Another Dimension

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02-06-17 | 11:48 AM

#26

Jim from Boston

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Joined: May 2008

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Another Dimension

Quote:

Originally Posted by tandempower

Biking through a major Florida city,it is striking how different it is to experience the landscape by bike than by driving...

When you zoom in to the level of the pixels on a computer screen, the pixels are nothing more than solid colored squares in whatever selection of colors themonitor is set to display. Nature is different. Each pixel turns out to itself be pixelated with countless organic forms and structures that make it up. Microscopes don't do justice to this phenomenon because you can't be physically present at the scale of a microscope, let alone move through the landscapes in three dimensions. To experience a smaller scale of reality directly, you have to slow down. Sometimes what you see is not pretty.

Biking on a highway may reveal that the pavement is rougher than you could ever imagine from inside a speeding car. On the other hand, you may experience vantage points, objects, and landscapes in a way you didn't realize exist from the familiar perspective of a motor vehicle. Either way, the experience is different - it's another dimension!

Quote:

Originally Posted by WalterS

Biking, walking, and driving are all radically different as far as the experience and mental state that I have during the activity. It is virtually like being in a completely different place if you drive up a road In a car versus ride the road on a bicycle or walk up that same road. You might as well be in a completely different place.

In my cycling biography, updated in my Introduction to Bike Forums, I have posted that one of improvements I have gotten from Bike Forums is “the opportunity to post and literally 'journal' my thoughts and activities about cycling and lifestyle (even if nobody else reads them), but which I wouldn't write down otherwise.” I finally got a chance to sit and expound on this thread.

I’m intrigued about the entire concept of cycling as a different dimension… “a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Bicycle Zone!” [to paraphrase the Twilight Zone] .I have previously posted,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

I'm very motivated by novelty, and stymied by boredom on a bike, but I do have the motivation of commuting to work. I have found that when I drive my frequent, decades-old routes I often notice things I had not seen before. I think it’s because I can look around at more than just the road surface when driving. So when the commute [route] is getting too familiar, I just raise my head higher and look over a wider field of view…

I certainly do feel that when cycling I am more “in the environment” than when in a car. Nonetheless since I have to “pixilate” on the road while riding, it also limits my horizons, and I have to compensate by looking farther afield. Kind of like looking through a microscope at a high power, but more interesting with an objective lens with a wider field of view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roody

When I say my rust belt city is beautiful, people who always drive scoff at me. True, the big 4 to 6 lane streets bordered by endless parking lots are quite ugly. But the smaller streets and residential lareas, and some of the centrally located business districts, are all quite beautiful. But you rarely see the beauty if you drive everywhere.

It's not surprising that people feel no civic pride when they can't even see how nice their city really is!

Well said @Roody. While I have cycled through beautiful natural scenery…like mountains and coastlines…I probably prefer my urban routes, mainly because there are so many more and diverse pixels to peruse. Maybe mundane, but still interesting.