Why I Love Cycling

I started cycling in 2008 back when I had a crush on a boy who cycled.  He would talk for hours about riding and his bike and his training and everything in between.  He loaned me a bike for a while in an attempt to get me riding.  In 2008, he helped me buy my first "real" bike.  The kind that cost more than you think they should and look pretty nice and weigh close to nothing.  It was big purchase and I was glad to have someone guide me through that process.  I'll leave out the details, but the boy left and the bike stayed.  I got the better end of that deal, although I do miss his expertise from time to time.

I started cycling for that boy, but it also inspired me to move more.  I was living in Chicago at the time and Chicago is a pretty bike friendly place.  I would take my bike down along the lake shore and ride for miles on this great uninterrupted path (minus the nasty part by Navy Pier).  I would do this as a form of exercise every few weeks or so.  Never more than maybe 20 miles, but I loved the view, I loved the way my lungs felt when they were working, I loved the feeling of moving as fast and as easily as I was moving.

Honestly, I think it's the way my lungs feel when I ride that I love the most.  It's the first time in all my athletic experience that I feel my lungs working and it's not with fatigue and a sense of "oh god I'm going to pass out."  Well, I felt that way when I was rowing too - gosh I miss rowing.  But there is a peacefulness, almost zen like state that happens when you get your cadence just right and the road is just perfect, and your lungs and your body and your mind are all in sync.  That moment is unbeatable.  People refer to a runner's high, I guess this is my version of a cycling high.  It doesn't last long, usually because the terrain changes or something forces my cadence to alter.  But for a few minutes, sometimes quite a few, everything just feels easy.  My body is happy, my mind is happy, my lungs and heart are happy.  It's a great feeling.

That is why I love riding.  Beyond that, it's the people I get to ride with.  The cycling community in every place I've lived is great.  There is always a club or a group getting rides together.  Learning an area on a bike is one of the best ways to get to know a location.

So I love to ride for the way I feel when I do, and I keep riding for the people that I ride with.  This one particular man that I keep referencing - guess what.... he rides too. This is one happy lady!

Just finished a quick 15 mile ride in training for my metric century!