!!!

I always feel closer to nature after a really hard ride in the countryside....it's almost a divine feeling I guess you'd say...

Hey, maybe we could develop a new religion??

:angel: Bike-a-lisum :angel:

Hmmmm, any takers?

:dance: Rich :dance:

I was never worried about you, Sussette!

Anyone with the guts to be totally themselves and buck convention like Technogirl has my support!

(Hey, you're right, you can't vote ALL us guys off the island! I guess that's our own survival insurance. We guys should be proud we found a loophole in Darwin's theories and survived anyhow) :dance:

As for a new religion, maybe we have enough of those already. But then again, since we're already practicing
it, maybe what we need is a place to gather. Since we are scattered all around the globe, what we'll need is some effective means of communication to share ideas and experiences. Ooop! I guess we already have that, too! :blush:

For me, "that feeling" comes from 2 or 3 things.
1) When I'm sitting in a lawn chair right after a groovy ride, and my legs feel like they are so big they're gonna pop

2) The look a person in a car gives me I pass them going up a hill

3) Standing in line at a store with my helmet tucked underneath my armpit, my shirt is soaked with sweat,my shorts are soaked with sweat,my bike leaning against me, and I down a Powerade in one long pull.

ha ha, good times guys!!!

Thanks, Pete! Insanity does have its advantages, I suppose...

Fubar, that's so true...I was at this ride on Sunday, and man, the adrenaline was just pumping for me that day! There were some massive hills I had encountered, but the thrill I got whipping through them was unreal!

As a side note, the funny thing was, I had a dream where I was riding down fast some hill, and I was able to just make the turns in the like a pro. Weird, huh? Does anyone else dream about riding? I mean I have tons of dreams, but that's like the first time I actually dreamt about riding before.

Alright, that confirms it...i'm certified. Anyone with a straight jacket handy?

I suspect it's endorphins--but that there's more to it than that.

I've experienced the "runner's high" (and there's even a walker's high, if you walk long and briskly enough) and of course the "cyclist's high" and they feel exactly the same to me. I've also experienced what might be called a meditation high (I am a long-time but currently very slouchy practitioner of Zen meditation), which isn't exactly the same.

I think the endorphin release in vigorous aerobic exercise like running, brisk walking, and cycling enables a better mental state and a better emotional attitude; it's not just an automatic thing like taking a drug. This kind of buoyant, often somewhat exhilirated feeling can cause a good involvement of the will that lasts long after the initial "buzz" is gone.

At least that's how it seems to me.

That's how it seems to me, too. I seem to stay that way all day long, sort of relaxed, confident, non-paranoid, outgoing, energetic, pensive, everything good combined together even if they seem like opposite feelings!

On the flip side, I met a guy who said cycling made him puke. I found out later that's a common sign of being totally unfit, cured only with exercise (beginning gently).

cycling-high

I always feel good after the first mile - no matter how miserable my mood or weather.

But what REALLY intrigues me are the handful of times (they've only occurred either touring or on a LONG day rides) when a feeling overcomes me like a shroom or acid flashback - total disconnect with my body, and just a floating consciousness in sensory bliss.

They're pretty powerful, in that the first time I felt one (climbing the umpteenth hill on Route 9 west of Northampton) I was scared shytless, in the sense that I felt too damn good and "enthralled" that I worried that I wouldn't pay the needed attention to the rear view, and periphery - but I managed, and realized I could keep a foot on both sides of this internal reality.

Weird.

glad i'm not the only one!!!