MTB 4 Thee

The Wonder of Cycling

Is cycling when you have two skinny wheels, form a peleton and screech around corners? Do you think you know more of what you’re doing with all that metal and rubber? Or is it the clothes that make the cyclist? Do you look faster with all the latest spandex shorts? And what about those jerseys -- is that Lance Armstrong on your sleeve? Do you look more like a contender? Tour de France here you come! Or are you only a true blue cyclist if you tour the countryside a 100 days a year? Or is cycling jumping on the cruiser to fetch a quart of milk at the corner store? Is it racing down hills braking as little as possible? Or is it meandering thru the countryside on a tandem?

Cycling is all of the above. Any kind of biking is cycling and well worth your while and effort. You just may need a particular type of bike for thoroughly doing it well. You choose to bike, no matter how hard or how far, because you want to continually enjoy that sense of freedom you first experienced as a kid, when your parents let go of the training wheels.

Today you bike for many reasons and perhaps you cycle many styles. Let’s examine you, the racer. You want the road bike ’cause you’re a ‘wanabe…wanabe’ a racer, a winner! You wish you were sleek, fast, and the ultimate hill climber. Maybe you already are! You pump your wheels just above the max. You meet your group. Helmet on! Derailleur checked for the third time. Odometer on! Go! You alternate with the riders back and forth. Soon the peleton forms. And on you go like a rhythmic machine! Leader, ender – full lungs, take a breather; maybe win the glory, the winner.

There’s no better weigh to experience the rhymic flow of movement of you and the bike; to move the body forward and become one with the bike than as a touring cyclist. The beauty of panoramas invite you, the smells entice you, the thrill of the total oneness with nature and the rhythm with you and your bike brings you to new and back to old tours alike.

Since the 1870’s, people have been touring on bicycles. The historical record of one cycling club, the London’s Bicycle Touring Club formed in 1878, is evidence of early touring. Cycling is a feeling. You touring cyclists have a need to just get out there – get out there to smell the roses, to traverse the countryside, to zoom-zoom. You love that feeling and want to have it often. Touring can feel effortless or hard-working. Sometimes you want to see the countryside for a day or two or ten or more. You prepare with great care. You pack one or two panniers, gather maps, ensure you’ve packed that rain jacket. You tweak your touring bike, tighten a screw or two, and maybe adjust your seat for the right attack on the extra hill or two. Or you plan a days’ route ensuring you’ll climb two steep hills or three, enough to make the thrill of the descent pure.

Sometimes you want to challenge yourself on the back roads – the hills and the valleys the dirt and, oh yes, the adrenalin! You pump those mountain tires just right. You check the breaks and check your seat’s suspension. You ride left, check right, jump this stump, fly over that rock, and spin up the hill, sweat the ridge and zoom, jump, and zoom down again.

Of course you have challenges on your daily commute, as well. (See the section on traffic safety). As a courier or bike commuter, you dart swiftly between cars and past pedestrians. You require a strong enough bike to withstand the potholes and have it look roughed up enough not to attract the thieves. You feel good about being environmentally friendly. The courier enjoys the thrill of beating the vehicle traffic.

Sometimes the commuter is happiest with a cruiser bicycle where you do not worry about what type of clothes to wear, or have to change your street shoes. Do you remember how you cruised the neighborhoods with your buddies when you were a kid? You biked the sidewalks, you biked the roads, sat there proudly with your hands on the handlebars looking to and ‘fro laughing at all the motorists you thought were silly for driving cars just to sit there in needless traffic jams. Well as adults, think of cycling once more; just hop on your cruiser bike and go!

Why do bicyclists need to cycle? Cycling is in your blood or it’s not! What is the bike to the true cyclist? It is the only machine that is actually driven by the body. You are the engine and the steering wheel. You are one with your bike. You move with freedom and control. Paul Fournel said it eloquently in his book, Need for the Bike, “In life’s orchestra, the bike is the double bass. Hard to forget it!” Einstein road a bicycle often, as a casual cyclist, while he contemplated the universe. In their book, The Noblest Invention, the editors of Bicycling magazine stated that Einstein said this of the bicycle:”Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving”. Tell that to those who wonder why you bicyclists cycle.

Written by Lois Knight

(Cyclist and Editor of the Cycling News section of BikeOUTFITT.com

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

About the Author:

Lois Knight is the owner of the website BikeOUTFITT.com and active cyclist from Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Wonders of Cycling

Erin Comstock Interview in Roxy Jacket and More

Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine. Size 11.00 X 14.00 Art Poster Print Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine.Total Size : 11.00 inches width by 14.00 inches height.This is the Highest Quality Art Print Reproduction of the Original Work. Fully Authorized by the Artist. OnlineWall is the worlds best quality art print, poster and framing store with over 25 years custom framing experience our quality of art prints cannot be beat ....

Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine. Size 11.00 X 14.00 Art Poster Print on Canvas Canvas Transfer of Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine.Total Size : 11.00 inches width by 14.00 inches height.Ready to hang Transfer Stretched on Canvas with 3/4 inch deep bars, with Gallery Wrap method (image wraps around the edge, and continues back toward the wall).This is the Highest Quality Art Print Reproduction of the Original Work. OnlineWall is the worlds best quality art print, poster and...

Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine. Size 8.00 X 10.00 Art Poster Print Alicia Patterson by TIME Magazine.Total Size : 8.00 inches width by 10.00 inches height.This is the Highest Quality Art Print Reproduction of the Original Work. Fully Authorized by the Artist. OnlineWall is the worlds best quality art print, poster and framing store with over 25 years custom framing experience our quality of art prints cannot be beat ....