The Road Riding Experience

Road riding is an experience that appeals to me on many levels. It provides an opportunity to intimately experience the world while at the same time taking care of both my physical and mental well-being. This post is an attempt to explain both what I do during a road ride and also perhaps more importantly, convey how I experience a ride.

Usually I start out my rides from my home. I am very fortunate to live in a part of Montgomery County, Maryland that is adjacent to a huge agricultural preserve. This is a part of the county that is not open to development and thus has a lot of lightly traveled roads that are a Mecca for bicyclists. In this area it is easy to put together very scenic rides of almost any reasonable length without having to do much if any back-tracking. For variety I will often ride through the back streets of the neighborhoods where I live. I have worked out various routes that cover up to 35 miles while never being more than a few miles from my home.

I am often joined on my weekend rides by other cyclists whom I either work with or who are affiliated with my co-workers via the networking that occurs over time for most who bicycle. Larry, my boss at work and neighbor, is my most frequent companion. No matter whether I am riding alone or with a large group, there is not a lot of formality to the initiation of a ride. If I am riding with others there might be a few comments about the weather, the route, and bicycling related matters as we get prepared for the ride. The chatting stops almost immediately once everybody is ready to ride and then there is just a quick “let’s go” by someone and we take off.

I like to start off my rides at a reduced pace for the first few minutes so as to get my legs warmed up before putting them under load. After the warm-up I quickly get into a zone that varies a little depending on whether I am riding alone or with a group. When I am alone, the zone is a near meditative experience as I get focused on just a few basic things. There is a background alertness that is observing any traffic and almost automatically taking actions to minimize the chance of my becoming a hood ornament. In the foreground is a focus on the body, the pace, the road, and the senses.

The observation of the body is my means of metering out my effort so as to get in a good workout while not pushing so hard that I will bonk (have my legs just quit on me due to exhausting the fuel supply in my bloodstream) prior to the end of the ride. The pace is primarily a result of the observation of the body. The internal competitiveness that is innate to my character influences the pace as it urges me to go faster than I have gone before. This battles with my observations of my body and has put me into trouble on occasion. I have recently started using a heart-rate monitor as a controlling mechanism for regulating pace and found this to be very effective.

The observation of the road is the part of riding that is most like a game for me. The area I ride in has very little level ground. The game for me is in the evaluation of the slopes and curves that I am riding through and the playing with the bicycle gearing and my level of effort as I deal with what the road is throwing at me.

Last but not least in my foreground focus is the awareness of what my senses are feeding to me. A bicycle ride provides many sensations that form the texture of the ride. My eyes take in the scenery I am riding through. I am often moved by thoughts of what a beautiful rural area I have the privilege to ride through. The routes I ride go over a number of streams, through wooded parkland, and past family farms that are becoming hard to find in other parts of the Washington D.C. metro region. My ears are attuned to the sounds of the bicycle as it whirs its way forward. The snick-snick sound as I move through the gears gives me feedback as I adjust for the rises and falls of the route. The wind noise varies from a light white noise at lower speeds to a loud rush during fast downhill descents. The sense of touch detects the temperature and feels the wind. On cold mornings I will be quite chilled for the first few minutes, this going away quickly on the first hill. On hot days I look forward to the cooling that comes from the self-generated wind as I maintain a fast pace on the flats or a faster pace on the downhill slopes. The sense of smell appreciates the fresh air of the parkland I ride through. This contrasts to the pungent smells that sometimes emanate from the farms on the route. Taste buds are stimulated periodically as I drink the sweet Cytomax mix and then wash the taste away with a few gulps of water. This is followed by a Clif Shot Blok that has a gummy texture and a mildly sweet taste I let linger as it dissolves in my mouth. In the background at all times is the sensation of a body at work. On the flats and mild uphill grades there is the feeling of being a smoothly running machine that is just humming its way down the road. Climbing the steeper grades makes the body labor and the mind soon focuses on each rotation of the pedals and the exertion this takes. Breathing becomes deep and the stress of the labor brings thoughts of rebellion against the toil. The response to this is to focus on the goal of surmounting the hill and to appreciate this as a worthy cause. Often times the reward for achieving the top of a hill is the relief of a following descent. It is an opportunity to use speed to generate a wind that cools the over-heated body. The descent also provides the opportunity to rest for a bit and let a pounding heart subside its cadence. All of the sensations of the ride work together to create the memorable impression of the ride that is the essence of the experience.

The meditative aspect of cycling comes from the constant focus on the four elements that are in my foreground thoughts: body, pace, road and sensation. This focus on just a few things empties the mind of other thoughts, cares and worries. The resulting meditative state is one of the most addictive things about bicycling. The meditative state I experience has brought perhaps the biggest benefit of bicycling, a huge reduction in stress in my life. The stress reduction due to a long ride leaves me feeling like I have had a rejuvenating vacation.

When I am riding with a group I receive most of the same benefits I receive when riding alone. In addition a certain type of riding relationship tends to quickly form between members of a group ride. The group riding dynamic is an interesting mix of individualism and social interaction. Each rider has their own pace and also most riders seem to like to spend time in the focused zone they would experience on an individual ride. This is counter-balanced by the interaction that naturally occurs when a group of people are engaging in a common activity, particularly one that has some challenge to it. The result is an ongoing fluid switching of roles where someone will ride on their own for a bit separated from others, and then periods where they will ride alongside or behind someone else and chat for a bit. Pace lines (a line of cyclist closely following each other to reap the benefits of drafting) form on long flat sections and a feeling of camaraderie develops as the group works together to go faster than each could on their own.

As a group nears the end of the ride another behavior tends to kick in. The ride becomes a case of every man for himself as the cyclists who are still feeling strong kick it into gear and go for one last burn, leaving those with less energy behind. I think one of the reasons this happens is that as the end approaches, the unspoken need to make sure that others in the group are okay weakens as it becomes clear that everybody should be able to make it home without incident.

The end of a ride is usually a subdued event. If I am riding alone I will lean my bike up against a porch rail and sit for a bit, cooling off and enjoying the concept of what I have just done. At the end of a group ride there may be a few quick comments related to the ride just finished and maybe some suggestions for a next ride, then everybody says goodbye and resumes their busy lives. And so the experience ends with knowledge that it will soon be repeated and a looking forward to this.