Have you ever wanted something so badly

[KnottedYet]

Have you ever wanted something (not someONE, we've all been there) so badly that you felt like you could cry?

I want to ride my bike. Just RIDE. I don't want to go to work, clean the house, walk the dog, go on vacation, hang out with my friends, drink a beer, none of that. I just want to ride and ride and ride, so badly that I feel like I could cry at any second.

What is it about riding a bike, moving under your own power and knowing you could go darn near anywhere, that is so soul-stirring?

Maybe it's just PMS today, but darn it, someone should do a study about women and bikes. Back when bikes were first invented, they made a huge difference in women's lives. And they still do. Why?

[sandy45]

i hear ya on that...i could go for a ride right now...and when i had an exam this morning, yup i swear that half the question had the word bike it in (it really didnt...but made it hard taking the test). i got a brand new bike last night and cant even ride it till tomorrow because of work and school...errr..

[KnottedYet]

P.S. I remember reading an article a long time ago, written by a woman who drove all over the southwest. There was a little mention of how she and her companion picked up a woman near Death Valley who was riding a bike laden with milk jugs full of water. She had left her abusive husband taking one of her kid's old bikes and using a highway map to work out a route from somewhere in the midwest to her friend's house on the west coast. She hadn't called the friend or asked any agencies or family for help. She just packed up the bike as best she could and left.

Anyway, the author and her companion drove the woman and her bike across Death Valley. (she wouldn't have made it otherwise) and wished her luck.

I think about that article every so often. The woman who would ride a bike across the country rather than ask for help, and the two women who would pick her up and drive her where she couldn't ride but then let her go to finish her journey her way (rather than turning her over to social services or insisting on driving her to her friend's house).

Women and bikes.

[mimitabby]

I have felt that feeling, not necessarily with bikes, but you can feel it, dream it, taste it.

it is such a strong thing, a compulsion. it's all in the wiring I guess (said mimi whose computer analysis system is being dissected because it doesn't work and 3 experts can't figure out what the problem is.)

[DebW]

I've had the feeling about both biking and backpacking. The backpacking is more appealling in that you can get away from roads and cars and forget that civilization and mass communication exist. You just boil life down to its necessities (the contents of your pack or paniers) and find out that everything else is really unnecessary. Like you've stripped living down to its most basic nugget, and all the rest of that huge thing called living was just crap that melts away in the rain.

[indysteel]

[QUOTE=KnottedYet;127073]Have you ever wanted something (not someONE, we've all been there) so badly that you felt like you could cry?

What is it about riding a bike, moving under your own power and knowing you could go darn near anywhere, that is so soul-stirring?

Well put. In late August, my boyfriend and I broke up (he's the one that first inspired me to ride in the first place). It's been a sad time for me as you might guess. For solace, I've spent hour after hour alone riding country roads and have discovered that cycling puts me in a state of zen like nothing else. I've tried to describe it to my non-cycling friends but have found it rather difficult. When I'm on the bike, the rest of the world simply recedes. It's just me, the bike and the road. Everything--albeit temporarily--just feels balanced and "right." I would bottle that feeling if I could. I get a catch in my throat just thinking about it.....

I'm starting to feel a bit like a junkie though. All I can think is my next "fix." My mood is increasingly dictated by whether I'll be able to ride and for how long. I'm more than a little worried that I'm going to be in a serious funk when the weather turns nasty and I'm stuck inside. I've recently joined the Y to take some spinning classes, and I go to yoga twice a week, but it's not the same.

Sigh....

[Quillfred]

Can't you phone in...."well"?

[kaybee]

Oh, yes, I can definitely relate! I haven't been on Ruby in TWO weeks (bad weather, other commitments, blah, blah, blah), and I'm getting more depressed every day. I really need to be outside and cannot wait for the weekend. There's such a feeling of freedom that comes with cycling.

KB

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey Knot,
I think it has something to do with being able to remember what it was like to be a kid. When we are riding our bikes on the Open Road, we feel FREE, in control of our destiny, and nobody can tell us what to do for just a little while. At least that's how I feel, like being a kid again on summer vacation, -but with only the good parts! And isn't part of the great thing about being a woman that feeling of being in touch with our destiny, being able to steer it?

I had that feeling of wanting something so bad I could cry when I started playing the banjo years ago. I still play. But now I dream of bikes. Happily, my husband shares this thrill with me, and we "play bike" together.

My DH is the greatest. For all our 7 years together now, he loves to make fresh coffee in the morning and bring it to me in bed. Then we sit in bed drinking our coffee, watching the tall grasses rustling outside the bedroom window, and we talk bikes and plan our next ride. It just doesn't get any better. I feel so blessed.

[margo49]

Can't you phone in...."well"?

Oh ,do I feel like that!
Just fixed a puncture and one on the blue Raleigh beater the kids ride as well.

btw it was Joseph Heller in Something Happened, iirc; eh Quillfred?

[spokewench]

Freedom and Independence - That is what a bike is! What wonderful concepts!

[RoadRaven]

Oh yes...


Ohhhhh yeeeesssss......

[Cassandra_Cain]

I am soooo feeling this. Right on.

No I don't want to go to work, wash dishes, tidy up, blah blah blah....just me on the bike and the mountain. Period. If my body and more importantly, finances allowed me, I would do that every day.

I have grown to not only value but actually like being totally unattached....no DH/DGF, no kids, etc. Rarely do I go out friday nights or stay up late for example, all because I care infinitely more about riding almost all day on weekends.

Seems the older, hopefully wiser, I've gotten the more I care about how I spend my time. Most other things (ie....work) feel like a distraction, diversion from what really matters.

And what matters?

Just me and the mountain baby :)

So to your question....you are most definitely not alone :D

[SouthernBelle]

I'm glad this thread is here because it has caused me to think. So often when I head out on a ride I'm thinking, "I need to do this route" or "Where can I ride so I can get X miles in."

I need to spend more time just riding for the joy of it. :)

[Selkie]

Sometimes I feel that way about being with my mom, just one more time. She passed away in July 2001--unexpectedly.

Today, I felt that way about my golden retrievers after a coworker was telling me how he was playing with his golden retriever last night.

I also feel that way about taking a bike ride when I'm having a stressful day at the office. However, I make it a point to ride outside every morning before heading off to work, weather permitting.

[Geonz]

Want, want, want...

Friend of mine said, "You should be old enough for your wants not to hurt you." So, I'm supposed to be able to say "yes, I **know** I want to play more, buit someitmes you can't."

(I want to spend all day on the forum, I W*A*N*T to...)

[Kitsune06]

I do, but with caveats...

I feel/have felt that bike magic of wanting to ride for the sake of riding; to get up and go away borne on nothing but the legs, wheels, heart and soul of my addiction...

but I like everything I do to have some purpose- which is why I'm itching so badly to get back into commuting; biking with a reason instead of just for a hobby to get out. I only use my car to get to work these days, (I hear it sniffling to DGF's Saturn about how it thinks I don't love it anymore, just its sound system and engine...) and maybe someday I can cut that out, too...

I miss looking at my bike with that "You and me; as long as I have you, I need little else in this world" feeling in my heart and throat, as I did when I was carless, but that will soon return...

All you need is T.I.T.S. (Time In The Saddle)

[esther231]

Me too, Knotted Yet. Feeling it too.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Kitsune, I know what you mean about wanting things to have purpose. I feel that way too! But I have come to think of my biking as having the very real and useful purpose as spiritual revitaliser. Serenity and inner joy are really valid things to work towards, as I'm sure you'll agree. Purposes do not have to be "merely" practical or material.
And my car has been gathering lots of dust as well, since I got my bike and do most all of my into-town errands on it these days. It amazes me to see how little I use my car since I started biking. I do however have the good fortune of being able to work at a home office, unlike most people who need to get to work in their cars. I admire and am in awe of all you daily biking commuters!!

[margo49]

Thought about this thread all day.
A while ago I figured it takes me 200 m to get into The Zone.
Then, The Bike and I are one unit. I feel a perfected creature as I corner one leg up - one leg down, go over lumps and holes standing on the pedals at 9 and 3 o'clock,knees flexing, changing gears at exactly the right moment...
So as long as I can ride 200 m + I will be *happy*

(not that I don't enjoy the usual mind-altering agents: chocolate, gin, nutmeg,beer of course)