Cycling is ... when you can feel the hurt in your legs but it is a good hurt and you don’t even actually know if you are still pedalling because you are one with the machine.
Cycling is ... when you know you are stronger than your opponents.
Cycling is ... when all your muscles in your body are taut, ready to pounce, when your senses are alert and you zoom in on the finish line, almost in trance, forgetting about the other riders around you.
Cycling is ... when you shoot for the line and the hurt is nowhere near as painful as what you have endured in hard training sessions in the past and it is sweetened by the prospect of victory.
What's cycling for you?
The words of this post where a reply to an email from my friend Colin, in which Colin quoted a professional rider.
Your heart is pounding so hard it feels like a machine gun. Your heart is so far
up your chest it’s trying it’s hardest to force its way out through your
nostrils. That vein on the side of your head is ready to pop. Your legs are in
so much pain and so full of lactic acid that you don’t even actually know if you
are pedaling anymore. Every muscle in your body is tight as you grip the bars,
push on the pedals, pull on the front end of the bike… your teeth are clamped so
tight you could crack a molar; you get tunnel vision, you forget about the other
150 riders around you, you don’t care how close you are to the side of the road,
you get to the point where you start to think that torture by some war-lord
would actually be a welcome relief.
I don't know who to give the credit for the photograph. It was taken on the descend of Tawonga Gap in this year's Tour of Bright. Aaron Smith emailed it to me. Thank you.
14 comments:
Cycling is freedom to cross distance under my own power. It's the opportunity to test my physical limits and find they are beyond where I thought they were. It's finding peace in the knowledge that achieving my best only means my best so far.
cycling is a way to escape
cycling is a way to explore
cycling is my life
cycling is causing havoc with my running training and currently we have fallen out!
...cycling (hard) is riding back into town, fully exhausted yet pumped & feeling like god on a bicycle...
...cycling (easy) is the wonderful sensual enjoyment of propelling yourself through time & space w/ the opportunity of feel, taste & breath an autonomy most people don't "get"...
cycling is sometimes far more enjoyable after the ride ... remembering
cycling is my favourite way to explore
cycling is the one sport that I can experience the exact the same challenges / routes as the pros
cycling is addictive
happy new year ;)
Cycling is my escape from the daily grind.
Cycling is FUN!
Cycling is how I live without Surfing...
...whoops, my bad...
...my last comment should read "w/ the opportunity to feel, taste & breath an autonomy most people don't "get" "...
cycling is my addiction or better put my obsession. Great post.
Cycling is flight, sometimes alone, sometimes in a flock, always amazing.
Cycling is beauty, and strength, and freedom.
... my mistress to my wife; running!
Great photo!
Errr Cycling is fun...?
Sorry I'm not a sports cyclist and I haven't fully experienced all you're talking about some of that stuff sounds kind of extreme.
But I'm thinking I'll take part in a thing called a 'Bunch Run' on Australia Day and I turned to the Comp... Cyclist blog for inspiration. It's a 65km ride which should just about kill me and it will be the first time I've ridden in a group of people who do that sort of thing regularly... I haven't trained and I think the chain is rusted up on my road bike, oh and the tires have been flat so long that the flat bit gets stuck on the brake pads when I turn the wheel!
Awesome photo of the Groover by the way...
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