Has A Bike Ride Ever Made You Cry ?

[Primal Scream]

When I finished my first London marathon I burst into tears, dont really know why, relief at finishing maybe.

 

[hotfuzzrj]

London to Paris, day 3 (of 4) was a wrecker, headwind, rain, cold, I was pedalling downhill about 6mph. So demoralising.
I started to hate it, cried (sobbing!) until I remembered why I was doing it (best friend died at age of only 24 so I try doing events for cancer charities) and realised I was lucky to be alive!
Then I just started smiling and talking to her in my head and laughing that she, quite possibly, wouldn't have done that bike ride for me!
Then when I finished under Eiffel Tower I cried again. Good tears that time...

 

[Herbie]

This will be a little embarrassing , but after completing my first ever Sportive and my longest ride distance of 85 miles I sat down in the cafe to call my Dad just to let him know I had got back safe and I had to cut the call short as I started to get upset.

What the Hell Happened ?

I managed to compose myself,and I don't think anybody noticed but I felt real stupid.Even driving home I had tears streaming down my face.

A friend told me it could have just been adrenaline,Would love to know if this has ever happend to anybody else ?

not yet but when i'm old and have to give up cycling then i may shed a tear....enjoy your cycling its later than you think

 

[ColinJ]

not yet but when i'm old and have to give up cycling then i may shed a tear....enjoy your cycling its later than you think

I've got a photograph of a favourite Scottish great-uncle opposite me on top of my TV. He is pictured standing alongside his old 3-speed sit-up-and-beg bicycle. I reckon that he must have been at least 80 when the photograph was taken.

I remember that he was still riding until his mid-80s when he fell off into a ditch for the 3rd or 4th time. His sense of balance was letting him down. His GP patched him up for the last time and said "Och, I think it's time to hang up your wheels!"

I think the advice should have been "Och, it's time to swap the bicycle for a tricycle!"

(He lived until his mid-90s.)

 

[Ian H]

Audax UK's patron until his death in 1996 was Oppy. When his wife banned him from cycling at the age of 90, he took to his turbo-trainer. This is from his regular letters to AUK's magazine, Arrivee.
Long rides tend to make me a bit emotional at the finish. Arriving in Brindisi eleven days after leaving Calais was an experience to remember. I stopped outside the town to put on my club jersey. Even the weird anti-climax of the finish - no one to greet me, just find a control stamp somewhere - didn't detract from it.

 

[Herbie]

I've got a photograph of a favourite Scottish great-uncle opposite me on top of my TV. He is pictured standing alongside his old 3-speed sit-up-and-beg bicycle. I reckon that he must have been at least 80 when the photograph was taken.

I remember that he was still riding until his mid-80s when he fell off into a ditch for the 3rd or 4th time. His sense of balance was letting him down. His GP patched him up for the last time and said "Och, I think it's time to hang up your wheels!"

I think the advice should have been "Och, it's time to swap the bicycle for a tricycle!"

(He lived until his mid-90s.)

I would love to be like him...what a great inspirational man

 

[ColinJ]

I would love to be like him...what a great inspirational man

You can't do much about your genes (many on the Scottish side of my family live to 85-100) but you can do what he did:

• Eat wholesome food. (He grew his own veg and didn't eat convenience food.)
• Get regular exercise. (He cycled and walked a lot and got plenty of exercise in his outdoor job.)
• Don't smoke or take drugs.
• Drink in moderation. (He liked the occasional whisky, but that was it.)
• Try to avoid stress.
• Laugh a lot!

 

[Herbie]

You can't do much about your genes (many on the Scottish side of my family live to 85-100) but you can do what he did:

• Eat wholesome food. (He grew his own veg and didn't eat convenience food.)
• Get regular exercise. (He cycled and walked a lot and got plenty of exercise in his outdoor job.)
• Don't smoke or take drugs.
• Drink in moderation. (He liked the occasional whisky, but that was it.)
• Try to avoid stress.
• Laugh a lot!

i try to do all of them....my old man is 86 and still going well so i hope its in the genes as you say

 

[ColinJ]

i try to do all of them....my old man is 86 and still going well so i hope its in the genes as you say

Sounds like you stand a good chance of a long life and good health then!

 

[smokeysmoo]

I don't mind admitting to having a little blub when the finish line came into view the first time I did the Manchester 2 Blackpool.

It was the farthest I'd ever ridden in my life at that time, and the sense of acheivement and the sight of my family at the finish line finished me off

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Generally only when I'm riding at a good speed downhill on a chilly day. That's guaranteed to cause a few tears.

As for giving up cycling: when I can no longer balance on a bicycle, I'll use a tricycle. When my legs get too old to pedal, then I'm stuffed.

 

[Herbie]

Sounds like you stand a good chance of a long life and good health then!

so far so good

 

[Deleted member 1258]

years ago I started out to do a 90 mile charity ride, unfortunately I had made a right pigs ear of my preparations and barely made 25 miles before I had to be picked up by one of the travelling marshals, they took me to the nearby control where I had to abandon the event. Whilst there I walked down to the village phone box and phoned the MRS, during the conversation I burst into tears, some of it was anger, I was cross with myself for cocking it up, and some of it was me feeling I had let my sponsors down.

 

[ColinJ]

years ago I started out to do a 90 mile charity ride, unfortunately I had made a right pigs ear of my preparations and barely made 25 miles before I had to be picked up by one of the travelling marshals, they took me to the nearby control where I had to abandon the event. Whilst there I walked down to the village phone box and phoned the MRS, during the conversation I burst into tears, some of it was anger, I was cross with myself for cocking it up, and some of it was me feeling I had let my sponsors down.

Blimey Dave, that was a major miscalculation - I've run out of steam 2/3 of the way into long rides but I don't think I've ever cracked that quickly!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Blimey Dave, that was a major miscalculation - I've run out of steam 2/3 of the way into long rides but I don't think I've ever cracked that quickly!

Its the only time I've cracked early, normally even if I'm having a bad day I'll get round, though I might be a bit slow.
At the time I was a young fella with a family and a mortgage, work was very busy and I was working all the overtime I could get, I think I was working six days most weeks and averaging around fifty six hours a week, I'd worked the day before and probably was knackered before I started.