mind at peace

[stephenjubb]

I find when bicycle touring (particularly solo) especially when in the coutryside away from populations (Northern Scotland etc) I find my mind at peace with no thoughts whatsoever (particularly nothing negative, no stresses or pressures).

This can be hard to achieve for anyone and I never have in normal life. That is one of the many reasons I love bicycle touring.

I doubt if many non bicycle tourists have ever experienced it, but it is one of the most rewarding experiences one can ever experience.

What does everyone else think?

 

[ASC1951]

It is indeed rewarding. It is also a skill you can learn - here is where I did. http://www.fwbo.org/meditation.html

It still takes me an hour to empty my head after setting off, but I find I can now achieve the same tranquillity on day rides that I used to need three days of holiday to reach.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

that is why I ride a bike

 

[snorri]

Here's a quote from a book by Josie Dew.
"Just to be moving, spinning along on a simple but useful pile of steel, your home in four bags hanging on all sides, going somewhere, anywhere, free and alone, sends me into the heady heights of exuberance"
That sums it up for me.

 

[Cranky]

Yes, cycle touring is an activity where I often find myself saying "This is as good as it gets". Something to do with the sense of freedom, being out there in the environment, and minimal possessions, I think.

 

[con gibbens]

Yes, cycle touring is an activity where I often find myself saying "This is as good as it gets". Something to do with the sense of freedom, being out there in the environment, and minimal possessions, I think.

Absolutely. Couldn't have put it better myself!

 

[xilios]

Here are some thoughts about touring that I picked up at bikeforums.net and changed a bit.


We remain awed by the richness of the experience. Few of us ever really link up in such a way, for such a sustained period, with what's out there.
We miss it.
We miss the routine--making and breaking camp, cooking on the one-burner stove, shopping and snacking, keeping the panniers organized, even doing the occasional repair.
We miss the people--the exuberant, unbridled admiration and wonder, the generosity, the faces and handshakes and hugs, the touching of hearts.
We miss the scenery, the elements, the sounds and the silence.
But most of all, we miss the road.
It has given us strength and health, it has expanded our senses and stretched our sense of the possible.
We miss seeing it pass beneath us, as a river appears from atop a bridge, every patch and joint coming in its own time, every meter of its length inspected for hazards.
We miss the sounds of the tires contacting the pavement, a different one for each surface, the most pleasing just following a rain.
We miss the feel, the resistance, the spinning of the pedals and crank arms, five thousand times an hour, and each revolution's small victory over distance.
We miss that strange illusion of pedaling hard but remaining stationary against the sometime featureless, flat plains, without markers to gauge forward progress, and the lonely sight of that straight, unbroken ribbon of asphalt, infinite.
We miss the road...and one in particular.
The one that leads from our home to the next adventure.

 

[Cathryn]

Now I'm all emotional.

Totally agree. There's something incredibly peaceful about cycle touring. It literally makes me happy. I also find it quite spiritual. I'm on TeamGod and find that when I'm cycling somewhere beautiful it makes me think much more about God and feel closer to him. I suspect that even if you're not in the God Squad, you feel the same way even if you wouldn't use the same words. It's something about the beauty of what's around you and that inner peacefulness.

 

[Kirstie]

I'd go mad if I didn't tour for all of the reasons stated above (not the God one though - sorry, not for me). It's like my sanctuary, shared with a select few.

 

[Tony]

Zen roads....the long stretches in Australia, for example, where you ride at the same point on the horizon for ages and get into that still, quiet space in your own head, where you feel you could ride forever, and then you stop anf your legs wake up and remind you you can't.

 

[rich p]

I love cycling over motorway bridges - it makes me feel smug although that's not a very spiritual emotion

 

[snorri]

I love cycling over motorway bridges - it makes me feel smug although that's not a very spiritual emotion

On a similar theme, it is nice to pull the bike off the road on twisty roads and take time to appreciate spectacular views , knowing that the rubbernecking car occupants have no chance of stopping due to the lack of safe parking.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

when I'm cycling somewhere beautiful it makes me think much more about God and feel closer to him

This is how I often feel. I dont know if it's GOD or not but i do know that when I ride a long way from home, on my own something/one makes good things happen and minimises the bad things. I cant explain that, but I know that especially on my ride across France things didnt go as I had always planned/expected, yet they seemed to happen for a reason, and that reason was always good/better than what i had anticipated. I learned to 'go with the flow' and react to changes rather than force change for the sake of it...much happier that way.

Dunno maybe I was just closer to nature, there is something very humbling about being so small in such a wonderful universe.

 

[Tony]

think you have it spot on, there. I wrote elsewhere about the cycle touring approach to a big hill. Time is meaningless. You'll get up---eventually. The day slows down into a human scale of events. You get there when the time is ripe.

 

[GaryA]

This is how I often feel. I dont know if it's GOD or not but i do know that when I ride a long way from home, on my own something/one makes good things happen and minimises the bad things. I cant explain that, but I know that especially on my ride across France things didnt go as I had always planned/expected, yet they seemed to happen for a reason, and that reason was always good/better than what i had anticipated. I learned to 'go with the flow' and react to changes rather than force change for the sake of it...much happier that way.

Dunno maybe I was just closer to nature, there is something very humbling about being so small in such a wonderful universe.

#

I get this feeling most strongly when I'm cycling, walking, hiking and even occasionally motorcycling or day-dreaming looking out of the window...after years of contemplation and reading I now know it is the universe looking at itself through our eyes and marvelling at its own timeless and exquisite beauty......