Why do we go there?

[GrumpyGregry]

I think I'm with you on that one. Villages around here often have a small communal noticeboard, I like to read the notices on there (even, sadly, the official notices of roadworks and the like!) as indicators of what goes on. More often than not, they are for past events. It does make me think of people in community halls; events that I didn't witness but know occurred and, equally, occur in many communes.

and I thought I was the only one who did that!

"What have we stopped for?"
"I think Greg is reading the notice board"
"Is it important then?"
"Well, put it this way, it seems to be to him"


I fear I am destined to be a character in the cycling version of last of the summer wine or the old devils.

 

[mike1026]

Vorsprung I really enjoyed reading your blog. I would certainly agree with you that drifting along through the landscape is an intensely spiritual experience.



It prompted me to think about my own philosophy.

It made me look at exactly what Audax is all about.

I discovered a new word Eidetic.



Economic or Political motives can be found, the former exemplified by the many Authors in the Travel genre; in the latter at least one example - a trip by husky drawn sled in the Artic by a Politician. Sigmund might say that it is a basic drive to go out and find newsexual partners or by continually moving as a way to either physically escape death or to avoid dwelling on the inevitability of it.



My own touring style is the complete antithesis of Audax.



For example this year my long distance tour was the RheinRad-weg from the Boden See to Hoek van Holland. I suppose the first part of my trip was a bit Audaxy in the sense that I had reserved a cabin on the Stena Hollandica and a place on the City Night Line Train from Utrecht to Stutgart, so I had to be at these specific places at those specific times. The trip also had an overall time limit of four weeks and was confined to the Rhein. Clearly there are then several similarities within the definition of an Audax style bike ride. The difference though i.e. having aset time to complete the distance as the main reason for the journey and obtaining proof that you have done so by having a card stamped at specific places; is in my view profound.

The point I am making is that each day was a wander, I had no idea how far I would go or where I would end up. I meandered along absorbing the landscape, meeting people, stopping and staring whenever and for as long as I wanted. All my working life I had to plan carefully every day both at work and out of work because of the pressures of too little time. Why should I impose that upon myself now through the artificial medium of the restrictions of the Audax. I suppose that my style of cycle touring is not a bold daring test of endurance; for me there is no reason to make it so. I would consider myself to be a Randonneur in the French sense rather than as defined in Audax terminology. In English I would say Rambler if that could be applied to cycling or maybe using a made up word ‘Randommer’ in the sense of not following a discernable pattern or trend, but perhaps I am saying Tomato and you are saying Tomato!

And finally Eidetic is an extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall of visual images taken from the Greek ‘seen’ in the sense of ‘it was seen’. Your source appears to mean Racial Memory like the concept used in Jungian Psychology i.e. posited memories, feelings and ideas inherited from our ancestors as part of a "collective unconscious". I think that a Tourer who tours in the sense of not having a particular place to arrive within a particular time is more likely to collect Eidetic Memories than someone who chooses to travel under the duress of Audax imposed conditions.



In short I agree with your sentiments but I am not sure that they can be applied to Audax.

 

[yello]

Lovely post mike. Your RheinRad-weg tour sounded idyllic; relaxing, semi-aimless, inspiring and life affirming.

There's a word in French that I love; flâneur. It's a person who saunters around, not just a dawdler but one who takes in all that's around on their aimless path.

Personally, I didn't take vorsprung's post/blog to be about audax per se, more long distance riding generally. At least, that's the spirit I took... tbh, I didn't even think of audax! But I can see audax doesn't really allow for the full on aimless approach!

 

[darth vadar]

"Travel a long way and you leave everything behind, except yourself".

Never thought of it that way.

Talk about stating the bleedin' obvious ?!!!!!!

 

[psmiffy]

I have never ridden far enough for it to become a hallucinogenic event – although I do admit to an insatiable curiosity – albeit in an analytical sense – with respect to the topography, geology and both the recent and ancient history of the landscape and cities that I have cycled through. However, I fear that the nearest I have attained to the Zen like state that some have mentioned above is whilst cycling in Sandinavia and I have found myself repeatedly muttering the mantra “too many trees”.

 

[frank9755]

Long distance cycling is poetry, not prose, so it is not easy to put a lot of this down on paper in a sensible way, but this is a great thread with some wonderful and thought-provoking comments. Here's my attempt.

I think of it as an adventure, giving me freedom and sheer pleasure.

I look on it as an adventure because it can and does involve exploring places I have never been to before.
- It emphasises the journey rather than the destination, in the spirit of Stevenson's often-quoted phrase ' to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive', and the often-expressed desire which people have to 'go travelling'
- Unlike motorised adventure journeys, there is also a physical challenge, the meeting of which can be a source of great personal satisfaction.
- The pace of progression is just right - enough ground is covered to make it interesting but it is slow enough to enable things to be taken in.

Freedom comes in the sense of the freedom of the open road. It frees me from the constraints and encumbrances of the non-cycling world and gives me perspective that helps me deal with that world when I get off my bike.
- Many people have written about the mental health benefits of cycling and I really believe they exist. For me the rhythm of the bike provides a very soothing background which drowns out anxious 'chatter'. There is enough stimulation to keep me engaged in the moment and distract me from things I may not want to think about, but not too much to prevent me from mulling over the things I do want to consider.
- Leaving everything behind is a good way to work out what I really need in life. It can be both surprising and reassuring how little this actually is.
- It can be great to do a long-distance ride with friends or with fellow travellers but, unlike many activities, it can be equally great to do one on my own so there is no need to fit in with the schedules and needs of others in order to access the benefits. This means that I can, and do, do it more often.

The pleasure comes from it being a feast for the senses
- Moving through the air at 20mph or faster with no tin box around me but the wind rushing through my hair and road bumping underneath me is an exciting thing to do, without being scary or dangerous.
- I aim to cycle in pretty places - country lanes, coasts, hills and mountains - where the visual experience can be wonderful with all the benefits this gives
- The other senses get a look in too, whether it is the noise of the wind, the sounds of village life or birds, the taste of all the wonderful food that you need to eat to keep yourself going, the smells of the forests or meadows...

That has made me want to set off again now!

 

[yello]

it is not easy to put a lot of this down on paper in a sensible way

You did pretty darned well frank!

You (or Stevenson) is correct, imho of course. It is about the journey. The destination is sometimes Shakespeare's bitter sweet (and, no, that's not a beer or a pub - but maybe it ought to be!) The limbs might need the rest but the head urges more of the same.

I often wonder what it'd be like just to keep on riding.

 

[darth vadar]

So, to summarise:

When you go on a journey, you tend to end up where you started.

When you go cycling you see more things that you would if you were driving a car.

Some exercise, open spaces and different surroundings make you feel better.

So why the need for all that intellectual waffle?

 

[yello]

So why the need for all that intellectual waffle?

Do you think it intellectual? I don't. It is the way I see things. I also like to think about such things and I like to talk about it too - I make no apology for it.

I have no problem if you don't share these likes. You don't have to join in if you don't want to, but don't feel threatened by it. It's just a difference.

 

[darth vadar]

I don't see why it is not possible to go out for a bike ride or a walk or whatever and just enjoy it for what it is.
Does it really have to be analysed to the n'th degree looking for some hidden sort of message or inspiration?

You do something you've enjoyed. You get back home, sit down, relax and have a cuppa, and then look forward to the next one.

It really is that simple.

 

[frank9755]

I agree with you about enjoying it for what it is. That is important. But:

- I think there has to be more to it, because what about the times when the going gets hard and it's not actually enjoyable for what it is? This does happen. Certainly for me there have been rides where I have overdone it, or the weather has deteriorated or I've got lost. But I've still wanted to keep going, and gone out and done it again.

- It doesn't have to be analysed but that doesn't mean that it is wrong to analyse it. Cycling, especially solitary cycling, is an immensely reflective activity which provides space for a bit of analysis if that is what you want to do.

- The mental health side in particular is something that I feel strongly about, and others do too - just google 'cycling mental health' and you get loads of hits. There is something quite special which comes out of the activity, its rhythm and its pace, which can make people feel better in a more fundamental way than just having a nice ride. People have written books about it. A good example is Bernie Friend, who was struggling with a bunch of phobias until he got on his bike and attempted the North Sea route, but there are loads of others. I had a major personal setback last year, and cycling really helped me to cope in a way that I think few other activities could have done.

 

[darth vadar]

I agree with you about enjoying it for what it is. That is important. But:

- I think there has to be more to it, because what about the times when the going gets hard and it's not actually enjoyable for what it is? This does happen. Certainly for me there have been rides where I have overdone it, or the weather has deteriorated or I've got lost. But I've still wanted to keep going, and gone out and done it again.

- It doesn't have to be analysed but that doesn't mean that it is wrong to analyse it. Cycling, especially solitary cycling, is an immensely reflective activity which provides space for a bit of analysis if that is what you want to do.

- The mental health side in particular is something that I feel strongly about, and others do too - just google 'cycling mental health' and you get loads of hits. There is something quite special which comes out of the activity, its rhythm and its pace, which can make people feel better in a more fundamental way than just having a nice ride. People have written books about it. A good example is Bernie Friend, who was struggling with a bunch of phobias until he got on his bike and attempted the North Sea route, but there are loads of others. I had a major personal setback last year, and cycling really helped me to cope in a way that I think few other activities could have done.

Yep, you are right.

Can't disagree with any of that.

Summed up very well in just a couple of paragraphs.

Think I might go out for a bike ride now!!!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I look on it as an adventure because it can and does involve exploring places I have never been to before.

I know this is weird, and Darth Vader may accuse me with some little justification of over intellectualising things, but when riding for the sake of riding a lot of the long rides I do, of necessity, cover ground I've covered before. Some even include my commute route at the begining or end or both so i've covered it many, many, times before. But it never ever boring on those bits.

My point is this. No matter how many times I've passed that way before, I never been to those exact same places before and having passed through I'll never be able to visit those exact same places again. They were different places last time and will be different places next time as all things change. Sometimes obviously, like when gales have stripped the leaves off the trees, and sometimes the change is subtle. But always different.

 

[yello]

Well, I'm pleased that one's been put to bed! I like happy endings.

Weather's better today, hopefully I'll be able to get out for some kms (and introspection ) later on. Don't worry, I'll probably also enjoy it 'for what it is' and promise not to share my thoughts with you all!

 

[Kirstie]

<Darth Vader will hate me for this.>

I'm late to this thread, as I am to most. I like a lot of what's been posted here, particularly the idea that one can cycle away from everything except yourself, and that one considers the weight of the past which has shaped the landscape around you as you move through it, leaving no trace. I agree with both of these views. I've also cycled to the point at which I was hallucinating, in long overnight mtb races, moving through forests in a little pool of light. I found it fascinating and loved the screwed-up solitude of it all.

This won't surprise people who know me, but recently I was reading some bits of Anglo American psychoanalysis* (Esther Bick and Phillip Ogden) who write about how the sense of what is, and what is not, within the boundaries one's own body develops in early infancy. This sense is developed through skin to skin contact with the parent or caregiver, and any disruptions in this contact process can cause problems in later childhood and adult life. People who have had the skin to skin contact disrupted develop behaviours which are interpreted by these psychoanalysts as 'attempts to create a second skin' to compensate for the lack of early skin to skin contact. Fetishism is one thing, repetitive behaviours, hair pulling, skin scratching, rocking etc. Anyway, they also say that obsessive long distance swimming, jogging, or cycling is also related to this, where, through the repetitive movement one's muscles and the pain of endurance we experience ourselves as embodied, and thus long distance cycling is one was for us to be comfortable and secure within our bodies.

So, I surmise that we are all BONKERS if we like cycling ridiculous distances .

*I mean what the hell someone has mentioned Jung and that's the only excuse I needed.