why?

[Climb01742]

new england has been in the deep freeze lately. but most days i've been out on my bike. it's pretty damned unpleasant. which has lead me to think alot about why i ride.

there are alot of the usual suspects. pleasure (really.) fitness. to be out in nature. to hang with other riders. to eat pizza and ice cream.

but if i get right down to it, there's one big reason i ride. to test myself. to push myself. to do something that requires a price be paid and see if i'm willing to pay the price. i admire people who are willing to pay a price to achieve something. deep down i ride to see if i qualify for admittance to that club. it's why i love climbing the most.

so how 'bout you? deep down, what's the reason you ride?

[shinomaster]

because the girls whistle at my buff legs....

[dave thompson]

You have touched on one of the big attractions of bicycling for me. I love the ability to try to exceed my last 'personal best'. Or to create new 'personal bests' and leave a mark for future challenges.

This year is my 20th wedding anniversary, and my wife who is my riding partner wants, as our "present to ourselves", a bicycling trip in Europe. Years ago (seems like a hundred) I motorcycled around the better part of Europe for a month. This year I'm going to try to replicate a part of that on a bicycle. We'll have to push ourselves and train hard for the trip, and the trip will be moderately strenuous. But like you said we are willing to pay the price to achieve that goal, which I don't think non-bicycle people understand or appreciate. God, I love bicycles!

[Spinner]

1) because it's as fun now as it was when I was ten

2) exercise

3) to be with family and friends who also enjoy the experience

4) the thrill of speed

5) the joy of bumps, jumps and slides while mtn. biking

6) it allows me to fully enjoy another passion, food

7) great way to meet new friends

8) it's fun to wrench my rides

9) my bikes are works of art that i can enjoy looking at and riding

10) it's relatively cheap in comparison to other hobbies, even if you have high-end equipment

11) if i want to ride, i can do it within several minutes right out my back door

12) i must look cool because babes half my age still give cat calls

13) it's just plain fun

[Kevin]

to beat my time from the day before.

Kevin

[Bill Bove]

Mary Ann Martin has it as her signiture and I'm going to echo it.

I ride my bike to ride my bike.

It's from one of those Chinese philsophrer stories, I'll let her tell it, but think about it. Is there any better reason?



:banana: :banana:

[duke]

Because a red bike still has the same allure now as it did when I was six. Plus, it feels like you're flying.

[pale scotsman]

I ride for fun and I ride for fitness. Most of all I just love riding. When you get on that straight away with the wind at your back or a downhill at speed that's a bonus. Heck I even like standing up a hill until my lungs and legs feel like they are going to burst.

It's kinda like a free buzz.

[M_A_Martin]

There are many reasons why I STARTED riding a bike, and reasons that I put many many miles on, and wore a heart rate monitor and logged my miles, but these days it is just that I like to ride my bike. I'm so happy to be able to ride again.

I don't always feel like I'm flying and I don't always get the buzz, but there is a simple beauty in riding a bike that can make me cry, especially at sunrise when everything is calm and the sky is sky blue pink just before the sun comes up.

Yes Bill, I think I remember the story but not well enough to tell it. I did really identify with the line though.

[Spinner]

russ said the same thing when we were at the tdfl, it's like flying!

[CIII_bill]

I'm with you Climb. I love climbing and pushing myself to go a little faster, farther on each ride. The problem with that is I tend to not get as many rest/relaxation rides in.

[oracle]

i am a massochist and love the taste of my own vomit.:eek:

oracle

[Elefantino]

Because I can.

After a broken neck, paralysis, four months' recovery, then one month later a broken back, four months in a body cast ... every pedal stroke is pure joy.

:banana:

Except when it's cold. Then I complain a lot. :)

FWIW,
Mike

[SPOKE]

so many reasons why i ride but what really gives me the most enjoyment is how such a simple, elegant machine allows me to experience a huge range of emotions, physical bliss and even pain. riding allows me to handle all the ups and downs of life in general.

[Sandy]

Spoke,

I want to be sure I got it right. "...riding allows me to handle all the ups and downs of life in general" Does that mean if I come down to your place with a truck and take all your beautiful bikes, then you will be able to handle it? Bless you my understanding friend. I'm gassing up the truck as I type........

Oh boy, oh boy,

Sandy

[SPOKE]

my dear friend Sandy,
the simple answer is yes. but now that i know you are still up to your devilish ways i will be prepared. COME ON DOWN!!! better bring a pretty big truck too.

[Tom]

To play outside in the fresh air.

It's fun to go downhills and around curves fast.

It's fun to ride up those hills, too.

Zoning out on a long straight, just ticking over and moving along.

Going fast down that straight and realizing "Hey! I'm moving!"

Doing things I am not real sure I can do before I do them.

Seeing goofy things along the way.

Jabbering with the gomers I ride with.

Cresting a hill and looking around, thinking "Holy Crap. Where am I?"

Being out very early when all is quiet.

[Sandy]

Because it makes me feel alive!

Sandy

[Phil Selisker]

So I can keep my boyish figure.

Ride with some of the nicest people around.

Makes me feel great after finishing a summer evening ride a half a mile an hour faster, even though I sucked Pete and Spokes wheel all the way home.

The great toys we get to play with.

Did I mention the people.

:p

[Black Bart]

Here is the purported Zen tale referred to earlier in this post. It works for me.



A Zen teacher saw five of his students returning from the market, riding their bicycles. When they arrived at the monastery and had dismounted, the teacher asked the students, "Why are you riding your bicycles?"

The first student replied, "The bicycle is carrying the sack of potatoes. I am glad that I do not have to carry them on my back!" The teacher praised the first student, "You are a smart boy! When you grow old, you will not walk hunched over like I do."

The second student replied, "I love to watch the trees and fields pass by as I roll down the path!" The teacher commended the second student, "Your eyes are open, and you see the world."

The third student replied, "When I ride my bicycle, I am content to chant nam myoho renge kyo." The teacher gave praise to the third student, "Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly trued wheel."

The fourth student replied, "Riding my bicycle, I live in harmony with all sentient beings." The teacher was pleased, and said to the fourth student, "You are riding on the golden path of non-harming."

The fifth student replied, "I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle." The teacher sat at the feet of the fifth student and said, "I am your student!"