The Joy of Cycling

[GrumpyGregry]

I went for " It's a fitness thing. It's good for body and mind." with this proviso; for me all the others, bar the aesthetics one, are just waymarkers on the journey to a fit mind and a fit soul and a fitter body.

 

[RedRider]

I voted 'liberation' and although I posted this ages ago in a thread called 'Lifting the Mood' it still explains some of the reason.

For me there've been times when I've felt ugly and mean, scared to face the world, when I've felt unable to risk the possibility of even minimal social interaction. A moment always comes though, and the bike is there as a means of escape.
Maybe I feel more in control of my environment when on a bike. It accompanies me. I can move forward, stop if I want to, breeze past if I have to or turn around whenever I like. It's both a retreat and an advance. I'm outside but I'm protected. The bad stuff starts to blow away.

For me a bike is the perfect machine allowing me to engage or not at will with my environment most efficiently and to the extent and in the way I choose.
As evryone knows, all of those things in the voting options entwine and merge. How can the journey and the places it takes me not make my body and mind sense or feel and how can it not have a story or meaning?

 

[compo]

Do I cycle for fitness? No. Fitness is a side benefit.
Do I cycle to help the environment? No. Environmental issues are a side issue.
Do I cycle to train for racing, sportifs etc? No. I did one sportif and decided it was a waste of money doing something I could do for nothing.
Do I cycle to save money? No. I have a bus pass so can get around for free anyway.
Do I cycle to meet people? No. I have no interest in meeting people. I am a loner, always have been.

This leaves the question why do I cycle? I will answer with a question. Why does everything have to have a reason? I cycle simply because I enjoy cycling. Some days I ride fast, most I ride fairly slowly. Some days I only do 20 miles other days I will do 40-50 miles, maybe stopping off for a cuppa somewhere. There are no rules, no schedules, I just do it as it gives me the greatest pleasure. I stopped off and picked some blackberries the other day. Not many roadies do that! The day I stop enjoying it and it becomes a chore is the day I will take up kite flying and the bike can be left to rot in the shed.

So I don't know which box to tick. Perhaps it is an amalgum of most of them.

 

[Davidc]

it's like being a dog in a forest - very difficult to decide which one.

In the end chose the top one - It's a sensual thing. It's about the connection between my body, the bike and the elements.It's the one that's always applied since I learnt to ride 53 years ago!

 

[Ian H]

I'm always impressed by how much more knowledgable cyclists are about their local area (and often much more than just local) than others.
Having said that I went marginally for number one.
But there's something else, about travelling under one's own steam. For example, setting off from Chepstow (on the Welsh 600 audax), knowing you'll be at Menai by nightfall - riding the route gives a real sense of travel, distance, and connection with the land you pass through.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Whilst this is true, in a 2cv most hills are memorable.

I agree with Mr Hemingway and I do find myself wanting to fight a rearguard action for the underpowered car or motorcycle...

However... An Alp (although it falls into the Hemingway description of a 'high hill') is a thing of all the more wonder when an already asthmatic 2cv or ancient 350cc twin-cyclinder pushrod motorcycle finds that there's very little air left in the air at that height and thus very little oomph in the motor.

If you drive a 2cv across the Alps or the High Atlas or the mountains of Montenegro... you do remember every wheezing grauch into first, when second just won't do it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Whilst this is true, in a 2cv most hills are memorable.

I agree with Mr Hemingway and I do find myself wanting to fight a rearguard action for the underpowered car or motorcycle...

However... An Alp (although it falls into the Hemingway description of a 'high hill') is a thing of all the more wonder when an already asthmatic 2cv or ancient 350cc twin-cyclinder pushrod motorcycle finds that there's very little air left in the air at that height and thus very little oomph in the motor.

If you drive a 2cv across the Alps or the High Atlas or the mountains of Montenegro... you do remember every wheezing grauch into first, when second just won't do it.

Renault Kangoo wasn't that keen six years ago either.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Renault Kan't-goo?

(No i dont mean the C18th German Philosipher either)

Renault Kan't go over an Alp without developing a dreadful misfire, certainly. It added a certain frisson to the return trip. Turned out to be a loose HT lead, worked fine near sea level but in a high alpine pass, not so much.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I was handed the keys to a diesel Kangoo at Ajaccio airport some years ago and was cross, as I was expecting a Golf.

It was THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY CAR and dealt with the inclines and bens of the biggest hills on Corsica with contempt.

My crossness dissolved with the drive from the airport. It never returned.

The Kangoo wasn't just good up (and down) steep hills, it also allowed our (then smaller) children to travel with the terrace doors open and it had a powerful stereo with CD.

To this day, it is the best holiday rental car we've had - by a huge margin.

I imagine (based on zero knowledge) that it would have sprinted up an Alp and even run very well on the Moon.

Since that holiday I cannot hear a word against the Kangoo. If I weren't such a terrible snob these days, I'd drive one myself.

 

[thom]

It was THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY CAR and dealt with the inclines and bens of the biggest hills on Corsica with contempt.

Totally agree, they are magnificent cars and particularly good for putting bikes in or out of bike boxes in to facilitate your cycling joy.
The one we hired went over both the Cime de la Bonnette and the Galibier, a couple of the highest paved roads in France without a bother.
Great visibility, pretty nimble and yes good sound system. Happy days.

 

[dellzeqq]

I went for the social thing, but that was in the absence of a lurve thing option

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I was handed the keys to a diesel Kangoo at Ajaccio airport some years ago and was cross, as I was expecting a Golf.

I drove the petrol automatic one for two years, it was my 'company car', the guy it was sold to still has it seven years later. After the HT lead problem was sorted the air con packed up, then the sound system, then there was a brake problem, and it ran a wheel bearing, but all fixed eventually. I'd buy another in a shot if cars were my thing, a friend has the van and uses it to transport mtbs to trail centres. My grown-up children still say it is their fave car, ever, and regularly try to persuade the lovely Helen to ditch our SAAB habit and go back to their one true love.

Running it in was a trial, it was delivered six weeks late on the morning when we were due to drive on holiday from Horsham to Samoens, and the service from the Renault dealership(s) was an utter 'mare from beginning to end.

 

[Christopher]

No option for fettling I see!
Personally I love trying out diffent combinations of wheels, chains, mechs speeds etc to see what will work and what does not. For example I have a bike that has 53-39 10-speed Campag up front (downtube friction shifter) and Shimano 7-speed on the back (STI) and 8-speed SRAM chain. Works perfectly although it looks like a dog's breakfast.
Next 'clever' idea is to see whether a short cage 1991 Suntour mech will work with 8-speed Ultegra bar ends. No idea if it will but it'll be fun finding out, and if it does then will use it for CX as I could care less if it gets wrecked.

 

[Globalti]

I get a huge thrill from being out in the open countryside, miles away from home and utterly self-reliant and self-propelled. The fact that my own bike preparation and maintenance are so crucial to my trip adds spice to the experience - I cant imagine anything worse than being let down by a mechanical fault that I have failed to predict. And added to that is the aesthetic perfection of the bike, a beautiful, simple assembly of high technology and quality.

The second dimension is the sheer joy of gliding silently along with little effort surrounded by the beautiful countryside of Lancashire, probably the nearest experience to swooping over the fields like a bird.

 

[mickle]

It's the sitting on it and pedaling and the steering that I like. The riding a bicycle bit of riding a bicycle. Everything else is a bonus.