Does biking cause aggression?
 

I get aggro when I ride. If a car cuts me off, I sprint after them just to yell at them. When I'm not riding, I get irritable. I can't say I felt this way before the season started. No, I'm not doping.

Is there a physiological explanation for this? More testosterone? Adrenaline?

you should probably relax, i bet half of your "cut me off" are perceived and i'd wager 95% of them are unintentional...

let it go, you're just asking to blow a gasket, and over what? Something really really dumb, completely out of your control, and nothing actually happened.

Didn't answer the question.

I typically don't get too agressive unless there are a number of these episodes on one ride, or a cager does something very intentional and than tells you about it.

shutup.

Hawaiian disease - lackanookie

:D

LOL.

Very rarely in life is explosive anger caused by the event manifesting it. In other words, you are an angry guy who expresses it in the context of cycling. If you didn't cycle, your anger would find other outlets. Figure out why you have so much anger to express in the first place, and the rest is solved.

Unless you like being dangerously exposed while chasing down cagers?

No.

It must be the cubicle - it brings out my inner animal.

Sure. You're out on the road in what amounts to underwear, stressing your body and simultaneously trying not to get hit by the multi-thousand pound vehicles zipping by you. It's stressful, and your body responds to that.

It would still probably be helpful to work on keeping your cool, though. Divert the anger from the mouth to the pedals. Sublimation at its finest. ;)

Thanks for the first reasonable post that's not hippie-talk or comical. Just for clarification, I'm not some freak that gets off on screaming at motorist. There's been maybe two and three occasions this season where I've done that - all justified. Who hasn't encountered that if you're training on the road 12+ hours a week? Much of this "aggression" is not outwardly manifest - I guess it's better to describe it as more charged up, in general.

On a serious note, isn't there evidence to show that training increases androgen and testostorone production?

Being in a position of inferiority where others actions that you have no control over could just kill you makes one aggressive.

Sorry to get all hippie on you, but your OP didn't make clear frequency or intensity. But judging from your responses to everyone who has bothered to reply, you are a really pleasant guy, and I'm sure the cagers deserved the rigtheous indignation you feel.

no exact opposite for me I love riding it is my destressor...I get very grumpy if i don't get to ride...

I remember looking at this a while back out of sheer interest as a cyclist (this is WAY outside my field of expertise) and it would seem that hard training/riding actually decreases testosterone levels in some cases. One study I read actually measured testosterone levels, etc. of a pro team in the Vuelta A Espana, and showed that a grand tour really kinda makes a mess of a person endocrinologically, which includes a drop in testosterone.

What happens acutely, though, with hard training or exercise, seems to be the opposite, but there are much smarter people than me out there when it comes to this stuff.

hitting the road usually works out my aggression and i'm rather placid while actually riding. unless someone tries to take a town line away from me.

Doesn't seem quite as "opposite" as you might think. I bet the OP feels nice and relaxed after the ride too.

does the exact opposite to me.

I suggest therapy =p

No worries, I feel the same way when I train. Especially since when I train hard (mainly with running, but now with cycling), I don't have sex for several weeks, now that makes for some aggression! :eek:

I find it kind of relaxing and comforting in a zen like sort of way. You know exactly where your opposition is and its a very straight forward relationship.

:lol:

True. I sleep like a baby these days since I've ramped up training. :p

Thanks. I'm sorry if you are hippie-inclined. No offense intended.

I have heard this topic discussed before. One argument that stuck in my mind was some suggestion that the strain/pain of hard cycling and accompanying release of hormones, adrenaline, etc. might put your body into the "fight or flight" mode so that any little stimulus could evoke an uncharacteristicly aggressive reaction.

I know that I get very cranky when I can't ride though. I have cycling goals and when life gets in the way and i know I am slipping behind on my goals, I am one bitter dude.