f4rrest

Think I'll try speaking in tongues next ride. Maybe another rider with the "gift" will understand...

digibud

I'm guessing lunatic. lol Maybe a lunatic making progress. I cry when I go downhill at 50mph and after 7 hours in the saddle. But in all seriousness, getting "in the zone" as they say, is a great thing. Today in spinning class I was able to remain standing for 38min and for a good chunk of it I found myself moving to the music with no thought of tired legs or anything but the pure motion. That's rare for me indoors. The flip side is the occasional ride where I just pack it in and roll back home because every moment seems like an unpleasant effort. Happily that doesn't happen often. My mother was an artist and often commented on the beauty of being entirely lost in the process of creating her art, with no sense of time passing. There are a lot of variations to being in the zone. It's one of life's great pleasures.

rangerdavid

soon to be the Right Reverend in the First Church of Foo........

patentcad

fify.

But not a credible ambition.

thump55

Ummm...actually, you might be.

GuyWood

Amen to that! I went out for a 24 mile road ride last Saturday with a few non-waterproof layers on top with cycling shorts and Sambas on the other half. It was raining so heavily my sambas were full of water and it was dark and freezing cold but I absolutely loved every minute of it, frozen feet and all - that's why I love cycling.

lenA

a cupla tokes can make any ride feel that way.......so I've heard

GuyWood

Only thing I toke these days is my e-cig .

THSdrummer

I grew up in a suburban city joined next to the big city and several other suburban cities. The suburban cities definitely excelled more than the city schools.

I think the Midwest is pretty reputable with cross country. A lot of distance running stars are born and raised here (Illinois is a powerhouse for high school cross country). I know Terre Haute, Indiana is "Cross Country town USA" as well. The Northwest and California also have a good cross country scene from what I've heard.

It's alive. Just not at the forefront for most anybody.

rousseau

Wait a minute. Unless I haven't been keeping up, aren't you the Shimano guy who refuses to see the light and switch to Campy?

If Shimano is Buddhist and Campy is Catholic, how on earth can you be Pope? Buddhism doesn't have a Pope.

It's possible that you could be a Zen master, maybe. Though, then again, having read your posts over the years...probably not. A minor monk, perhaps?

mlander

Ahhhh, living in the present - focusing only on the immediate senses and being totally untroubled by worry, stress, anxiety, doubt, and the other downsides of our huge, over-active, uniquely self-aware brains. Mediation works better for me, but stumbling upon this glorious state-of-being by cycling works too. It's an epiphany when it's achieved.

I find the happiest people I know have this as their default setting. They live in the moment. They don't brood. Happiness is derived from an outward orientation. Depression is inwardness, preoccupation with internal concerns. Happiness is being present. Depression is being stuck in the past or worried about future. The good news is at can be practiced and mastered.

There - who's a lunatic now!?

Seattle Forrest

Can you declare your own holidays and skip work?

RPK79

Century Day!

Carbonfiberboy 

We call our Sunday group ride "The Church of the Skinny Tire." I've been going to church there for 16 years. We have quite a congregation. All stand!

Phil_gretz

fify

popeye

Let's get honest. "The zone" and religion are both just drugs we create ourselves.

Ed702

Reminds me of a quote: "Cycling is like a church — many attend, but few understand." — Jim Burlant

Hiro11

Words to live by. When I'm on my bike, I'm not thinking about work or worrying about the wide variety questionable things I've done in my life, I'm thinking about the pleasure/pain of a smooth 26 mph pull, the dumb thrill of an ad hoc town line sprint, the easy-going nature of spending time with my friends while we're all gasping for breath and enjoying the views of the countryside rolling by.

Personally, when I'm on my bike I'm also bearing witness to God's miraculous creation and giving praise and thanks for what He's done for me... in that sense cycling really is a church for me.

coasting 

if cycling is a church, it is a suicide cult.

Ed702

+1

The art of mindful living.


Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life. -Thich Nhat Hanh

Clipped_in

Halleluja sister!

RollCNY

How in the world does non-binding legal dispute resolution help you achieve of a state of glorious being?

mlander

Haaaa! Oh, I've just alway found long, tense meetings to be like a warm bath. So relaxing.

Beckpatch

Typo - letter missing. "medication"?